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Hello,

Anyone willing to share their impressions of the Yamaha Disklavier? I’m considering purchasing a model DGC1 Enspire Standard.

Thank you.

So stating the obvious it’s all down to you, what you want and how much you’re prepared to pay.

I’m in the UK so use pounds. I think what follows is correct...

The piano you’re looking seems to sells for around £27,000. The same piano without the silent or player facility is about half that so £13,500. Just taking the same piano you’ve other options for adding features so there’s:

A silent version for £18,565
A transacoustic version for £20,255
And the the player (Disklavier) version for £27,000

That’s a big uplift for the player version. You’ve said in a previous post the Disklavier option would be fun for younger family members but depending upon what you had in mind there might be other ways to have fun, say with the silent or acoustic version and Aps or a second electronic keyboard.

Personally with that budget I’d start with a better piano and add less features. For example a C3X silent is around the same cost which is a much nicer instrument and if you’re pushed for space the C2X is cheaper still. Likewise there are silent Kawai’s which tend to be a little cheaper than Yamaha’s.

Again stating the obvious, when restrictions allow go try/hear the different Yamaha models, you will feel and hear the benefit of the more expensive pianos. Whilst I’ve played piano for 50+ years I’m (a) not that good ! And (b) only recently started looking and trying grands. I was immediately surprised how much better the CX range is over the lower models.

Bottom line for me is that the Disklavier functionality would have to be very important to you to choose that piano. If it’s not there’s better options where better is either cheaper or a higher quality instrument.

I like my DYUS5,a Disklavier version of the YUS5, and feel that it is a unique form of home entertainment. The Disklavier Radio channels are fun to listen to and I do buy some recorded disks, which are now downloaded directly to the Enspire app.

I decided on the Disklavier so that my wife would not have to only listen to my poor playing. The robot plays better than I do, or, the humans behind the recordings reproduced by the robot play better than I do, or ever will.

I’d like to see more professionals record for the Disklavier. We can’t all afford a Steinway Spirio system.

I feel that a player piano has a presence that is not equaled by playback through speakers, and I have a fancy stereo in the next room over from the Disklavier.

So, I say, go for it. It’s a blast. Don’t listen to those who look down on player pianos. Player pianos were all the rage in the early 1900s. The Disklavier fits perfectly in my house built in 1925.

I wasn’t sure if Larry’s comments re looking down at player pianos was in response to mine but just in case I’ll clarify that I’m not looking down on them. If the uplift in cost over my C3X transacoustic dream purchase wasn’t so much I’d have one. Like Larry I’m attracted to hearing the professional recordings especially as a massive Jamie Callum fan.

But I don’t know if that’s what the original poster had in mind when he referred to his young ones having fun.

I think on an upright the difference between a standard model and a Disklavier one is around £6,000 (looking at the YUS1) The difference on the posters grand is £13,500. All I was trying to say was look at the other options, there might be one that suits you more.

No, no, I wasn’t referring to your comment, I was remarking that I felt some people look down on player pianos. In my mind, it’s a pity, because the mechanical nature of pianos makes them excellent candidates for mechanical reproduction.

Modern velocity sensors and solenoids makes it possible to achieve high levels of accuracy in the recording and playback processes.

Price is one thing and utility is something else. I will get more use out of a piano that can play for me than one with which I must do all of the playing. Hence, I feel the Disklavier gives me more utility for my money versus that of a standard piano.

We have C3X with Enspire Pro and are quite happy with it. The dealer we purchased from gave us a bunch of midi files on a USB stick, many Chopin and Beethoven tracks. It's nice to just play those pieces on the piano sometimes as background music.

We also liked Disklavier radio, but the trial ran out. Not sure if we'll subscribe.

Here's us "NOT" playing ;0

Nice. Here is mine after a recent tuning:

DYUS5 Playing

Click the speaker to hear the sound.

I can't figure out how to embed Imgur videos here. Anybody know?

Hi Larry, I don't think you can embed Imgur here.

Nice video and sound - the book situation looks precarious, like they could fall over at any time :0

Those books like that are a work of art on their own!

Thanks, I think the piano sounds pretty good. My tuner takes his time and works hard at it.

The book shelves look more dangerous than they are in reality. What you can’t see is that there is a metal shelf hooked into a central column about every nine inches, so, the books are not all stacked on top of each other, lol.

As long as you put the heaviest books on the bottom of the shelf, the whole thing is very stable, and you only need to take out about five books to get the book you want.

Does anybody know of well recorded works by Bach for the Disklavier? Has nobody recorded the French Suites, the Well Tempered Clavier, the Goldberg Variations, the two and three part inventions, or the English Suites?

I suppose I am leaving off Midi files, unless someone knows of some great Midi recordings. I was hoping to be able to buy some good versions from the PianoSoft store.