Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Inside the AvantGrand N1

Surely Yamaha is more accommodating with the AvantGrands because of the relatively high price point. This puts it more in the spot of real instruments rather than just techno gadgets. Nobody would ever dare to claim the warranty of a real grand was voided because a none-manufacturer tech voiced it or fixed some issues it had. If you really manage to mess things up though (which is unlikely) then you have to accept the consequences.

After spending so much money though I have absolutely no reason to try and fix things myself. This is something that I expect Yamaha to do, and they did so without question even for the super minor issue I had.

The warranty isn't worth anything in my case, as I bought the instrument via an online shop (to save money).

Moreover, it was exciting and instructive to take the thing apart and I'm glad I did it. It's such a difference if you know it from outside only, or if you've really gotten in touch with it and know how it's built and how it works.

Since when does buying in an online shop come with no warranty? Was it some kind of black import or something

When I ordered it, I thought everything was ok. But when it was already too late, I learned (from a real dealer) that Yamaha doesn't support this kind of selling their instruments - and that I can forget about the warranty.
But I can live with that. I'm pretty good at fixing things myself - and I'm still very glad about the money I saved. (It would have been 7500 Swiss franks in the shops, and I paid 6000.)

6000 CHF = 6580 USD.

That's an outstanding price. So much for all the talk about Europeans getting screwed by higher prices than we pay in America. Is that before or after a monstrous 20% VAT?

I would definitely give up my warranty in order to get one at a superior price like that.

I'm from Switzerland too. Where did you buy it? I got mine from a shop I found on Ricardo (http://www.furrerpromusik.ch) and paid 5695 with full 2 year warranty.

I actually had a small issue fixed by service guy described here: https://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubb...20the%20AvantGrand%20N1.html#Post1830311

Edit: duh, just realized I linked to this here thread. Consider me facepalmed

Interesting - that means the Yamaha N1 is available for €4801 from this shop, Furrer Pro Musik. Sounds amazingly cheap! Not much different from some of the top end Clavinovas.

Yeah, I was sceptical at first but the dealer explained that he cirumvents the usual channels and has no shop where you can go to and try out instruments. I think he gets his stuff through other dealers or something. Could care less, it was the only way I could afford the thing at the time anyway.

Goes to show how high the margins probably are on the AvantGrands. Surely he's still making a good profit even with this low price.

It's strange because usually I need to import stuff from Thomann or such to get a good price. Switzerland tends to have way higher prices than our European neighbours, especially with the strong swiss franc.

Yes, that price: €4801 for the Avant Grand N1 is the online price, too. Usually, that's where you start bargaining from, so I assume you might get a cash deal quite a lot cheaper than that.

Curious, the prices and pricing policy differences from country to country. Anyway, it's great you managed to make the most of this apparent anomaly.

I just don't understand how anyone can sell the N1 for 4800 euros and actually make money of it, or rather not actually loosing money over the sale.
Are you sure this isn't a demo/store or used instrument? Wow... The list price here in Norway is around 8150-8200 euros. Having said that, Norway has a pretty strong currency these days.

Interesting. So we bought it in the same place. And you paid even less. (I paid 6050.- including delivery.) So if you had something fixed, it means that there is a warranty after all. How remarkable.

I still don't regret having taken it apart. I like it a lot better now that I know it so intimately ...

Well in hindsight, it's quite possible that Yamaha just assumed that I had gotten the instrument through normal channels. Only after the service guy was finnished did I have to show the invoice, so maybe later they realised I wasn't entitled to warranty but for sake of customer satisfaction just bit the bullet? heck I don't know.

The dealer clearly states "2 year warranty" though. Maybe the idea was that he himself would do any warranty work instead of Yamaha? Possible.

http://www.furrerpromusik.ch/product_info.php?products_id=22

That's exactly what he told me. And as the guy certainly doesn't have any special knowledge about these instruments (he's just a vendor of all kinds of electronic goods), I can just as well do the repairs myself ...

Maybe someone's interested in some more pictures of the N1's interiors? Here's a link to a set of nine photos of my taking-the-N1-apart-adventure:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77782693@N07/6821329928/in/set-72157629183675738/lightbox/

Outstanding teardown. Looks like you really got into the guts. You don't happen to have a closeup of the brain board and the sensors (both the ones under the keys and the ones the hammers pass through) do you?

Under the keys it looks like there's a piece of...clear plastic I guess...that hangs down and then presumably cuts through a beam of light inside the metal apparatus underneath. Is that right? Do you get the feeling the clear plastic is delicate? Adjustable? Replaceable?

If I recall right from the other pictures, the hammers also have a piece of something that comes up and cuts through two beams of light. Is it the same basic stuff as is under the bottom of your key?

Probably these should be added to dewster's "nekkid DP" thread.

Thanks for sharing!

Great teardown, thanks! You should make a post here at PW with your pix in it (you can host them on the PW server, if you want me to put them there please tell me) and some text.


I second the request for closeup pix of the brains board.


The plastic looks fairly clear to the camera (and to the human eye?) but perhaps it is opaque to IR? Though some say there is a soft red light from under the keys so I'm not sure what to think.

I don't know why exactly but I'm shocked that the AG keys have counterweights in their sides.

I don't know why exactly but I'm shocked that the AG keys have counterweights in their sides.

Do you mean the round lead keys in the front part of the keys, the part of the keys that are under your fingers?

Nop, sorry. I wasn't interested in that part.

This is the best I have for the sensors below the keys:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77782693@N07/6824204370/in/photostream

And for those of the hammers, picture 4 of the original post already shows the sensors pretty well. In the following picture you see them too, less clearly, but more of the slices that go into the light barriers is visible:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77782693@N07/6824204532/in/photostream


Exactly.


I inadvertently gave it a push several times, and it's not particularly delicate. It's pliable, yet fairly rigid. It didn't look adjustable, as far as I can remember - but I guess replacing it wouldn't be too difficult, as there seems to be enough space under the keys to fix it in improvised ways (if necessary).


No, it isn't. Looks more like metal to me. But I didn't touch it.

Sounds good. For some reason, if I want to place a picture in a post, only the image-tags plus the URL appear instead of the picture. That's why there are no pictures in my posts.
I didn't know pictures could be hosted on PW. That would definitely be better than having them on flickr. How can I upload them? Or how can I send you the pictures to do it for me? By email?
And what about the size? The FAQ section states that pics should only be 35K max, which is pretty little. Means you can't zoom in on any details.

I had as well a noise issue and got it repaired. I talked with the guy and he told me it's impossible to get to the action unless to dissemble the piano.

Here are some pictures I made: