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Hi Everybody!
I'm new here and I have been reading quite a few posts and I am learning much. A little about me: I am classically trained with a B.A. in Music (piano/theory, earned 33 years ago! yikes!). I also love Jazz and it is my new obsession. I am about to buy a Yamaha Nu!. It is replacing a Roland FP-5, which I purchased back in 2003. I owned a Baldwin console, which is what I learned the piano on as a teen. I unfortunately had to sell my piano as a result of my divorce in 2000. It served me well but it is time to move forward. I struggled with the option of purchasing a grey market Yamaha U3 Silent, but never came across any that had the silent system installed in the production of the piano. They were all retro-fitted. I did a little research on these pianos and saw more negative than positive. If any of you out there can offer your opinion, I would appreciate it.
Anyhow, I played a Yamaha NU1 and loved it. The action felt like that of an upright. Boy, I have my work cut out for me after playing the FP-5 all this time! Living in New York, having a piano that can be played silently and with a volume control is a major plus. I also feel that purchasing a new Hybrid Piano will save me in maintenance and discovering major problems on something used requiring major repair. When I retire, I will have my acoustic piano once and for all!
I'm really excited and almost feel like I did back when I got my first piano. It was a Baldwin.
Thanks for reading and hope to share with all of you.
...without music, no life...

exciting !! That seems like a really nice piano and Yamaha build's really good stuff

Check out this thread where the NU1 has been discussed, with some user photos.

Also consider Yamaha AvantGrand N1 - slightly different piano voice and a real grand action. I think you are in the right ballpark with Yamaha, especially as your passion is jazz. Either would work well I'm sure. But not wanting to labour the point I would check out the N1 BEFORE choosing!

Good luck,

Steve

I wish you good luck, but this is a great choice. I just purchased an N3 a few months back and absolutely love it. A nice grand would have been great, but the ability to practice silent on a quality instrument is incredible. I'm still very happy with the purchase.

Brian

seems that you like the upright action and I know its great on the nu1. All that AG actions are nice as well but different. Certainly an excellent choice if you go with the nu1. let us know !

Thanks, Steve. I have played an N2 and N3 but not an N1. My piano dealer advisedly that they no longer carry it. Believe me that if I could afford one of the others they would be in the running.
Thank to all for your good wishes and responses. I will post again when I get my piano

You beat me to it. I would also recommend you try the N1 (or N2, N3) before sealing the deal on the NU1.

i wonder how repetition is on the nu1 as opposed to a grand piano action on an n1. That would be my concern if I got one. Had an Kawai upright and the slow repetition and occasional double-striking was hard to get used to.

I will be going to my piano dealer tomorrow. I hope to, again, play an Avantgard N1. It will all come down to price. Regardless, I will be purchasing my piano tomorrow. I'm ecstatic!

THanks, again to all of you for your opinions, advice, and responses.

Barbara, be sure to bring a set of professional headphones with you. I own a N3 but use headphones 95 percent of the time (for various reasons), but primarily because headphones sound better.

There was someone here a while ago who felt like the NU1 provided a better overall experience than the N1. Better sound and more pleasant action (not quite as heavy) as far as I remember. Certainly worth testing both.

I spoke to a retailer of both N1 and NU1 the other day and his preference was strongly towards N1 over NU1. There was no agenda there by the way - I know he was giving me his honest opinion.

I think it was this: http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1956830/Yamaha_NU1_v_N1_a_totally_subj.html

I'd probably buy a stage DP with fake action before I spent money for real upright action. At least the fake action uses gravity like real grands while upright uses springs to move hammer back in place

An upright piano does NOT use springs to move hammers back in place.

From this website: http://www.pianocareny.com/?FAQ

The action of the two types of pianos rely on the same principle. The action is the part of the piano that moves when you play. A key is pressed and a felt hammer hits a string and then returns. First to explain what I mean by returning. For the hammer to strike the string, a little L shaped piece called a "jack" pushes up under the hammer. The jack forces the hammer into the string and drops back, allowing the hammer to return. The returning enables the hammer to be ready to hit the string again, and is very different on the two types of pianos. On an upright a spring, gravity, and momentum, assist in returning the hammer. A spring pushes the jack back under the hammer, and a spring helps to push the hammer back to where the jack sits. On a grand, a more complex mechanism acts on the returning of the hammer. The hammer is pushed up by the jack, and once the jack gets out of the way to let the hammer return, a lever moves up and holds the hammer closer to the string, enabling the jack return fully under the hammer ready to strike again. This time, though, the hammer is much closer to the string. Because of this, you can repeat the note very quickly and softly, much more so than on an upright. The dampers are also very different, and the grand dampers tend to be superior. On an upright, the dampers return to the string by a spring, whereas on a grand they return to the string by gravity. This difference, along with the difficulty in accessing the damper mechanism on an upright to make minute adjustments, make the grand damper much easier for the piano technician to "regulate" or make regular. Making each key on a piano behave the exact same way, with the same movement being required to push down each key from one to the next, is very important in being able to play the piano as well as it can be played. This is because if one key requires a different action (say C needs more force to hit the string than D) then it is much harder to control the volume of the keys you are playing.

Both upright and grand actions have a spring to return the jack to its rest position.
On an upright it's a small coil under the heel of the jack.
On a grand it's a bent-wire spring.

But neither uprights nor grands have a spring to move the hammer.
Your information is incorrect.

What reasons were given?

Indeed, I am curious also.

James
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