Yamaha mp100/U1advice please
Tim Douma
My wife and I are novice piano shoppers, so we would greatly appreciate some advice,
preferably very soon.
We wandered in to one of these piano sales which are held at special locations such as the civic
opera house or a university. The idea supposedly, is that these are pianos that have been used
on campus (we stopped in at the university near her school) for about a year. I had always
appreciated the yamaha tall uprights, and was curious to check on prices. They had a few, and
they also had a MP100. Now a few questions.
1. Is theMP100 in fact structurally the same piano as the U1 except for the silent feature and the
midi out and headphone options?
2. Is $6400 a little high for this model (MP100), or a decent price if backed by a reputable dealer?
3. Is the "used for a season/year" at the university a ruse or reality?
4. Is there a model tht supercedes this one, and if so, does it have other features. I seem to
recall having read something about a midi in on the MP100. Then again, I can't think of any
purpose for that port.
Thanks so much for the help.
Tim
GetAddress@inmessage
The MP100 is a great unit, based on the U1. If you want a larger upright,
that is another question. So the first thing, is do you like the sound.
That is more important than anything else. We preferred the sound of the
U3, which is a bit larger (and costs a bit more).
The MP100 has a midi out, and no midi in. The earliest models did not
even have the midi out, so be careful of that if you look for a used one.
I saw a new MP100 for as low as $5500 plus tax, however that was during
a 'sale' of some kind. Who knows if that is a regular best price or not,
or if you could do better. I have no idea! But I would go for something
in that range, with delivery included and one or two tunings in the home
included as well. It will also come with a bench and some nice
headphones.
Kevin
b...@thepianosource.com
Tim Douma <douma...@yvv.com> wrote:
>My wife and I are novice piano shoppers, so we would greatly appreciate some advice,
>preferably very soon.
>
>We wandered in to one of these piano sales which are held at special locations such as the civic
>opera house or a university. The idea supposedly, is that these are pianos that have been used
>on campus (we stopped in at the university near her school) for about a year. I had always
>appreciated the yamaha tall uprights, and was curious to check on prices. They had a few, and
>they also had a MP100. Now a few questions.
>
>1. Is theMP100 in fact structurally the same piano as the U1 except for the silent feature and the
>midi out and headphone options?
Yes
>
>2. Is $6400 a little high for this model (MP100), or a decent price if backed by a reputable dealer?
>
No, its a good price
>3. Is the "used for a season/year" at the university a ruse or reality?
This is a mixed bag. Many times the sale is "salted" with units that
were not used in the school. A dealer in Ohio last year was Court
ordered to rebate monies and also to post on pianos which were
actually used and those not used at the college. Think about it, You
go to a sale where they have a decent music department but there are
200 pianos on display. Do you really think they use 200 pianos each
year. Especially if they only have 10 practice rooms, 1 auditorium and
maybe 1 digital lab. That, along with those in profs offices, might
total 25 units including digital and some that are owned by the
school. Our local Kawai dealer sometimes has 100 pianos on display at
a local college that only has 2 acoustic and 3 digital pianos in use.
He recently had a sale in a local private school that has 2 pianos
from him and there were about 75 on display. It is a selling event and
if you look at it that way, then go to the sale prepared by having
looked at pianos in other dealerships (or the one holding the
sale)before the sale, having priced pianos new and used before the
sale, you can get a decent bargain by deciding ahead of time what you
are going to be willing to spend and then standing firm on that price.
Remember calling the dealership on the dates of the sale to check on
prices and values is probably an excercise in futility. What would you
expect them to say --- that the sale at the school is a phony or that
the prices or high? Its the old story of the informed consumer
protecting himself and that is your obligation to yourself.
4. Is there a model tht supercedes this one, and if so, does it have
other features. I seem to
>recall having read something about a midi in on the MP100. Then again, I can't think of any
>purpose for that port.
If you add the Quiet time to a U1 you will get your midi both ways
plus a full range of sounds and other features that are missing on the
Yamaha built in unit.
>Thanks so much for the help.
>
>Tim
Bob S
GetAddress@inmessage
The MP100 is sonically the same as a U1. So if you really like that
sound, which I do, then it is a very good choice for a piano. We slightly
preferred the U3, and ended up buying a used U3 model. The U3 is slightly
taller, and in the vintage we got it is also slightly deeper physically
and more robustly built than a new one. We liked the tradeoffs. But a
new MP100 was our 2nd choice.
If you get a used one, be aware that the earliest models did not even have
the midi out; all they had was the headphone jack. You want the midi out.
None of them have a midi in or any other controls. When you buy a new
one, you also get the bench of course and a pair of headphones.
I saw an ebony MP100, new, for $5500 at a piano 'sale' for a dealer that
was closing the store. Actually, he was combining his 2 stores into one,
so you would still get service at his new (but farther!) store. I think
that if you get a new Yamaha, at a sale price for a store that is closing,
they still have to honor the warranty. So Yamaha would refer you to some
other dealer.
I would insist that the price include the moving expense and one tuning in
the home after the piano has adjusted.
Good luck,
Kevin
p.s. sorry if this posted before; there were troubles with our news
processing for awhile at my site.
DZappa
In article <339ac916...@news.mindspring.com>, b...@thepianosource.com
writes:
>If you add the Quiet time to a U1 you will get your midi both ways
>plus a full range of sounds and other features that are missing on the
>Yamaha built in unit.
Bob:
I pretty much agree with all of your post, except (as a faithful Yamaha
dealer) I wanted to make one point. With all due respect, putting a
QuietTime system on the U1 won't be as accurate as the MP system when it
comes to faithful reproduction of touch control. The QuietTime system
uses a mechanical link to read keystroke, while Yamaha uses fiber optics
on 3 points of the key to read keystroke. Which one do you think is more
accurate? >>>Brainwashed by Yamaha<<< (I have heard both sides from the
factories and am a dealer for both)
Yes, QT has MIDI in, but what do you need that for? It's not going to
trigger anything other than the QT sound module (which is IMNSHO nothing
more than a glorified 16 bit Creative Labs soundblaster). Hooking the
MP100 to a decent soundcard (like the new CL 64 GOLD - retail $99) you get
the best of both worlds. The only drawback is you have to place the
computer near the piano. The QT 360 is a pretty slick system, but when I
look at costs and drawbacks of both, the Yamaha system just seems to be a
more logical choice.
I'm not saying a QT might not be a good option, but getting a MP100 @
$6400 seems like a pretty good buy to me.
Regards:
Dave (still scorched from the GH2 flames from Bob :-)