Best speaker/system piano concerts

The soundboard of a 6' grand is about 25 square feet. IMO, to reproduce that believably takes a comparable radiating area.

That leaves big planar speakers or big planar speakers. I use Quad 2905's. Amplification is full complementary class A solid state from MC to speaker.

I get best results from the 0.25mV MC with active amplification rather than transformers, even the very best, which I also have. Piano also requires a very low load = high input impedance at the phono = 47K.

Even so, doesn't quite sound like the grand upstairs.

@wolf_garcia

You write, "Great piano reproduction by any system becomes evident when you notice that all recorded pianos sound somewhat different from each other."

I think that you are setting the bar far too low for what the OP has in mind. Any decent system can differentiate a Yamaha and a Steinway Concert. What I meant by writing, "doesn’t quite sound like the grand upstairs," is not a reference to the timbral differences but the percussive attack, which is a property of the generic instrument, and is very hard to reproduce.

That requires great speed everywhere in the chain, and that requires subtlety of electronic design.

@wolf_garcia 

Fair enough about 'speed'. I should have mentioned low distortion all the way to ultrasonics.

As for design, I meant discrete, high quality components that work for audio, no opamps, current sources where useful, that sort of thing. Not soldering.