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I am "slow" today , I thought the salesman was talking about Steinways? (I do not think Steinways make such a small Baby grand ? ) Now I see it is a different brand.

Perhaps its just his experience of some of those pianos lately pianoloverus ?

I agree Steinway grands still rate very high. I have played a few very nice ones since I have been in Canada. The one M the bass strings were rattling rather a lot .I suppose that could have been adjusted .
The K52 confuses me because they can be improved withthout too much effort.(my thought) There is more in there "somewhere" that the Boston 132 does not have.(was my thought) But we should be careful and not just dismiss them .

OK...this weekend I went to a Kawaii dealership. I had tried the K400, K500, and GL50 and another GX (forgot the model). I think, if I am getting the first piano, I would get the K400. I prefer K400 to K500, as I am looking for upright. Kawai is also cheaper than Yamaha, which is good.
The touch, the sound is just so familiar that it actually feels like I'm playing my home piano. This is how my own piano used to feel when it's newer.

But at this point, I don't really want to have same piano and I'd like to have something different. So I think , most likely I'll go with Yamaha U3 or YuS5. But I admit that price point, sound, and feel, and if I'd never had Kawai before, I would get this one (K400 I mean).

Thank you for sharing!
May I ask are you tuning every 2 months in general (regardless of piano) or this particular YUS5 requires that frequent tuning? Or you play 10 hours a day?
Tuning every 2 months is some sort of expense ... OK I know people would say we spent $20K on piano why not $100/month...But one is fixed cost (that I save), one is running cost...so...

I’m in the first year of ownership of my DYUS5 and I’m getting it turned every three months. Yes, it goes out of tune whether it is played or not. My technician told me that pianos change a lot in the first year, and it seems to be true. He has worked hard on it, takes his time, and does an excellent job. I’ll probably stick to every three months, forever.

What interval do other people suggest?

Well, I would have liked to have my piano tuned four times in the first year and twice a year after that but I'm struggling to get a tuner in these Covid times.

My K800 held its tuning very well from new and received its first tuning after four months - if possible I would have had that done six weeks earlier. It has now been almost another 8 months since that first tuning and I'm back to trying get hold of that unicorn tuner again, to be fair I now have the humidity under much better control and even now after 8 months it is less out of tune than at 2 months after first purchase and is still playable. (By better humidity control I mean that the room has been always within a 2% humidity range, better than the specs from the dehumidifier's manufacturer would suggest, compared to a previous 25% range)

IMO, it is safe to go with the U3 for tuning stability. The proven Yamaha model over decades.

https://www.richardlawsonpianos.com/blog/need-know-yamaha-u3-piano/

Here is one of our forum members complaining about the tuning stability of his YUS-5.
He had bought it new in 2017 and it still had tuning problems in 2019.

http://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2867470/1.html

Well, I mean someone actually told me, "When people come in to buy a S&S they buy it as nice furniture, but if they come in to buy something to play, they buy a Fazioli." I then shared this with piano friends of mine who are far more players than I ever was, and they both chuckled and agreed. So therefore the fact that someone said it and people agreed is true, right? I mean someone literally told me that, and two people agreed. It might not line up with your narrative and no one said that you have to agree with it, but the fact they said it is true. That is a fact.

You said, "It's certainly not true," but I don't remember you being there with me when it was said to me, so how would you know?

Just to be clear, I am saying that someone SAID it is true, not if you agree with it. (Not that they said it so it must BE true.) I hope that makes sense.

Sorry?

It's true that some people buy Steinway just for prestige or the furniture aspect(both reasons are perfectly fine) and some probably do the same for Fazioli, but it's not true that everyone who buys a Steinway buys it for its furniture aspect. So it's not true that that "Fazioli is a piano and Steinway is just furniture" even if some dealers or pianists said so. In fact, I would call that statement outrageous.

Some people like to bash Steinway or bash people who they think are buying a piano only for its furniture aspect. I'm not a Steinway fanboy, but I think this is unfortunate.

I agree with you totally. I was just sharing what was told to me because the point of these forums is to hear opinions and thoughts of all sides (no matter how outlandish), because if everyone agreed, then we would get nowhere. I also made it very clear (I hope) that it was TOLD to me; it wasn't my OWN opinion. And like anything, it takes extreme craziness on both sides to be able to meet in the middle eventually.

Would I take a S&S if it were given to me at a deal I couldn't refuse? Of course! (Well, most of the time; can't say all of the time.) But I also find great interest in those who have the opposite to say, providing we can determine if they are simply bashing out of jealously or genuinely have something constructive to say in opposition.

Prior to finding these forums c2005, I thought S&S was the best, end-all-be-all until I started reading opposition here and the convincing reasons for it. Then I was like, wait, hold the phone. It's been a fascinating ride ever since.

(Reading my post again, I know it comes across as argumentative, but it wasn't supposed to be, I promise.)

Thanks it's good to know.

You’re welcome.

Fibbi, he charges $100 per tuning, so that is $600 a year. This is my hobby, my way of thinking a running cost of $600 a year for maintenance is really reasonable when considering what others pay for hobbies. I also take lessons, which I consider an investment in myself especially when considering mental health benefits. For example, some of my husbands friends are into competitive fishing and have bass boats and all those associated costs. The piano holds a tune pretty well, I just like to play a tuned piano. He told has a couple of customers that have monthly tunings that have pianos in the range of 100,000. This is my life piano. I started piano 7 years ago with a $600 keyboard, then added a Clavinova, and about a year and a half into lessons bought the YUS 5, never regretted it. I enjoy it every day of the week.

Hakki, I never had any tuning issues with the YUS 5. Bought it new and had it 5 years. However, I do have it tuned every 2 months, just like a tuned piano. My teacher who has been playing about 25 years and is master's prepared pianist said he never heard my piano out of tune. My tuner also restores pianos and has tuned for Yamaha warranty issues. I have been happy with this piano so far.

LarryK the first couple of years (bought YUS 5 new) it did not hold a tune as well. I get it tuned every 2 months, 5 years into the piano the tuner said it is just some minor adjustments, the upper register gets a bit flat but said you would need a really well trained hear to hear it. I would say into the 3rd year the piano was becoming stabilized with hold the tuning.

Fibbi, I practice about 2 hours a day, if I have time off from work it may be a bit more.

Fibbi, I looked at both the U3 and YUS 5. There is about a $5,000 difference in price. I considered this is my life time piano and could afford the difference in the price, so I went with the YUS 5. Even the store owner, whose family has been in business over 75 years, told me between the two if you can afford the difference, the YUS 5 was worth the price difference, I am glad I went with it and have no regrets.

Fibbi, it looks like there might be tuning stability issues for the first 2 years. But after that it is said to stabilize.

Normally it is suggested that a new piano should be tuned four times the first year and twice a year after that.

BTW, in these 3 cases (RonaldSteinway, LarryK, DFSRN) we don’t know whether a pitch raise was involved.

That would make things more complicated.