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How to reproduce sound of piano


I currently own a decent rig, Mac MA 2275, AP Sparks, Marantz 8001, Rega Apollo, Benchmark DAC w/ Squeezebox Duet. I love the way it sounds with jazz, voice, orchestral works and also it's decent with chamber music.

But I find when I'm listening to piano solo performances it doesn't quite sound nearly good as the live instrument. This is too bad because I mainly listen to classical piano works. I want to build a new system from scratch dedicated to listen to solo piano works as well as piano conertos.
I don't care for "warmth", "timbre", "soundstage" or other loaded audiophile terms. Just want absolutely accurate piano reproduction as possible.

What qualities should I look for? Analog vs digital source. Solid state vs tube amp? I find my tube amp unable to keep up with technical masters as Pollini or Horowitz. But will going to SS take away from the performces of more romantic pianists like Kempf and Zimerman? As for speakers, I never heard of a speaker capable of reproducing the deep bass of a 9ft+ concert Steinway grand. Are electrostatics way to go? My budget is around $25K USD. Thanks for any feedback.
plaser
detlof
1,899 posts
 
Greg,
Thanks for voicing your understanding of the true core or rather coeur of my efforts. Wished it could have been done more cheaply. But for that the technical resources, outward as well as inward ones were wanting.

Dave,
dipole bass with planars is actually a must, I agree. Another reason why Quads with Gradients sounded so good in combination and your planars were rightly famous for this. For this very reason I tried to keep the Grads when I changed to the Sound Labs but found they were bettered after all by the Soutiens plus Rel combination. The latter by the way is -6db@9hz in room. Helps to chase burglars away (and scare the shit out of you) but also to get the lowest registry of the grand piano in (almost) all its authority with (almost) perfect timing and pitch after much much fiddling, sweating and swearing. Since subbass systems are not only important for bass but for ambience cues ( the Rel is linear down to below 12 hz) which are more felt than heard, all that fiddling was certainly worthwhile.
jax2
3,031 posts
 
Whoops, I noticed a confusing typo in my last post. I meant "JL" subs, and not JBL! The sub my friend has is a JL Phathom f113. Great sub! Also, my own low-level readings are from a RS SPL meter and are not adjusted (it is quite inaccurate in those low readings) so are likely more conservative than my low estimate.

....carry on...
hevac1
812 posts
 
Try some mono albums with a mono needle.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,189 posts
 
Hevac1,

Listening in mono is an excellent idea also!

The mike placement during recording of solo piano pieces varies greatly from recording to recording it seems and is often done for enhancement of stereo effect at cost perhaps of a more natural presentation as one might hear located within optimal listening distance of several feet of the piano. Stereo may not offer much other than an unnatural perspective in this case. If so, who needs it.

Maybe this is part of why other genres sound real enough but solo piano doesn't?

If your pre-amp has mono switching, try that...it's easy

Also, most recordings have compressed dynamics to some extent compared to live. Adding and properly applying a dynamic range enhancement device like say a dbx 3bx series 3 or 4bx will make a diffence in recordings where the dynamics just ain't there to start with.
hevac1
812 posts
 
I just figure if your listening to a solo piano, your not tring to get image location as you would want for more instraments as stereo would give you. Even live it is mono and very intimate. I have a Lyra mono and found some music just sounds much better and again more intimate with mono than stereo. I have a mono switch on my preamp but the mono cartridge just sounds that much sweeter.
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