I found a really nice Yamaha store today and got to play the N2. I loved it. It sounded more and felt more like a 'real piano' that any DP's I've ever seen. Frankly, it was better than I thought current technology would allow.

But it was...wait for it....TEN GRAND. At this same store ten grand would buy you a beautiful (and I mean stunningly beautiful) brand new Yamaha GRAND PIANO.

This seems like the most perfect example of the 'screw the early adaptors' adage I've ever seen. You look at a grand piano, what is it - 20,000 parts? The craftsmanship, the weight of the damn thing, crating it, shipping it. It's got to cost a FORTUNE. And yet they want ten grand for a little keyboard with some speakers and electronics? Maybe I'm wrong but this just seems absolutely nuts to me.

It will be a good thing when this marketing phase of the 'high-end DP' comes to an end and we start to see some sane pricing on these pianos.

I'm not saying if you've got the money (I don't) it might not be worth it to you, or that it's in any way a bad piano. But TEN GRAND? The N2, versus a real Grand piano for the same price...hmmmm.....

It all depends on your needs, your desire, and, of course, your wallet.

The thing I hate most about acoustics is that they need maintenance. I have a pretty good ear, and I can hear the darn piano start drifting out of pitch just days after I've given the tuner his loot.

I almost used to think I could hear him snicker as he shut the door.

And this is with a great piano, a Steinway B, that was in mint condition when I bought it.

I have lots of retro gear that drifts in pitch, but I want my piano in tune.

That's why I went to digitals.

It's not the cost of maintenance; it's the hassle of having it done, and the pain of listening to an out-of-tune piano.

There will be people who are made very happy by an acoustic piano, and I wouldn't laugh at them, even though it is resoundingly not my sort of instrument.

Snazzy

They had a video review on Keyboard mag and at one point the Yamaha guy mentions something like it gives the ability for everyone to have a piano (or at least a 9 foot concert grand). He believed the prices of acoustic pianos would go up b/c of the price of wood making the avantgrand more affordable. I don't believe that. First off, I think they have the ability to inflate the prices of pianos. The fact it's 10K+, doesn't make it easier to afford either. Only those with the money can afford it or a true acoustic piano and the rest of us will have to live with crappy spinets and other pieces of junk.

I've been interested in building a sound/speakers system that could reproduce the sound of a grand piano. Some early experiments are done and I've got some sketches.

My thinking now is that any device that sounds like a grand piano will have to have the same physical size and mass as a grand piano. Ok, I don't think you loose much if you cut the mass in half. But not the size.

There is a pretty good fit between size and mass and cost with things people build.

Conclusion: I'm not surprised they cost within a factor of two, the same

I'm not going to try to justify the price, but to claim that something like the AG is simply a conglomeration of "some speakers and electronics" is like saying that an acoustic is just "some wood and metal". Do you think some engineer at Yamaha just threw the first prototype together by hopping down to Fry's and salvaging his grannies 100yo upright piano action? I think it's safe to say that Yamaha spent a fair bit of change on R&D, not to mention that a customized near acoustic action can't be cheap either.

From a product line point of view, considering the expense of the highest end CVP, the N2's pricing doesn't seem all that far off, esp considering the place it has in their product line.

Personally I wouldn't purchase a new Yamaha acoustic grand at $10000 (if they have such a thing). But that's just me.