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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
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,975 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.
muralman1
1,527 posts
 
I kind of wonder that day I walked into Keith Yates's main music room and heard someone playing a piano somewhere down a hall. It didn't matter where I moved around the huge room, the piano was down the hall. It might have been played mono.

Stereo piano stretches the piano keys across the speaker plane when recorded that way. It is common enough. The piano is right there in front of me, but I still would like to hear the piano down the hall just the same.
newbee
4,757 posts
 
Re mono in the next room or down the hall, I agree, as I indicated on Page 1, BUT its not the same when you listen to mono in the same room from your sweet seat.

With a grand piano in an enclosed space even though the source of the direct sounds are obvious the resonances created by the room surfaces in a live performance will be absent in mono - you will have a small central image and no sense of the acoustic.

Thats why 'in the next room' works so well, IMHO, you get both the 'mono' sound and some room resonance sounds without having to sit in front of the speakers and be distracted by less than the sound of a performance from a prospective that you prefer.
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,975 posts
 
Try staying in stereo but moving the speakers closer together than you might otherwise to better represent the actual width of the recorded piano.

Just another idea...
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