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Hoffman Tradition are fine piano's, however for that sort of money you could buy a new Bechstein which is better. The reconditioned depends on the condition and the age.

Maybe Bechsteins are less expensive in Germany than in the UK? At my local music shop, new Bechstein uprights start at £13,734 for a B112.

Pros of the silent option: touch, feel, action of your acoustic, and it saves on space.

Do you have the space for both? If you do, and you like your digital you might not need the silent. I did not have the space for both, and I love my silent option. I can play in the evenings with others in the room and my headphones on. No more neighbor issues either.

There are lots of posts on silent pianos check out the past posts on PW.

+1

A new Bechstein B124 is listed here (Netherlands, tiny boattrip away) for 12.5k Eur.
They usually don't sell for the listprice so almost 14k Gbp (17k Eur) for the smallest Bechstein is outrageous.

Am I wrong? Or... Doesn't many of the good uprights have a quiet pedal? Middle pedal, then move it to the left to lock it in place. Makes playing quiet. Wouldn't this fulfill wanting to play quietly?

I've read much good talk about the new Estonia's. Maybe the little one 5'6" might not be too much money? Or...you may like it so much. You'll finance the rest. ... Doh!

True, although the touch is impaired by the silent system. And not only when playing in silent mode.

I was so flabbergasted by the prices you mentioned that I did some more research.
I have looked up the prices in the UK and for the price of a Bechstein upright you could get a nice grand piano here.. The prices at your dealer seam to be representive for the UK. For some reason the prices in the used market are much more reasonable.

In Germany you get a Bechstein B124 for 11.400 EUR. That's 9k in GBP. If you want to buy new, importing yourself might be a cheap option.

I'm watching this thread with interest because I'm likely to buy a silent piano soon. For the last 15 years I've made do with Yamaha digitals (currently is CVP503), but now I've settled down I'm looking for a decent acoustic piano. I can't justify the space required for 2 pianos, and I'll want to play quietly at night, so a silent piano sounds like the perfect solution. I'm going to a showroom tonight in central London to try them out, but I think I'll end up stretching to a U3 SH.

While a vanilla acoustic piano with a quiet pedal would allow you to practice at low volumes at night, the sound isn't that involving due to the muffling. I'd much prefer a good synthesised sound through headphones than a muffled acoustic sound.

My brother has a piano with a silent option. He never uses it though. He plays VERY loud till quite late in the evening. His neighbours complained when he started using the silent option, they missed the music. That was a real LOL moment for me. I only use the muffler for when my kids are just asleep so I don't wake them. My neighbours say they hear hardly anything of my playing.

Good for him. I know without a quiet option I'd be getting complaints from inside the house, nevermind the neighbours. The silent option is £1.5k extra on the U3. I think that up-tick in price is very reasonable considering the benefits, not only of practicing silently (bar the thumping of the keys), but also the recording and midi capabilities. I'll have a computer desk in the same room so I'd definitely be interested in hooking the piano up to my computer.

Very interesting discussion which reminds me my dilemmas last year... After one year of playnig an upright with the silent system I wonder what would I do if I could turn back time?

If I had more room in my appartment I would save the money and buy W. Hoffmann T122 (I am still more into the European sound ) without the silent system and would not sell my Kawai MP6. Since it is not possible I am very happy with my choice. Furthermore, using Kontakt 5 instruments I can pre-record e.g. drums and bass and practice my stuff with my digital trio. Anyway, I think the silent option is still only an additional benefit and the priority is to get the best acoustic instrument one can afford.

Romek

I agree! Especially given the sound quality of the Yamaha SH system. It beats a muted acoustic hands down.

Have fun trying them out And let us know how you get on!

Hi Romek, I've just found your thread "Which silent upright to choose?" and I was very interested to read it.

So how do you find your Hoffman V120 Vario? Did you ever get chance to try the Yamaha SH system, and if so how do you think it compares to the Vario system?

The owner of my local piano shop seems to think Yamaha SH is much better than Vario, so they might not have Vario in stock, but if they do I'd like to try it. Fingers crossed!

At the moment my options (in order of price, most expensive first) are:
Yamaha U1 SH
Hoffman Vision V112 Vario
Kemble Conservatoire SH

In theory I guess the Yamaha U1 is the best out of those three, but I'll play them all and see which I prefer. I wish I could just skip work and spend the afternoon playing pianos!

Hi there,

yes, I tried them all (SG, SG2, SH, Vario and ATX2) and the SH system seems to be the best one. I am not quite satisfied with piano sound in the Vario system (although my much more advanced piano friends were OK with it), probably because I am used to Ivory II and Galaxy VST pianos. Hoffmann V112 is a very nice piano but still a bit short and I felt a significant difference in the sound comparing V112 vith V120 and T122. I've never played a Kemble piano. If I had to choose I would go for Yamaha U1 SH. If you have the opportunity, chcek the Vario system as well. I would be very interested about your thoughts after comparing Vario and SH systems.

I opted for V120/Vario over Yamaha P121/SH because I liked the Hoffmann's sound.

If you have any more questions feel free to send a PM.

Good luck!

Romek

Thanks Romek! I'll let you know after I've had chance to try them.

I read that Schimmel TwinTone pianos use the Yamaha SG2 system. (This was in an article about silent pianos in Pianist Magazine, Issue 77.) Although SG2 isn't as good as SH, it's probably better than Vario, so a Schimmel TwinTone could be the best option for someone who wants a German silent piano.

My local piano shop doesn't sell Schimmels, unfortunately. But for those of you in London (Robin66?) the Schimmel dealer is Peregrine's Pianos.

The Yamahas were great. I played a YUS3 SH which felt and sounded as good as expected. However, after trying one of the baby grands I'm now seriously considering it as an option, the main advantages being it looks great and the key resistance is more uniform along the length of the key, and the main disadvantages being the space consumed and the cost.

I need to dwell on it, but I could see myself buying a refurb'ed baby grand. £10k was my original limit. A new baby grand of similar quality to the U3 is closer to £20k, and I'm not going to stretch to that. I'm going to have a proper measure up of the room this weekend before I weigh up my options.

Hi Robin66, You might find these articles useful?
Baby Grand Pianos
Baby Grand Piano vs Upright Piano

@AnotherEmma, a Baby Grand is a big term.
Lot's of grands just bigger than 5'5" will sound very good and the action is almost always better then an upright.
By all means, if you have the room for it, check out some grands. (And it needs less space then you would think). They don't need to be more expensive then a new upright with a silent system.

Also, a longer trip to buy a piano is not a bad Idea. If you feel inclined to try a Schimmel, by all means do it. I love mine (and it did cost me relatively little money).

Many thx. I'd already seen the 2nd article. The 1st article drills down into some of the detail which is fascinating and makes sense.