Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Steinway’s Black Diamond Piano

Yes the" Ambience " I think it's called, looks like it comes
from a Batman movie.I have played that one and its wonderful.
There is one downtown Vancouver,at some unspeakable price.

We heard and played the Black Diamond Model B Spirio R at our Steinway dealer in Walnut Creek, CA. They also had a regular Model B Spiro R. The main difference besides the details of the two cases, was that the regular B Spirio R is a NY Steinway and the Black Diamond Spirio R is a Hamburg. Also the BD cost about $100K more than the regular Spirio R. BTW, our dealer said we could get a regular Hamburg Model B Spirio R if we wanted. We liked the Hamburg better (not because is was a Lang Lang). Our demo was about a month ago. Not sure whether all BD models are Hamburg.

BTW, cosmetically the NY Model B looks much closer to the Hamburg, in shape and color of the inside of the case. Still a few cosmetic differences and other differences in components, etc. My wife preferred playing the Hamburg, which she has over the years.

I later read in the BD Spirio brochure that LL has recorded some pieces just for BD owners, not available to regular Spirio owners.

The correct spelling is "Ambiente" and it is almost a full concert
grand.For a few $K more you can get this one in crystals as well.
It would suit a flamboyant pop star.

Since people tend to fall in either the New York or Hamburg camp, I wondered why Steinway didn’t specify in their promo material to which camp the Black Diamond belonged.
From the pricing i’ve seen it seems like the Black Diamond would be more than a $100k premium in the U.S.!?
Especially since their is a nice little up charge just for the standard Hamburg model.

If they make Hamburg too much of a selling point, it's like saying NY is inferior.

If the piano is aimed at a market outside of the Americas, Hamburg is all that's generally available anyway. There is no premium for Hamburg Steinway, as there is no NY premium, provided they are being sold in their intended markets.

Didn’t mean to make it a selling point, but it’s obviously information a prospective customer would want to know.
In reference to premiums on Hamburgs I stated “in the U.S.”.

NY Steinway is REALLY inferior, that's TRUE. We should accept this evidence.

Better with a nice pristine Leica IIIG red dial

Ian

Well the Steinway BD is way out of my wheel house. Money-wise and piano proficiency-wise. But it’s still fun to look.
I also love to look at Porsche’s, Bugatti’s, and McLaren’s. Well out of my price range and well beyond my driving ability. I just love to look at them and appreciate the design. There are probably a few people here that can afford the BD and can really play it to bring out the Steinway Hamburg’s beautiful tone. When I was much younger, I use to be envious but now I’m just thankful for what I have.

Yeah, air freight from Hamburg to the U.S. is inconsequential.

Hamburg pricing is on PianoBuyers list BTW.

The same irrational nonsense, again...

Some evidences are just really not quite easy to accept...

To be completely truthful here, I posted the link because I thought the BD had an extra distinguished look. Somewhat like a full formal tuxedo. I also thought it could be a bit controversial with the whole NY vs Hamburg or maybe Steinway vs any other piano made. It took awhile but I’m enjoying the educational opinions. Carry On.

Both NY Steinways and the Hamburg Steinways are obviously
excellent pianos.The one is graded tier one and other tier two
in Fine's piano ratings.So please you have the kinds of grands
some are even afraid to dream of !

Never misses his/her chance!

5 acrea of dirt in Astoria is worth 73 million dollars.
What these are worth is much more nebulous.

Well it has been quite a few years since I played a really large N Y Steinways piano so It is possible that they have changed in quality over the years.I have never even seen a Hamburg Steinways grand .
(I do not think)

Why shouldn't he/she?

Like Ladybird, I’ve never even seen a Steinway Hamburg, but have tried and played various sizes of nearly new to well used NY Steinway’s that ranged between fabulous to pleasant. It must be nice to have the money and wherewithal to own a piano so outstanding, you can trash another piano that many here would sell their soul for.
For me, any new Steinway is but a dream. I do think that we shouldn’t denigrate or dismiss other members choice of pianos, especially when the piano being dismissed is well beyond what most of us can even afford.
Just my 2 cents.

I will add to this ‘don’t denigrate ANY piano that is already owned by someone else— None of us would like it if we had just struggled to save and buy an old spinet, for example, and then read denigrating comments about spinets. We all buy what we love in the price range we can afford.... and that varies widely based on taste and $$$. It is all in-the path of the love of making music.