Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Help... Should I get a Yamaha C1X or YUS5?

Hello! I've been a frequent visitor of this website because it seems like there are many knowledgeable people here!! So I created this account to ask for help! :-( I need help with choosing a piano. The thing is... I've been using a Young Chang PE-121 for 7 years and i've reached a point where I feel that the piano is limiting me because it's too light, too loud, doesn't have a wide dynamic range.

My teacher has advised me to get a new piano, preferably a grand. The problem is that my house is kinda small and the biggest baby grand i can get is probably a C2X.
However, I don't think my parents will be willing to spend on a C2X so I only have the YUS5 and C1X to choose from.

Yamaha's having a year-end promotion and is selling the C1X for $25,499 and YUS5 for $12,999. Among the other uprights, I found the YUS5 upright piano to be the most similar to a grand although there are some subtle difference in touch and a huge difference in sound (duh). I prefer the action and the sound of the C1X to the YUS5 but I'm not sure whether the C1X is worth the money...
IT'S A $12,500 DIFFERENCE.

Also, this will be the first and last time I'm changing a piano so the next piano i get gotta be good enough to last me through all my diplomas and possibly even further.
I seriously made this account just to consult the people on this forum ......... I have to decide quickly before the promotion ends.

That's an okay, but not earth-shattering deal on a C1X, when comparing the SMP price in the current Piano Buyer. I would expect (in a brisk sales market, or with floor stock that's been sitting around for a year or two) to be able to pay that amount with or without a "year-end promotion". I am a fan of the YUS5, and almost bought a U5 years ago when I was looking for a great vertical piano (I still like them, but for the looks)...

If you're only considering Yamaha, have you added the GC2 into the mix? It's bigger than the C1X and cheaper than it. For that matter, have you considered recently-made used Yamahas? If regularly maintained and not overused by a pianist or student who practices on it for 4-5 hours a day, you might be able to find a good used C2, since they're fairly common.

There are other alternatives outside the Yamaha brand, of course, but I'm not going to go off on that tangent unless you really want us to...

Finally, what kind of repertoire are you playing now, and how much do you practice?

I am a huge fan of the newest Cx series of grands by Yamaha. [b]With proper prep{/b] these pianos are different than anything Yamaha put out historically. If you search my posts from years ago you will see that I was not a fan of the tone of these pianos for years.

I am now a fan.

The YUS5 is a killer upright, as is the Walter, and the Mason 50", but a grand action makes a difference to many players.

My 2 cents,

Hi! Thank you for your response! :)) The prices of the said yamaha models are fixed (i think?) because I'm buying the piano directly from Yamaha. Also, the prices are in SGD hehe

I've looked at some second-hand C1Xs and YUS5s but the prices the owners have set are still quite high considering their age. if not, i would've settled on a second hand piano. I've tried the GC1 and found it very different from the C1X! The GC1 was really soft and the it had a really heavy touch, although my judgement might have been affected because it was kinda noisy then. The Yamaha branch i visited didn't have the GC2 so I didn't try it...

Currently I'm playing Beethoven piano sonata no. 5 in C minor, 1st movement of Grieg's sonata in e minor, bach toccata in e minor, George Gershwin's The Man I love & I got rhythm.
Anyway, I try to practise everyday, for as long as I can xD

Thank you!!

Your comment is greatly appreciated!! thank you.

Anyways, SGD25,499 is equivalent to USD18086.71 and
SGD12,999 = USD9220.33, according to google

That's much better.

I think you might appreciate the jump to a grand more than to another upright, even though the upright is a very good YUS5. The projection on a grand is more "surround", the touch is also different and closer to the concert pianos.

Have you looked at other used brands for better prices?

I think the upright will be perfectly adequate. Too much is made of the differences, as most people will never notice. If there are differences, going from an upright to a grand will not be a bad transition. Maintaining an upright action is simpler than maintaining a grand action, so it should be less expensive to own. However, I have a caveat about that: When upright hammers have worn a lot, the action cannot be regulated as well as a grand piano. However, in both cases, the hammers should be replaced when they have worn to that amount anyway.

Hi BDB this is interesting can you elaborate on why upright action is simpler to maintain? Is it partly due to it being protected by the cabinet whereas in a grand it is more exposed?

Overall, the insides of a upright tend to stay better than the insides of grands for the reason you say. But the upright action is simpler, so it is easier to regulate.

I haven't looked at other used brands... My teacher suggested Hailun because they're cheaper but I don't know much about their pianos..

What other brands do you suggest I take a look at?

The difference in touch was quite apparent to me though... Other than the touch, I liked how the YUS5 sounded! It was a lot better than the GC1.

Since you live in Singapore, you might get better help on used brands if you let us know what is available there so that you do not get suggestions for pianos you cannot find.

I can tell you what you want to hear, but

You will change.


Don't

The feel of the action may be different, but your ability to play anything on either action should not.

Don't let the tail wag the dog, i.e., don't let the end of the year-end sale drive your decision. With the amount of money you are spending and the length of time you expect to keep the piano, take some time to look around.


A lot of people really like the C2X. You could use it for a long time before you outgrew it. The cost, averaged over the number of years you use it, probably wouldn't be that much different than some of the less expensive brands/models.

Most brands are available here, just that they're a little hard to find and there aren't many models to choose from
The brands that I have seen in shops, are Yamaha, Kawai, Samick, Weber, Bechstein, Bohemia, Young Chang, Cristofori, Essex, Hailun, and other brands (I can't think of them now but I tried them and they didn't sound that good). Yamaha and Kawai are the better known brands because of their affordability and quality so they have a much higher resale value than the other brands (not referring to luxury brands such as steinway and sons, bosendorfer or fazioli obviously.)

Ahh I meant that i have to decide quickly whether or not to buy a Yamaha, because if I am, it's always better to buy one during the promotion period, right?

>.< But I'm assuming you're trying to say that it's not worth getting a baby grand at that price?

Yeah i agree but I'm still kinda bad at playing the piano, so it takes maybe one whole practice session for me to get accustomed to an unfamiliar piano?

Another reason why I'm changing my piano is because it's way too light! I can play on it easily but when I play a piano in school for an exam or at my teacher's house, I find it so heavy... Also, my current piano doesn't allow me to play that softly so when I'm playing 'piano' on my piano, it's actually pp or ppp on a piano with a heavy touch or even a a piano with regular touch. :(( I also can't do a half pedal on my current piano so it's messing up my pedalling.

Anyway, my piano is not as sensitive and it's really difficult to practise details and it's been slowing down my progress a lot, for a long time. Therefore, I'd like to change to a better piano asap:)

I've been trying out different pianos for quite a while already I've narrowed down my choices to the YUS5 and C1X/C2X but looking at all the responses here, I'm once again, at loss