Silent or Disklavier Yamaha S6 quality

[braindoc]

Hello.  New to posting.  I have learned a lot from this site - many thanks.

I was wondering if anyone could comment on the quality of either the "silent" Yamaha S6 or diskclavier S6.  Specifically, I wanted to know if the sound quality of this signature grand is degraded or significantly changed when these options are built into the piano.  I have played a regular S6 recently and really enjoy the sound/quality.  I would like to purchase a nice grand (either the S6 or Steinway B ), but thought it might be nice to have the "silent" option since most of my practice time is later in the evening.  This has me leaning toward the Yamaha.  However, I do not want to spend that kind of money and have the quality significantly downgraded.  If so, I would prefer the Steinway B over the S6 (from the ones I've played and currently available).

Unfortunately, there is nowhere that has a "silent" or disklavier S6 for me to try right now.  When I ask the dealer, they emphatically tell me there is no difference between the regular S6 (that I've tried) and the "silent" S6's.  They then go on to tell me the usual Yamaha sales line regarding the consistency of Yamaha's build compared with Steinway, etc. etc.

I would appreciate anyones input or experience on this subject.

Thank you in advance.

Brian

[pianist1976]

Built-in silent systems don't alter the mechanism or sound of the pianos (I own one and works as good as a non-silent one). But my technician don't recommend installing a silent on a non-silent piano and, as I know, Steinway don't make silent pianos.

Anyway, I wouldn't buy a piano I didn't try before, ever. No way!

[richard black]

If I had the choice, and could afford it, I would most certainly go with the Steinway B plus a reasonably decent keyboard for night-time practice.

[pianorebuilder]

You will not find a signifcant difference in tonal quality in any Yamaha piano (S or C series) equipped with the Silent only or Disklavier/Silent features.  They will be technically more complicated... The drive system, the servo system to turn on the silent feature, sensors and emitters, hammer stop rails and let-off button rails. Any mis-adjustments of these components by unqualified techinicians can result in many playability issues (rare occurence).  I have not found that the Silent systems require an extraordinary amount of maintenance, even in a high use environment.  More problems occur when a technician does something unorthodox to the piano i.e. changes keybedding/keyheight signifcantly, misadjusts let-off or drop, etc.

In my opinion, the S models are as carefully crafted as any other "high-end" piano on the market today, and the tone produced is exquisite. If your desire is to have a Silent piano, then there is no better choice than a Yamaha S model so equipped.  The system is factory installed and the pianos are designed to accept the components. Any other aftermarket system that is added later as an option will affect playability, and the tone as a by product will suffer because of the modifications involved.

Franco Skilan RPT    

[braindoc]

Thank you very much for all of your input.  Most helpful. I am quite drawn to the S6 after playing both the B and the S.  Still, the Steinway name does seem to get in the way.  I've considered the option of a Steinway B and a "night time" keyboard.  But I want to be able to play and practice as much as possible on one piano.

Again, thank you for taking time to reply.