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Disklavier

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Re: [disklavier] Re: Mark IV vs Mark III

2005-12-11 by George F. Litterst

Hi again,


On Dec 10, 2005, at 9:24 PM, Ken wrote:

--- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com, "George F. Litterst" wrote:

Good evening, everyone.

On Dec 10, 2005, at 3:29 PM, Ken wrote:

Besides the obvious difference in appearance, can anyone explain
difference between IV and
II? Is it true the IV will allow much lower volume during playback?

The Disklavier is designed for amazingly accurate playback. However,
lots of people want to be able turn the volume of the piano way down
and talk over it.

The first model that really made this possible was the Pro (of Mark
IIXG vintage). Following that, the non-Pro Mark III had the ability
to become much more quiet than previous non-Pro models. However, at
lowest volumes, the hammers no longer hit the strings and instead you
hear the piano sample coming out of the tone generator (although the
keys still move, I believe).

With the Mark IV non-Pro, you get similar, whisper quiet acoustic
playback at the lowest volume levels, similar to what is available
with the Pro.

Regards,
PianoBench

The point I am getting at is that with my Mark III I often don't play it because of the
volume issue. If I have guests over or a dinner party, we can't talk AND listen to the piano.
I want the option of having the piano as background; not center stage. If I can achieve this,
I will trade my III for a IV (I have a C6)

My personal opinion is a DC6 Mark IV can play amazingly quietly. However, there are other factors, such as the size of the room, whether the piano is on carpet, etc. If at all possible, I recommend that you try one at your dealer and see if you get results that suit you. If your dealer does not stock such a large size, try a smaller size. I think that you can conduct a test of normal vs. lowest volume and determine what you need to know.

NOTE: There are other things that you can do to diminish the sound. There are specially made baffles for this purpose:



Regards,
PianoBench

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