...and I couldn't possibly be more satisfied with it. The sound is much better through the speakers than through headphones...there's a first. It plays amazing, feels amazing, sounds really good, and I even like the coffin-box like shape! It's a real achievement from Yamaha. Very happy with my decision and considering my space, money, and sound (neighbors) constraints, and needing the next best thing to a grand piano, well the AvantGrand N1 is it. Count me as one of the very happy AvantGrand owners.

And some pics:

Nice. Looks totally sweet. I'm jealous. You look like Matt Bellamy playing piano in the second pic.

Please provide detailed impressions. My singer is thinking about getting one.

Thanks Hideki! Matt's a great musician. I've been a huge fan of Muse for years...which is odd, because I don't really listen to much rock other than them.

The N1 is a much prettier instrument in person, no doubt. I'll definitely PM you more detailed impressions but I can tell you it behaves just like an acoustic piano. Even without the TRS system, it vibrates and feels, and responds like a yamaha grand. As I finished up the paperwork this morning, I played on a new C5, and was astounded at how close the N1 behaved like it. For small space, smaller budget, silent ability, I really don't know what else is an adequate grand piano replacement.

Congrats Zachary on an amazing acquisition... I agree this is one of those cases where listening to recordings or youtube videos will not give a fair impression of what its like to be actually playing it and listening through the dedicated onboard audio system. Congrats!

Please, share all the impressions here so we can all benefit from them. Best regards,
Rafa.

Zachary,

Appears to be a very nice instrument as it looks simply fantastic!

Let's hear all of the details, about the sounds & action.

pv88

As it's approaching my bedtime I'm tuning off tonight, but will post more detailed impressions for sure. Thank you guys.

Congratulations, Zachary!

I can empathize a bit since I'm a new N2 owner and absolutely love mine.

Enjoy!

Paul

Yes I have been following Muse since I first saw them at the Wiltern back in 04. A fantastic live band. They are one of the few modern bands I like, primarily because of their live performances and because their older songs had quite a bit of piano.

I think it looks great in the pictures and really loved the N3 action. I'm sure it will keep you busy.

Congrats Zachary, the N1 looks beautiful!

+1 on MUSE too - an absolutely phenomenal live band!

Cheers,
James
x

I saw them about 8 months ago for my 5th time. The only other performers I have seen as much are Maceo Parker, Larry Carlton, Jane Monheit and Buddy Guy. Nothing like live music.

Two other bands that are worth checking out live are Mew and Porcupine Tree.

Congratulations from me too, Zachary. Great players deserve great instruments!

That is beautiful! Very sleek and elegant. Kudos to Yamaha on this design. I think this is the perfect sweet spot for a hybrid digital piano. I've played them and their action/response beat the snot out of any DP I've played.

Sometimes I warm up on a showroom AG if my piano teacher is running late and I prefer those over the baby grand in her piano room, which only seems to hold a tune for about 3 weeks at a time. Plus, the Avantgrand action is better than her baby grand's.

Congratulation Zachary! Its beautifull! Could you make an youtube video about it, maybe playing few tunes?

Very nice, Zachary. So how would you describe it in terms of sound quality and realism? By that, I'm referring to things like string resonance, decay/looping issues, sample layer switching, dynamic range. I ask because the general view going around is that Yamaha aren't as developed in this regard as Roland and Kawai. I'm curious to know if it's actually true. Are you ever aware of digital artefacts when playing? How does it sound when you crank it up to concert piano volume?

The N1 isn't available in Australia yet, as far as I know. If it's not too intrusive, what is the street price of the N1?

Oh wow. Just wow.

A big congrats mate! Keep us informed. Also tell us how it is connecting your NP to the AG.

Congrats Zachary! It looks really nice. I must say, now that we have decent amps & speakers hooked up to our NX the experience of playing it (not that I play much at all, but I often noodle around on both it and our acoustic grand for comparison purposes) and listening to others play on it is quite a bit more realistic. I'm hoping to soon make a short recording of my wife playing both so critical listeners here can comment on real vs. amplified digital.



I know it's not the same through headphones, but I just re-listened to the DPBSD MP3 of the N3:

http://www.mediafire.com/?omt2myziizn

We all know it isn't stretched, but Yamaha did a much better job with the pedal sympathetic resonance here than they normally do. The attack samples are longer than most loopers which helps a lot (though the loop samples for the lowest notes are really too short). I think maybe the string damp buzz is perhaps a bit overdone, but it does add to the realism. No layer switching that I can hear, and the 55 dB dynamic range is in the ballpark.

Congratulations Zachary! Looks just like a lid-down N3 from the front. The polished fall board and the lovely natural bounce back of the keys - very satisfying. Is your bench high enough? - looks like you could do with a couple more inches (I'm aware that has got smutty connotations )

Enjoy it and post some YT videos!

Steve

One thing I've noticed on the N2 regarding the pedal when playing through headphones: If you play a note or chord without pedal and keep holding that note or chord, then engage the pedal, the sound gets a bit louder as the sympathetic resonance effect gets triggered. It's a quirk that isn't a huge issue for me, but it's not a natural effect. I don't think it's as noticeable when playing the instrument without headphones.

I'm a piano snob... But I have to say it looks beautiful. Maybe an odd question, but is the body made of wood or plastic?

