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when I played the SX pianos in person I didn't really notice a vintage sound. Rather, I noticed how powerful and warm the bass was, and how the piano seemed to have some of the "harsher" frequencies of the CX pianos removed.
Originally Posted by Sonepica
Even the CFX doesn't have the warmth in the bass that the SX series have.
Finally some affirmative statements about what spoke to you from the S7X. What other qualities did you appreciate/enjoy from the piano? Did you find these characteristics in the Hailun? It seems like a powerful, warm base is what you most seek from a piano. Do you feel that the S7X delivers this in a way that is not matched by other pianos you have played?
Yes, the Hailun 218 also has a powerful, growling bass. But the S7X has probably the best bass I've ever heard in it's size range (a steinway D might present a challenge). My suspicion is that the acoustic resonance enhancement has a lot to do with this. Of course, it's not quite a fair comparison as the S7X is 9cm longer than the Hailun 218.
While you can gain some useful comparative information by looking at various online videos, I would urge caution in putting too much weight on various online video recordings of different pianos. Unless they are of pianos prepped and tuned by the same technician, in the same room with the same mics, mic placement and editing techniques, there are are too many variables in play to be able to do a fair comparison.
Yes this makes it very difficult. If I do rely on YouTube recordings it’s usually the recordings that aren’t of maybe the best quality and don’t appear to have too much post video processing done to it but sometimes that’s difficult to discern. This one for example doesn’t appear too cleaned as I can hear extraneous background noises. Sounds like it’s straight through a mic.
The piano in this video is a C7X, not S7X
Hamburg Steinway & Sons C-227 Yamaha Stagea Electone ELS-02X
I can afford the S7X, so if it's even moderately better than the Hailun it's worth it for me. I'll be playing it for the next 30 years.
I think this is where your problem is. I think it’s the wrong question. The question should be whether you feel the S7X is the better piano FOR YOU. And none of us here can answer that question. If it were me and we were talking about the kind of money involved in the purchase of a new S7X, I would really want to be completely over the moon for the piano. If I wasn’t, then I’d keep looking. If the Hailun isn’t entirely your dream piano but is really satisfying to play and would give you much more joy than the upright you have now, then maybe it’s the piano to get. If you come across your dream piano later, you could make a swap. This purchase doesn’t have to lock you into a 30 year commitment.
I think the "monsieur" OP here just don't like the brand name Hailun on his new piano. For him, the letter YAMAHA is much more acceptable, but there, the problem is the price. Too difficult for him.
Hamburg Steinway & Sons C-227 Yamaha Stagea Electone ELS-02X
I still have to go to Melbourne to choose between the two S7Xs that Yamaha currently has in Australia. Some videos of the piano to follow in a few weeks perhaps...
I have a zoom H4 I bought many years ago. I found it had a problem capturing both soft and loud playing. If I set the recording volume very high, it captured all the subtlety and detail in soft playing. But, if I played loud there was terrible distortion. In order that the loud sections not create distortion, I had to set the recording volume low. But then the subtlety and detail in the recording was gone. Anyone else experience this?
I have a zoom H4 I bought many years ago. I found it had a problem capturing both soft and loud playing. If I set the recording volume very high, it captured all the subtlety and detail in soft playing. But, if I played loud there was terrible distortion. In order that the loud sections not create distortion, I had to set the recording volume low. But then the subtlety and detail in the recording was gone. Anyone else experience this?
My experience with always fairly low budget equipment is that setting correct recording level is critical for good results and for wide dynamic range material you have to pick exactly that right compromise so that high volumes are slightly but acceptably distorted so that sufficient low level detail can be preserved.
Presumably if you spend orders of magnitudes more on mics than I did you can get equipment with an inherently higher dynamic range and reduce the difficulties. If you are a fan of binaural recording rather than closely positioned mics you have less sound pressure to deal with as well I think.
I have a zoom H4 I bought many years ago. I found it had a problem capturing both soft and loud playing. If I set the recording volume very high, it captured all the subtlety and detail in soft playing. But, if I played loud there was terrible distortion. In order that the loud sections not create distortion, I had to set the recording volume low. But then the subtlety and detail in the recording was gone. Anyone else experience this?
My experience with always fairly low budget equipment is that setting correct recording level is critical for good results and for wide dynamic range material you have to pick exactly that right compromise so that high volumes are slightly but acceptably distorted so that sufficient low level detail can be preserved.
Presumably if you spend orders of magnitudes more on mics than I did you can get equipment with an inherently higher dynamic range and reduce the difficulties. If you are a fan of binaural recording rather than closely positioned mics you have less sound pressure to deal with as well I think.
What about microphone placement and isolation? I gave up on recording after a bad experience in a pub years ago trying to record conversations with the barman. The recording only picked up the sound of beer glasses being plonked down on the bar.
Ian Russell Schiedmayer & Soehne, 1925 Model 14, 140cm Ibach, 1905 F-IV, 235cm
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