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

I'll offer that ANY great speaker will "do" piano well. And it bears repeating how absolutely different piano tone on recordings appears, thus making "absolutes" like your face in the path of an open lid Steinway (if yer lucky) as compared to Monk in 1960. Or Gould…or "no sustain" Schiff.

Pianos recorded in different venues by different engineers sound different. Period. I find that the wider the range of my system (using a couple of subs) the more enjoyable pianos sound, but all are different (did I already say that?). I recently worked as the sound mixer for an Eldar show (a physical young piano genius with a hot little trio), and after setting up the 2 condenser mics I generally use for piano…lid open…he thought we should instead try a large diaphragm single condenser I had hovering over the drums, and stick it in the piano with the lid closed as much as we could close it…sounded great. A unique approach to get what the artist wanted and some EQ to keep the piano mic from low end feedback and there we went. Was it authentic? I heard Brad Mehldau at a hall near Harvard recently playing un-miked, and although the hall has decent acoustics as far as that goes, much of what he was doing was inaudible to much of the venue…authentic, musically brilliant, too quiet for that room. I had a great time anyway.

I think if Bosendorfer wanted to compete with Yamaha they'd make motorcycles. Irrelevant but true.

I also like Bill Evans, and if you listen to his vinyl through the Heresy III speakers with a tube amp it allows for an essential Beatnik experience. I put on my black turtle neck, drink a martini (dirty…did they have those in the 50s?), smoke (now legal here) pot, and hope a nuclear war is averted. I like the live Evans stuff with the clinking glasses and crowd noises….a fave.

Snapsc…I bought the Preludes years ago after hearing them at a friend's house…he basically did the research for me. They're amazing with huge magnets on what are 3.75" (I measured them…not 3.5" dammit) woofers, and clean down to maybe 50hz where they drop off. Great piano since they have great mids and a coherent overall tone. 

I’m a piano freak (lots of jazz) and I’m pretty critical of how piano sounds from my rig...Silverline Preludes do great piano, as do my Klipsch Heresy IIIs (so SUE me). I also have a piano in my listening room that sounds like a piano, so there’s yer reference right there. I’ve mixed many live shows with Fred Hersch, Bill Charlap, Eldar, yo mama, etc., usually using a large Steinway…2 mics, trying to avoid EQ, no compression…blah blah…and you do get to know what a great piano sound is…it’s great. However, recorded piano is 100% all over the map as far as tone goes, and if your system is working well you already know that and it doesn't matter much.