Wow, you're right, I can hear this quite distinctly in the N3 silent replay test. The note gets louder when the pedal is pressed and quieter when the pedal is lifted. They seem to be using the pedal to simply bring the effect into the mix. I think our NX behaves this way too. On our real piano the pedal down volume change isn't nearly as pronounced, though the pedal up volume change is, which makes sense as it takes some time for the undamped strings to pick up energy from the played note, all of which is then quickly damped at pedal up.

Congratulations, Zachary - I am sure that you'll have MANY hours of pleasure on this beautiful instrument,

Jonathan

Congrats Zac, it looks real nice.

Thanks everyone for the warm comments. Very much appreciated.

There's lots of questions so I'll do my best to answer them. Bear in mind I don't have the technical vocab that many of you do...I just know how to play the instrument.

Action:
The action is superb. After all, it's an authentic fully weighted grand piano action and the same one that goes into Yamaha's C class of pianos. After playing a new C5 after my paperwork yesterday, then walking back over to my N1, they felt and responded identically. No surprise there, however, as I already knew the AvantGrands have supreme action and response. It feels and plays as real as an acoustic piano. There are 3 levels of touch response- Light / Medium / Heavy. The weight of the action stays the same, but the sound is triggered faster the lighter you go. I've kept it on Med as I've found that to be the most natural feeling. The action will have to be regulated in several years, but that's the price you pay for having the real deal action wise. So, with that said, the action is superb.

Sound:
I first have to say, sound was on the bottom of my criteria, so I didn't put too much emphasis on sound. With that said, the sound through the speakers in person is night and day different than what I hear with the headphones. Through the speakers it's much more open and airy sounding, and more full throughout. It's not one of the strong points of the AvantGrands as they still have the classic somewhat boxed in sound of all sampled DPs, but the decay and sympathetic resonance is very well done and I only hear minimal looping when listening attentively to a long (unrealistic insomuch as I'd never let a note decay long enough to hear looping) decay. There's two grand pianos, mellow and bright. Both sound good and sound better for different kinds of music. I don't care for the other 2 EP sounds and harpsichord, so won't go into much there. I think the sounds people hear recorded and on the internet don't reflect the sound coming from the speakers in person.

Speaker System:
The speaker system is quite good, and the N1 is the least complex least impressive of the 3 AvantGrands, but it still sounds very good and you can tell they positioned the speakers to produce sound according to how the sound comes out of a grand piano. Kudos to Yamaha because it's not just the touch and sound that needs to be done right to mimic a grand, but also how the sound is coming out of the instrument.

Construction:
The N1 is a real work of art. It's a wooden body with a polish finish with chrome accents. The soft slow closing fall board is really nice. It feels like a real piano. It's sturdy and solid feeling and is beautiful in person. Internet pics do NO justice. The only gripe I've got is the pedal system on the N1 moves a little, in an up and down fashion, but only a few mm at most. I'd still like for that to have been stiffer, but I've stuck a square piece of cloth underneath and it's fine.

I haven't really explored too much yet, but in a nut shell, the N1 is in an entirely different class of DPs than everything else. The PHA III and RM3 Wooden actions offer a really nice touch that's very playable and friendly for acoustic piano playing, but they're still a ways off from a real grand piano. Although, I would argue the RM3 to be the next best thing to a real grand action. The RM3 Wooden action felt very close to Kawai's own grand pianos. It's almost like in the AvantGrands, you can feel that long wooden hammer which is obviously missing in all other DPs. All in all, I got exactly what I was looking for:

1. Touch/Action of a grand piano
2. Limited space
3. Silent practice

I'd recommend the N1 to anyone who wants/needs the action of a grand, has limited space for which to put the instrument, limited money to not afford a quality grand piano, and needs to practice silently to not bother neighbors. I found out yesterday that one of the head piano instructors at Blair Conservatory of Music (Vanderbilt University), known for their Classical music program, bought an N1 to teach lessons on. That says a lot for the overall package of the AvantGrands!

Kudos to Yamaha.

BTW, will post videos on YouTube when time permits...I'm a little lost in practice at the moment!

I'm sure that's really tough duty today!

Thanks for the detailed review.

Zachary,

It is important to take note as to whether or not the pedal assembly on your N1 contains a pedal screw, which is usually in the form of a small knob that you can turn by hand which makes contact to the floor to add additional stability to the pedal assembly. Be sure to check this by simply reaching down under the pedal assembly (if there is space to do so) to see if you have this pedal screw, as you mentioned putting a piece of cloth there to take up the movement, or, slack space.

I do know that both my Casio AP-620 and Kurzweil Mark Pro 3i have this pedal screw, and, if you do not adjust it properly you can risk breaking the assembly from the pressure exerted on the pedals. Since you have a grand-style pedal assembly this extra pedal screw may not apply to your N1, although you want to check it just to be sure.*

Also, enjoyed your review above, too!

pv88

Note:

* I checked out the N1 manual at the Yamaha website, and found that the N1 does have an "adjuster" (same as pedal screw) under the pedal assembly. This has to be lowered to the floor/carpet until firm contact is made to offer solid stability for your pedals.

Hey Zachary, congrats! I've enjoyed watching your collection wax and wane, so to speak. This one sounds like a winner as does your Nord 88.

Thanks for taking the time to post your review Zachary.

Cheers,
James
x

Very cool! Be careful, you have the beginnings of a collection.

Congrats.....mmmm...new Yammie..always the best....

Do you have time left to do other things in your life than playing piano???

Best regards,
Johan B