I am also a musician with my listening room is also a practice room. In it we have a piano(off to the side) saxophones two acoustic guitars. Everynow and then I think it all probably affects the sound, but there is nothing like playing along with the greats, transcribing solos. I also teach in this room and one of my students said " this room makes me want to play music". I'm all for getting as much out of my system as I can but if I had to choose between the hifi and the piano, the hifi would go everytime. If your luck enough to own a beautiful instrument then enjoy it as much as you can.
Audio Gremlins and Musical Instruments
Many years ago, the fascinating Enid Lumley of the Absolute Sound and members of the Linn cult used to insist, amoung other things, that telephones be removed from the listening room to prevent their tiny speakers from polluting the sonic atmosphere. I am starting to design my next listening room and I would love to put a 6'3" piano in the room, behind my principal listening chair, not only for aesthetic reasons but too play along when I am in the mood. Could this be a major mistake? Does anyone have any experience with a piano or other instruments? I suppose a snare drum in front of a subwoofer might not be the best idea, but I have never seen musicians frantically covering the Bosendorfer with Shun Mook blankets because the program is switching to strings. Any ideas or comments would be greatly appreciated.