I am currently on shopping for a 5'3 piano, and aiming for a grand. The upright one I currently own doesn't feel well at feel level and I still prefer the touching of a grand.

currently I had my eyes on CN161 or GC1, which one is better? I am not very picky about the sound quality, the CN161 sounds OK to me, with some what distortion at the bass (not sure if it's normal for CN161 or just the particular one I have played on), GC1 sounds alot better but downside with another woopping $4000 CAD surplus.

I don't have much budget to spare and GC1 is hitting my budget ceiling.

I want some cheap grand piano with great key feeling&response.

Some of you might suggest me looking for a used C2 but unfortunately in my city (Toronto, Canada) there isn't many cheap used pianos around.

Maybe cheap Chinese brand? I know their sound sucks but how about the key feeling? I would like to have this smooth direct feeling, not something saggy like my upright which really hampers my performance.

Currently the dealer quoted me $8890 for CN161 and $12389 for GC1, both pre-tax, and both in CAD $. After tax, the CN161 is $10000 and GC1 is $14000, .....I know our HST system sucks.

Any insights are appreciated.

How about Ritmuller gh160R? Especially the key touch feel? Found it to be great in reviews and wonder how much invoice price it costs?

If you're talking about spending $10-$14k, you can afford to be at least a little picky about both the sound and touch. If you didn't care much for the sound of the Cable Nelson, keep looking for its competitors. The often talked about suggestions would be the Ritmueller GH160, Hailun HG161, and Brodmann PE162. You may end up preferring some over the GC1, and I believe all are available within that range.

I don't care much about the sound... lacking bass is ok, a little bit out of resonate is fine, but I am picky about the key touching (that's why I moved to Grand instead of a finer upright), can you recommend some piano with great touch?

They're actually all pretty good vs. uprights. You can try Kawai; they like to market their special ABS Carbon action. And please, the nice Chinese grands do not have "sucky" sounds. Actually, a lowly Pearl River upright sounded better than the Kawai K2. Go figure. Must be that Luther Thomma's doing.

Why do you think you have to trade one for the other? The two tend to be related.

Go play more pianos. There are about 15 models of new pianos that will be competitive with the pianos you've already seen and within your budget range. Specific dealer prep and follow up service will mean the most for both touch and tone in that price category.

In addition to those I mentioned before, look for:
Knabe
May Berlin
Weber
Kawai
Kohler & Campbell
Pramberger
Young Chang
I'm surely missing some.

As you play more pianos, you will gain perspective. At that point, the Cable Nelson may be a finalist but maybe not. You may justify stretching for the GC1, but you may like something else better while still within budget. In many markets, it is an eye opening experience to see how competitive these different instruments really are

Wow, I can tell that you obviously have not played some of the recent better quality Chinese made pianos.

I had tried Kaiwai GM-10K, the key isn't feeling well greatly, and the price sucked. The dealer quoted me 8800$ something and speaking about it being only a 5'0 grand, i don't feel it's worthing the money.

I don't think I would ever move up, imagine I began playing with a shxtty Kawai CX5H and still do, it's just the keys I don't like.

Why don't you recommend me some of those and better with invoice price. I am aiming for quality/money ratio.

Let me chime in a bit more:

I prefer a grand piano under $8000 range, 5'3 is ok. I don't give much attention to brand as long as the keys feel right. CX5H had brought me through Grade 10 back in highschool, thus a cheap grand should last even longer.

I want a grand so that I can adapt to the feeling of grand piano, which will not cause me troubles during recitals on stage in which I kind screwed up a bit due to unfamiliar with the keys, the action is subtly different on the grands I can tell.

http://www.pianobuyer.com/fall09/w1.html

You seem very peculiar on touch; but reality is, all pianos are different. If you want the touch of the piano on the stage, you get the same piano :p

So far this is what I have quoted from various dealers:

Hoffman&Kuhne 5'3, $8672
Cable nelson 161, $8849
yamaha gc1, $12389
ritmuller gh160r,$11600
pramberger lg150, $7964

conclusion:
Hoffman&Kuhne, the sound is horrible, I will pass it on.
CN161, not bad, but bass is a bit distorted.
GC1, great sound, better than CN161 and almost no distortion I have heard

I don't quite get why people praise Hoffman&Kuhne piano, simply they aren't even playable IMHO. CN161 is probably best for the budget, but GC1 is much better than CN161 and since my budget isn't a constraint, I will probably go for GC1 after tried all above.