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How to reproduce sound of piano


I currently own a decent rig, Mac MA 2275, AP Sparks, Marantz 8001, Rega Apollo, Benchmark DAC w/ Squeezebox Duet. I love the way it sounds with jazz, voice, orchestral works and also it's decent with chamber music.

But I find when I'm listening to piano solo performances it doesn't quite sound nearly good as the live instrument. This is too bad because I mainly listen to classical piano works. I want to build a new system from scratch dedicated to listen to solo piano works as well as piano conertos.
I don't care for "warmth", "timbre", "soundstage" or other loaded audiophile terms. Just want absolutely accurate piano reproduction as possible.

What qualities should I look for? Analog vs digital source. Solid state vs tube amp? I find my tube amp unable to keep up with technical masters as Pollini or Horowitz. But will going to SS take away from the performces of more romantic pianists like Kempf and Zimerman? As for speakers, I never heard of a speaker capable of reproducing the deep bass of a 9ft+ concert Steinway grand. Are electrostatics way to go? My budget is around $25K USD. Thanks for any feedback.
plaser

Showing 1 response by tobias

tobias
1,534 posts
 
Piano is very hard to record so it sounds natural, as Jax2 says. Close-miking gets half of it; miking back gets the other half; using both compromises imaging. If the engineer does get it right, it is, as others say, very hard to reproduce naturally.

My favourite piano system involved SET tube amplification and large horns (Loth-X Polaris). It was the only system I'd ever heard get attack and dynamics nearly right as well as timbre.
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