Name that piano!....

[hbofinger]

It's big, black, roughly 7 ft. It is a very recent new purchase by a retirement home. It has a muddled, uninspiring bass that make one feel like the string length is about half of what it really is.

The upper registers don't sing at all.

The purchasers are very, very proud of it.

The keys require a sledgehammer to move, even after two years.

It is really a gawd-awful instrument.

This can only be a brand spanking new  ______________ (fill in the blank)!

[pianoman53]

Hmm... I'd say... I don't know. I would guess Bösendorfer, but they use to have a good bass... So I go for either yamaha or Schimmel

[perfect_pitch]

SHIGERU KAWAI SK model something?

[keys60]

I'm guessing, by how proud the purchasers are, a very old unrestored Steinway C.
Ok. Reread the original post. Its only 2 years old?
First guess Boston? Second Kohler and Campbell?
Hows the atmospheric conditions in that old aged home. Bet its hot in the daytime, cold at night and as humid as pea soup.

[hbofinger]

Sorry for the long reply - on travels.

No - the piano is a New York B. It is typical of so many I have played - the upper range dead. This one, however, also has a dead bass, which is not so typical. The action is heavy as lead. And everybody is really proud of it. Ontop of that, there have been repeated technician's visits to fix this or that, but alas, it is still a dud..

If I am Steinway-bashing here, let me just clarify that when I walk into a Steinway showroom in Vienna, Austria, and I play three Bs for roughly 100,000 Euros a piece, I wish I had 300,000 Euros on hand to buy all three. If I go into the Stuttgart showroom, I play three, I feel one is slightly better than the other two, it is because I feel it might be the very best instrument I have ever played (it was already sold - someone else figured it out too). 

But it is really a pitty what I see here in the U.S. I have not been to the factory outlet, but what I see in the dealerships frankly does not seem worth the money.

OK, I now see everybody getting ready to pile up on me...  Sorry for being so outspoken, could not help it....