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What are the best loudspeakers under $4000 to re-create lifelike piano

Over the past 4 months I've spent time with five loudspeakers.  On a scale of 1-10 I'd rate them as follows in their ability (with my equipment in my room) to recreate a lifelike piano.  Tekton Lore - 6.5 (great scale but tonal accuracy and clarity somewhat lacking),    Kef LS50 - 7.0 (moderate scale but slightly better clarity and tonal accuracy)  Kef R500 - 8.0  (great scale and very good clarity and tonal accuracy), Spatial Audio M3TurboS -8.1 (great scale and very good clarity and tonal accuracy and very smooth)  Magnepan 1.7i - 9.0 (very good scale with excellent clarity and tonal accuracy - very lifelike).

In your room with your equipment, what loudspeakers are you listening too and how would you rate them for their ability to recreate a lifelife piano and if possible a few comments as to why?
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Showing 1 response by mgattmch

mgattmch
576 posts
 
I have been an audiophile for 50 years, during this time I have never heard speakers that can faithfully reproduce the sound of a live grand piano. I have heard some pretty impressive systems (read very expensive, $0.5 million and more) during this time, I can honestly say none faithfully reproduced the sound of live piano. OK, some came close; Magico Q7, Wilson Alexandria etc.

Hope I don’t sound too cynical, just my 2 cents worth.

Working within sensible budget restraints ($4k or less); I am a fan of Yamaha NS1000M speakers and my current favorite, Gale GS401A (see my previous post on the Gales). Both speakers look good and are very dynamic. But, do they reproduce grand piano faithfully? No, but they do sound nice and do a reasonable job.

I like "s1nn3r" and "newbees" answer to the OP; either buy a used piano or fantasize. I like the "fantasize" idea; isn’t that what we do all the time as audiophiles?
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