I haven't had the pleasure of trying one of these yet, but it is possible that it meets my main criticisms of the majority of electronic pianos.

It has:

1. Dummy jack, escapement, hammers to give an authentic feel to the action
2. Resonating body, with vibrational feedback to the keys

and the blurb claims "pedals indistinguishable from those of a grand piano"

which means that I should be able to get genuine resonance effects, e.g. take some notes silently, play others, and hear the sympathetic vibrations of the notes I am holding.

And if all that is true it might just be a better buy as a home and practice instrument than a real acoustic grand (adjustable volume, always in tune, built in recording, option of using headphones for silent practice).

Has anyone tried one out yet?

I think the casing looks absolutely hideous. For GBP 12.5K I'd rather buy a real acoustic grand and get the place sound-proofed!

I wouldn't mind trying one out but not having strings underneath that lid just seems so wrong, and the digital grands I've tried so far have left me a bit underwhelmed.

I think Chappell's have the Avant Grandes in but I always feel a bit awkward asking to try anything out in there...

I'm more interested in the new Roland when it comes out the HP307. This V piano stuff sounds impressive!!

http://www.roland.co.uk/products/productde...p=1055&c=72

Sol: I think you've spent enough in Chappells for them to let you try some pianos!!

I spent about 80 quid on sheet music a while ago in there, asked if I could try some out on one of the pianos and felt like an inconvenience (ended up on a low end digital with headphones despite the store being pretty much empty) Maybe it's just me!

Shame Rose Morris is a lot smaller now, I used to love that shop, bought several bits of kit from there in the past and always felt relaxed and free to play around with the toys in there! Same with Turnkey... RIP!

I have already tried the stage version of Roland's V-piano in Utrecht's main piano store. It is a superb instrument, but it lacks the vibrational feedback that the Yamaha promises, and after the initial awe and admiration wears off there is still something artificial about the sound. My target perfroming instrument is a conventional grand piano so for me - at 5000 GBP or thereabouts - it is still not close enough to an acoustic instrument. If I was a travelling Rock/Jazz/Pop performer, or playing on the Cabaret, Club, Wedding circuit it would be almost perfect.

But the Yamaha Avant holds the promise that it could be an ideal practice instrument. So Solari - get down to Chappel's, try one out, and report back.

I've tried the Avant Grand once when I was at Chappells a couple of months ago. I had read such brilliant reviews that I had to try it. Personally, I was disappointed. Don't take me wrong, I thought it was an excellent digital piano but it definitely lacked something. The sound was just too "clean". The piece I played sounded really nice and I just knew, having played it the day before on an accoustic, that this was not the sound I would have been hearing on an accoustic! (actually I wish it was the sound I would hear on an accoustic! ) The pedalling was a bit better than my clavinova but again not as good or sensitive as an accoustic. So personally I couldn't see what all the fuss was about...just a great digital piano but overrated in my opinion!

Thanks. This is very useful. So once again the hype does not match the reality!

A Yamaha baby grand with silent option remains my first choice as an interim solution until I can afford the Bosendorfer of my dreams!

You can get silent mechanisms retrofitted to pretty much whatever piano you like from what little research I've done, although I'm not sure I'd personally like to "butcher" a Steinway with one...

I tried it at Chappell as well. Pedals are definitely NOT "indistinguishable from those of a grand piano" (which is my main gripe with digital pianos in general; lack of authentic action/vibration I can live with if it allows me to practise at all hours)

From what I have read elsewhere, in the US the actual street price of the Avant Grande is *much* less than the rrp. I don't know whether the same applies in the UK.

However, for the same price as the Avant Grande you could buy a new Yamaha Baby Grand (or upright U3) and one of the best digital pianos on the market (though not AG) and still have money left over.

I totally agree with MissyPiano I do think the sound is good for a digital but I do think it is overrated.

Some of the Roland digital pianos that I have tried have a faster action than the yamaha ones also.