CJ, I have heard from you that you have a 190, which seems to be serving you well. Did you have a chance to try the 215?
Cool. When you say half of what a Bose or a Fazioli cost, you mean US$35k to $45K or some other number?BTW, congratulations on your purchase. I am sure you are loving it. You may have noticed I'm not a Bose fan, but I can appreciate what is it that people love about them. Do you play lots of Schubert and enjoy lieder and chamber music a very whole lot?And back to the AF. You got me pondering now, as this was Prokofiev's piano as well, wasn't it? Seems counterintuitive if they are closer to a Bose than to, say, a Bechstein. I may need to reevaluate my paradigms (mostly about Prokofiev, right ;?).
Cool. When you say half of what a Bose or a Fazioli cost, you mean US$35k to $45K or some other number?
BTW, congratulations on your purchase. I am sure you are loving it. You may have noticed I'm not a Bose fan, but I can appreciate what is it that people love about them. Do you play lots of Schubert and enjoy lieder and chamber music a very whole lot?
And back to the AF. You got me pondering now, as this was Prokofiev's piano as well, wasn't it? Seems counterintuitive if they are closer to a Bose than to, say, a Bechstein. I may need to reevaluate my paradigms (mostly about Prokofiev, right ;?).
Totally agree. They're all different in subtle ways.
Chris saysThe more I play different pianos, the more difficult it seems to make comparisons. The simplistic advice of "play them all" just always comes back to me as ringing very true.Totally agree. They're all different in subtle ways. Also I can say I never met a piano I didn't like. OK I only try the good ones (still haven't played any low priced Chinese pianos), but the differences on all of them came down to small matters of preference and price to me.
(I don;t post at PW anymore, in case you did not know)
My current tech grew up in the former Soviet Union and came here in 1991. He said the AF was one of the most sought-after pianos in the eastern block. One needed special permission from the Ministry of Culture to get one, he said.
Considering the great secrecy and the Stallinist regime here, I might imagine Chris could well have overlooked some new law requiring special permission and Homeland Security will be impounding his AF any day now. It's not as if he's hidden the fact he owns one.
Forcing some of the lazier among us to get off our duffs and start talking pricing "transparency" and play consumer advocate in your absence.
Surely you, sir, have better ways to spend your time! Stick around here, it's far more civil.
"I've always been a sucker for a lost cause, once it's truly lost".
Hence the affinity for stray pianos?
I got to play a few Fazioli's in Germany. Lovely pianos, really wonderful. But they certainly didn't seem orders of magnitude better than any of the other fine pianos I've played (or own )
... the differences the Fazioli offers can't readily be seen by the naked eye. ... In other words, perhaps it's outstanding qualities can only be appreciated by a piano technician or engineer, and not the general public.
When I was seriously shopping for a new piano I think I believed that the differences were huge. But as time goes on, honestly looking at it once you get into 'tier 1' or 'tier 2', it seems to me to be not so great.
Iumonito, as my good friend Keith Kerman would say. Great pianos are like fine wine. One must be educated and have a keen sense of taste to appreciate what others possibly can't.
...Ron seems like a reputable guy who knows his stuff. Interesting points in here about the Fazioli, plus some detailed claims that they compression crown.
Chick, Ron Overs review is ten years old. A lot has changed in Fazioli's production methods since that time. They are now using a hybrid between compression and rib crowning.
I would be glad to hear finally there is one thing I disagree on with Keith. (Private joke, that and how to say cheesy in Italian). Alas, if he chimes in maybe we will get a clarification on his position on this.
Alas, if he [Keith] chimes in maybe we will get a clarification on his position on this.