Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Introducing the new YAMAHA ??? coming later this year!!!

Yeah, these are the kind of fairly small adjustments that often accompany the rolling out of a new "model." Yamaha is certainly not the only firm, or even the only piano firm, to engage in this kind of tinkering and rebadging. It makes good sense to market it, but really, it does seem like small potatoes (yes, to ME).

But you know, I like the C series, so I'm sure I won't like this any less.

I like the C series, too, some better than others. But I recently tuned a C3 and a G3, and the differences between them were less than the sample differences for each of those models, probably because I have been taking care of them for so long.

If the CX series has the same improvements as the C3XA and C6XA, there was a noticeable improvement in the sound. The treble had a bell-like clarity and the bass was more mellow but had wonderful power. Since the C3 I purchased was already over-the-top of my piano budget, I couldn't indulge, but wow, I was really impressed with the difference I heard in the XA's. It may look like small tweaks, but those changes made a very big difference in sound (at least to me).

I really look forward to the new CX's hitting the dealer's showrooms. Improvements to pianos that don't cost more than my house are always welcome news!

Well, at least these are improvements to, and a discussion regarding, a brand that is significant in the industry.

So much of the discussion on this forum seems to center on the insignificant - by that I mean discussions about brands that, while of great quality - have little or no real significance in the industry as a whole because they sell in such small quantities.

I won't mention any names, but I believe you are familiar with a brand that gets frequent mentions here - that I would guess sold fewer than a dozen pianos in the United States all last year.

Yamaha sells more in 1 week than all the "Tier 1" piano brands put together sell in a year. Perhaps in several years.

Don't get me wrong - I have never been accused of being a big fan of Yamahas, and quite the contrary - I am a huge fan of most all the "Tier 1" brands - some more than others (especially Steingraeber and Sauter). But to most people they are not relevant.

Out of curiosity, what brand of wire were they using up to now?

i agree; on paper the changes don't appear earth shaking but it may well be a case of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. i look forward to 'seeing' what a CF6 sounds like.

It is entirely possible that the selling points mentioned are not the primary improvements to the newer models. I just do not like people touting pianos on the basis of selling points. The proof is in how well the piano sounds and plays.

I got to play the CFX several months ago. My impression was that it is a very nice piano; there was nothing about it that I found objectionable: it had a nice sound, the action was responsive, and it looked pretty with its edgy styling. However, it left me with a "so what?" feeling. It's not such an improvement over the CFIIIS that it deserves the hype it's getting... rather, it's just another really, really nice tier-1 concert grand.

This is nice! Maybe some of the Bosendorfer philosophy is making its way down to their Yamaha line

Trying to help avoiding speculations on the specs of the new Yamaha CX series, below are two links describing them:

Yamaha announcement

Yamaha Australia - CX series

schwammerl.

Hello Schwammerl,

Thank you very much for sharing.


JT
GPH

On October 12, 2012 (Friday), Yamaha Corporation will make a worldwide launch of a new series of acoustic grand pianos, the CX Series, which will replace its premium quality "C Series" pianos.

So... if I read this correctly, the current C will be replaced, no longer made. I bet the C3XA/C6XA will no longer be made either, as they are exactly the same thing as the future C3X and C6X.

The only bad thing about this means a new C-series piano will be much more expensive once the current C-series stock is gone.

I wonder how long it takes to sell out all the current stock of C3, when the C3X would be the only kind of new C3 you could get from a dealer? One or two years?

you ask really good questions, 4evrBeginR. hard to imagine yamaha would give up price points that have been so successful for them. to possibly oversimplify, that means that either CXs take on XA pricing (substantially higher), CXs get a bump in pricing (potentially mitigated with dealer discounts) or CXs simply replace Cs in the pricebook (the latter would leave XA buyers a bit miffed i would think).

jeff, what sayest thou?

I will be playing the C3X either later this week, or early next week.

I've also played C3XA and of course C3.

The problem with Yamaha is that they creep their prices up and up and up, until the point where you could match it with a Bluthner or something. Of course, since Yamaha have control of Bosendorfer, they don't have to worry about competition there... they'll just knock up the Bosie prices (which are already very high).

Of course, if the CX series are significantly better than the C series, then I don't expect that they SHOULD be the same price. If there's a lot of R and D involved there, and upgraded materials, then the pianos will be more expensive and justifiably so.

It depends on the application of the piano. A pianist who only has one piano, will want something middle of the road, that can take a pounding and will retain it's sound reasonably well, then you flog it and upgrade. You don't expect to make money on it because you've worked it into the ground.

A pianist with two pianos might want something middle of the road, or even less for note bashing - even an old vertical - and then want something a bit special for the finishing work, finding out what the possibilities are. You couldn't really do that on the older C series pianos. Perhaps the CX will allow more refined practice.

I wonder what this will do to the used market for existing C-series piano. Using the C3 as the canonical Yamaha let's assume that the C3X will list for considerably more than the current C3. Let's say a C3X costs $5000 more than the current C3 new. (call it $35k instead of $30k just for round numbers).

Someone with a $30k budget that wants a C3 now can't get a new one *at all* for that price and if they like the Yamaha sound they will turn to the used market. In this case, demand goes up for used C3s.

On the other hand if the C3X is significantly better to where most buyers strongly prefer it to the existing C3 then demand for the existing C3s may go down. I think that's what happened to the G series which seem to go for less on the used market than similar-vintage Cs.

If the C3X is significantly better sounding and is NOT quite a bit more expensive than the existing C3 then I would expect the latter to happen. But C-series Yamahas are pretty damned expensive already and every dollar they increase the price increases their vulnerability from the lower tiers. If Yamaha wants to continue selling hundreds of thousands of C-series pianos instead of just thousands of "boutique" pianos I don't think they have much room on price. I'm pretty well off financially but a new C3 is really hard for me to justify at $30k. If it moves upmarket to 40k it will be basically out-of-reach for 95% of Americans.

Japanese car manufacturers established toeholds in the American markets with cheap models but they quickly moved upscale. Surely Yamaha doesn't want to be outflanked in that way.

when last i checked the C3XA retail was $53k. if the C3X is essentially the same, it's hard to imagine it getting a retail price in the 40s, much less the 30s. and like i said before, if it does there are going to be some very unhappy C3XA owners out there.

Well, not very many of them

In Canada, the C3XA retail price is $7,400 higher than the C3, so about $4,424 more. I suspect that the C3X might be similar.

Wow - talk about wild speculation!