Doubts about installing a silent system on a grand piano

I am in favor of buying a decent digital and studying with headphones!!! The preliminary work that must be done is fine on a digital… where we can discover other difficulties and technical "discoveries" that this instrument inexorably reveals without mercy. It has its function. Even with €1500, I think one can purchase a decent digital. Then, of course, one tries it periodically on the acoustic. This is my opinion. "Hybrid" systems are complicated and can create problems over time. I don't know the silent system for the grand piano, but I think it complicates and slightly distorts the instrument. It is just a personal opinion. I study a lot on a digital and then practice on my Steinway. I am happy with it. Naturally, finding a natural "physicality" on the acoustic is indispensable. It is worth investing money in choosing a high-quality acoustic piano and letting it do its "part." This is my opinion.

Digital+acoustic also seems like the most reasonable option to me for those who cannot study freely at all hours of the day.

The Silent system is more of a fallback for those who have no possibility of ever playing in acoustic mode, even though it's not true that it doesn't disturb at all! Furthermore, the response is quite altered in the mechanical-sound ratio, in processing delays, and in the mechanics due to compromises in adjustments (especially in the case where the system is installed retroactively on a piano originally designed as purely acoustic).

Of course, these are small differences, but someone used to playing the acoustic piano will notice them.

I'm sorry, but I don't like digital. I have tried and had good digital pianos, but the key is always too light; I prefer to have the mechanics of an acoustic, which is why I was asking you whether to purchase an upright with a silent system or to install it on a grand piano.

Me, passing to the "second opinion," would then prefer an upright with a silencer, rather than mounting a system on a grand piano.

I had the opportunity to try a good silent on an upright and a good silent on a grand.

Acustically it is a good listening experience, but in terms of touch response, I clearly felt the changes.

Especially on the grand piano, I noticed a significant difference in key weight/response when playing without the silent versus with the silent.

This is my experience.

I would be very curious to see one of these silent systems. Unfortunately, I have never had the chance to open a piano with a silent system installed or a silent system yet to be mounted. It seems impossible to me that one cannot invent a system that does not compromise the touch... Perhaps it could be something to work on and patent...

Regarding the keys being too light, I feel like giving my two cents: I have an acoustic piano and a digital one; the digital is a Casio Cdp 200r, and the brand alone already makes quite a few people wrinkle their noses. However, despite a piano teacher telling me that the brand indeed suggested a toy and advising me to use a Yamaha digital (I don't remember the model), which I tried, noting that (regardless of the factory sound, one can always remedy this using a software library) the keys (as in many models, even expensive ones) were semi-weighted—not even weighted—I decided to get this Casio (after having tried about 20 of them), precisely because the weight of the keys is similar to that of the acoustic piano, being gradual from the bass register to the treble. I believe that despite the price, it can even be found used for 200/250 euros, it is worthwhile, certainly if one does not demand a mechanism similar to that of a real piano, but with weighted keys that provide a sense of realism. Of course, one must check the key response speed upon release and the noise produced during pressing and release, a "defect" that many models suffer from, but paying little is not always synonymous with low quality. I might be wrong, but even after trying models costing 2000 or more, I did not find any piano with weighted keys like in the Casio.

I will be a broken record, but I have had little experience with silent [pianos] and I believe that expensive vertical models are now at an excellent level; it is certainly not worth installing them afterwards, I invite you to always remember this, and pianoexpert will forgive me, but a piano technician is one thing and a silent technician is another; there is too much electronics involved, so it is better to have the manufacturer's warranty (it is my opinion, which I believe is currently shareable; in a few years perhaps I will have to change my mind).

There are piano technicians who install silents; for someone who knows how to work on a mechanism, it's not that difficult...

For digitals and silents, I prefer keyboards with real action, meaning digitals that have a grand or upright action inside... but they are expensive

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/09/05/technology/personaltech/a-stringless-piano-from-yamaha-even-van-cliburn-could-love.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Gessica Piatino let me try them in the shop and they are fantastic....the most sophisticated one even simulates sympathetic string vibration .... Yamaha's latest silent systems aren't bad either, but I always feel a delay..