Bought a Stage 3

[Kaffimusic]

Hi Kaffimusic,

what's the benefit of your post knowing the OP traded a Stage 3 in for a Grand? Do you want him to send the Grand back again?

Of course there are digital grands with perfectly adapted speakers built-in for home use. At a way higher price than the Grand. I'm quite convinced a classically trained piano teacher can really get happy with a Grand. It's much more doubtful for a Stage 3. Steinway will see if the speakers he has are OK or if they should get the Nord Monitors (which won't probably be better but maybe fit better in a practical and aesthetic way).

The benefit is a counsel that is not riding the "this is Nord territory"- train. I focus on what the OP most likely needs and might (most likely) benefit the OP most - in that case his wife. Not you, not me, not the Nord company and even not Steinway himself. I guess I am trying to think into the task and not in what Nord has to offer like "this is what you have to use" and then find reasons why.
I also think making Steinway trade the NS3 in for a NGrand was no good idea in the first place. The needs of his wife as the real one who needs that were nowhere met or asked as far as I can see.

[maxpiano]

I kind of agree with Kaffi who agreed with Duplo. For the OP's use case, I think external amplification sounds like an unnecessary level of complication. Alongside my portable keyboards which I use for bands and recording, I have an old Yamaha P85 on a wooden stand which serves as an adequate replacement for the nice Yamaha upright I left behind in Australia. Nice action, nice piano sound, half decent speakers. I haven't kept up with the latest equivalents, but I'd guess something like a P-515B or CP88, as suggested by Scott, along with a nice wooden stand would end up being cheaper, more convenient, and give you a better piano-like experience.

A DP with built-in speakers was also my suggestion (see my reply in the first page, so before the OP decision to switch to NG), however after all the discussion an suggestions it looks like Steinway (the OP) is still biased towards getting a Nord keyboard and if so the NG is arguably the best choice within the Nord products range.

At this point I guess that we can just let Steinway and his wife get and try the NG, hoping they will be happy with it (and if not there will be the possibility to return it as well to get something else).

PS: I just saw a new "NS3 88 B-stock" on Thomann...

[Steinway]

Many thanks again for all your inputs.
The end result would not be taken out of the home. It will stay in the same place with whatever speakers we end up with. We have listened to most suggested keyboards through our computer and Yamaha HS8s and so far my wife prefers the sound of the Nord Grand and thinks the Kawai keyboard part of the Grand will fit the bill. She has stopped using her sax in the local orchestra (at 79 years old) and taken up the cello, so keyboard is important, but again, for what she needs, will fit the bill. Just got to sort out speakers, and I am preety sure the XTCs will do the job with no extra cost. If not, perhaps the Nord Monitors. Await the Grand on Tuesday.

[cphollis]

Sounds like a good choice to me. At least you didn't go cheap!

[stringtapper]

Well, how many of us have thought about a Nord Grand with a sweet NS3C resting on top? It can't be just me ...

I finally got to play a Grand at a shop in Austin last week, and I can confirm that the top of the Grand isn’t deep enough to put the Compact on top without something else to support it. I had the same dream, so that’s a bummer.

[Steinway]

Running the NG through the XTC active speaker system and it sounds great. My wife did note that the top 10 notes on most samples were slightly out of tune!!!! But she is happy and does not want to change it (at the moment )
So thanks again for all the help.

[cphollis]

Congrats, glad it worked out.

"My wife did note that the top 10 notes on most samples were slightly out of tune!!!!". You may notice a difference between XL samples (one sample per note) vs the other sized (L,M, S) samples which stretch notes to save size.

[Steinway]

I must start to learn about samples, sizes etc. Otherwise she is very happy with the Nord Grand Yippee.

[Steinway]

Glad to hear this.

If you don‘t know the free software Nord Sound Manager yet - this will be a helpful organizer. You‘ll find it on the website‘s software page.

And youtube offers a great number of video tutorials or overviews to most nords which may guide you.

Have fun. Cheers

[Steinway]

... My wife did note that the top 10 notes on most samples were slightly out of tune!!!!

I'd be very curious if she senses the tones too low or too high!

You had a Boston/Steinway grand which will certainly have been stretch-tuned, yet maybe less than an upright piano: A note an octave above the other is not exactly double the frequency as you would expect by calculating. Moreover, the diametre of the bass strings will make the first upper harmonic resonate at a slightly higher frequency than the double and so on. So, in order to get a purer sounding octave and avoid beating (interferences) if you play an octave with your fingers, the higher notes are also tuned a little big higher. In the middle range, there is so little strech that you won't hear it, but on the lower and upper end, you might notice it.

The larger the size of a grand, the slimmer you can have the bass strings if they are meant to sound good. And the slimmer the bass strings are, the less you need to stretch the tuning to compensate that effect (depending on the thickness of the chords). Which may be why concert grands are longer: They can have the better tuning.

I don't have any idea if Nord includes stretch-tuning into their (XL) piano samples. If they do, your wife should hear a discernable difference between the stretching of the upright pianos and the grands - namely the larger grands should sound "better": Grand Lady D, Concert Grand, Bösendorfer e.a. As your wife's ears may be used to stretched tuning, it would be interesting if she'd consider the upper notes too high or too low - which could be an answer to that do-they-stretch-question, if used in XL format.

I still haven't tested that as I'm not used to play on a well tuned piano - I even dislike them a bit. You might want to have a look into that conversation: nord-piano-grand-forum-f10/nord-piano-s ... une#p49380