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Speakers that do pianos really well

I recently had the good fortune to listen to a half a dozen pretty well-regarded speakers back-to-back. For these kind of sessions I like using piano recordings - either solo or jazz trio - as a measure because, to my ear at least, it seems that speakers that can reproduce piano really well seem to be pretty well sorted on everything else. The surprising thing was how many of these speakers did NOT do piano well. Of the group there were only two - Vandersteen and Verity - that I thought really captured the big chords, shadings, timbres, and reverberations cleanly and naturally. The rest - and I'm not going to call them out by name - offered a mixed bag of over-brightness, distortion, and general unnaturalness. I was very surprised by the results as I expected better from some of these speakers based on their reviews and reputations. So my question is, Does anyone else use the piano as a litmus test, and what speakers do people use that they think do pianos really well? Regards.
grimace
audiokinesis
2,740 posts
 
I use the disc "Red Descending" by Seth Kaufman. I was fortunate enough to hear Seth live on many occasions back when we both lived in New Orleans, to the point where, when that disc first came out, I asked him it if was the same piano because it sounded to me like it was (I was using SoundLabs at the time). He said yes, that he'd had his piano transported to the studio in Los Angeles where the recording was made. So now when I'm working on a speaker design, I always pull out Red Descending as one of my critical evaluaton discs.

Imo the combination of rich harmonic structure and percussive dynamics make a good piano recording quite challenging and revealing, but I'm not sure I would be able to judge with confidence using a recording of a piano that I'm not familiar with.

Duke
martykl
3,578 posts
 
Wtf,

Christy Baron's stuff on Chesky is really good. Although it's been quite a while, I've seen her perform without amplification in NYC jazz clubs and her voice is really distinctive. It's stuck with me all these years. Her earliest material is very simply arranged and beautifully recorded. Her rendition of "Ain't No Sunshine" on her debut is a great example. The SQ, coupled with the familiarity of her voice, makes it easier for me to feel comfortable judging a given speaker's tonal quality.

For instrumental records, I'll always bring along a copy of Richard Todd's (French Horn) "With A Twist", since I was present for much of the recording sessions. Ironically, getting the piano right was always the biggest pain in the ass.

Tube - as far as piano tone fetishes, I've been there! Five years ago, I bought a piano. I'm a hack, my wife plays passably, and my daughter is learning. The shopping experience was scary - I didn't need another SQ issue to obsess over (in addition to guitars/guitar amps and hifi equipment) - so I punted. In the end, I really liked the action on Kawai pianos (as did my wife), so we ended up with one of their small, relatively inexpensive uprights (solid sounding, though not remarkable) and called it a day. Until it's time for the next one....

Marty
martykl
3,578 posts
 
Duke,

I didn't know that you lived in New Orleans. Richard Todd (see my post above) used to live/perform there in the late 1980's and I was curious whether you've ever seen him play. BTW, if you tell me you've seen James Booker (IMHO, one of the GREAT piano players) play, I'll really be jealous!

Marty
bigkidz
3,387 posts
 
IMO the sound from your speakers has much to do with your preamp. Decay, heft to the notes, blending, can all be attributed back to the preamp.
kiwi_1282001
312 posts
 

08-06-13: Bigkidz
IMO the sound from your speakers has much to do with your preamp. Decay, heft to the notes, blending, can all be attributed back to the preamp.

More to do with how your loudspeakers interact with the room i'd say. Remember here, your listening room is a like a giant tone control.
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