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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
wolf_garcia
6,695 posts
 
One of the concert series I often work as a soundman has a gigantic Steinway that is tuned for every show...it's an amazing piano, but remember...microphones all sound different, and the recorded (or live miked) sound has a LOT to do with the mic used, the placement of the mic, and how much sleep I had the night before.
jetrexpro
506 posts
 
Wolf,

Sounds like you have a cool gig.

Every room sounds different which will effect the piano sound as well.
rsimms
150 posts
 
The best that I have heard the piano was with song Strange Meadowlark on the Dave Brubeck Time Out CD. I heard it in an over damped room with an AR player, a Dodd preamp, Macintosh MC275 amp and Salk open baffle Archos speakers. The Archos had a PHL midrange. The piano was utterly believable. I felt like I could even see the finish on the piano and touch the wood with my teeth. I am still haunted by the sound. I used to be a piano tuner so I know what a piano sounds like. Strange the Sax, bass and drum kit didn’t have that believability.

Bob
brownsfan
1,508 posts
 
One might think Bosendorfer might have an edge here. Anyone heard their speakers?
grimace OP
624 posts
 
Thanks for all the interesting responses. To answer an earlier question, I was at a dealer, but I also took my own amplifier with me, so I had at least some sense of how the speakers would work in my system. The Vandersteens were the Treos, which I was very impressed with for the price. The Verity's were a used pair of Fidelio Encores. Both were excellent, but the Fidelios had the edge in overall refinement, especially in the treble. I could have been happy either way.

I also had an opportunity to hear the Vandersteen 7s. WAY out of my price range, but holy cow, what a speaker. That piano was extraordinary by any measure.
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