by Stephen N. Reed
Much has been written about the Steinway Spirio’s musical and entertainment value in the home. For many thousands of satisfied owners, the Spirio has reclaimed the piano’s historic place in the center of the home. For good reason, nearly half of new Steinway pianos purchased today are Spirios.
The Spirio provides hours of practice on a high-quality piano, as well as the joy of perfecting a piano piece. Now, with the latest high resolution technology, Spirio’s allow their owners to play, record, and soon participate in remote performances and masterclasses.
But what about the use of a Spirio in a school or institution of higher education? In this article, we will examine four reasons they should consider buying a Spirio.
For an institution like a fine arts department in a school or institution of higher education, grand pianos are among the top equipment assets as they are among the very few instruments a student cannot bring with them.
Choosing the right piano becomes a tremendously important decision, as it will be with your institution for many years.
The most critical factor regarding any institution’s consideration of purchasing a Spirio is the fact that it is designed and created by Steinway & Sons engineers and craftspeople. The handcrafted quality of a Steinway piano has made it a legendary brand, with a tone and touch that are unique in the world of music. Plus, they are built to last.
For institutions, a Steinway will be the longest-lasting equipment as well as the one with the lowest cost to maintain over time, as they are designed specifically for the rigors of this use. The approximate lifespan of a well- maintained Steinway piano in an institution is 40-50 years.
One is hard-pressed to find another instrument or piece of equipment at an institution with that kind of durability and cost-effectiveness.
Concert pianos tend to be cycled out of major concert use into a secondary performance or rehearsal role sooner than that.
Unlike other widely-used institutional equipment, pianos must accommodate a diverse range of playing or teaching styles and tastes. Steinway & Sons pianos are strongest in their versatility to fulfill this role in all academic spheres.
For generations, Steinway craftspeople have helped to build the company’s reputation. They are seen as legendary masters at their craft–any institution can feel proud to partner with such skill and passion.
Additionally, Steinway & Sons pianos are a perpetually positive force for recruitment of new faculty and students.
For example, institutions of higher education and private schools with Fine Arts programs may also have primary/secondary piano offerings that stretch far beyond those students whose focus is music.
As a result, a Steinway piano potentially impacts all students interested in taking piano or music lessons at a school.
For those students and faculty already immersed in music, many of them seek out schools with Steinway pianos. They are associated with a benchmark of excellence in education, instruction, and a commitment to providing the best equipment on which to learn.
In short, Steinway’s reputation can easily redound to a school and pay significant dividends in the form of student and faculty recruitment.
Remote learning is now a requirement for institutions in a post COVID-19 era, offering the ability to audition, study, and perform, with the unique SpirioCast technology soon allowing for the reception of live piano content, starting in November 2021.
This places Spirio in a perfect position to support higher education and musical institutions in offering more variety in its courses as well as offering recruitment to expand to previously inaccessible markets.
For example, Texas A&M University’s Commerce Department recently announced it has become an All-Steinway Spirio school and looks forward to utilizing Spirio’s remote learning capacities.
Spirio is a Steinway & Sons piano built with durability, ease of use, and lifetime updates in mind for the institutional market. Any institution investing in a Spirio is offering its constituents the finest equipment for the study of music and the performing arts. Other benefits include:
In order to meet the continuously evolving standards and career opportunities in the competitive workspace, institutions need musical equipment that meet modern, rigorous standards.
This same equipment must provide students with the most current methods of education and professional development–if those same students are going to compete later in their chosen career areas.
In a college or university music department, the pianos are a primary asset in attaining these goals, with Steinway’s Spirio being the only instrument to offer students the capability to record, edit, and playback captured piano playing, all in the highest resolution available today.
Spirio features the world’s highest resolution curated library of 4,300+ performances by classical, jazz, and contemporary Steinway Artists, free and updated monthly at no extra charge to students and faculty users.
Moreover, these students and faculty utilizing a Spirio at their school or a nearby musical institution will have access to the world’s highest resolution curated library of 4,300+ classical, jazz, and contemporary Steinway Artists, free and updated monthly at no extra charge for students’ access through their institutions.
Spirio also features advanced connectivity options, including HDMI output to broadcast to classroom projectors or other screens, as well as MIDI In and Out to connect with applications for notation, interactive learning, recording and more.
Spirio is this conduit to connecting music and the growing world of internet connectivity and technology enhanced learning.
The same self-playing piano that is at work in a morning remote learning or notation session with students in different locations can also be found later that same evening, adding to the entertainment at a fundraising event.
Supporters of your school will be intrigued by the quality and varying functions of Spirio, making it an easy conversation starter at school functions.
For development functions, a Spirio is fully capable of helping you with the following:
When one considers the different educational and development uses for a Steinway Spirio, a more versatile, harder working instrument would be difficult to imagine.
At M. Steinert & Sons, we have been helping schools, colleges, and universities across New England with their piano selections since 1860. Our seasoned salespersons have deep experience in education and music, enabling them to easily understand which options would work best for you.
Read more about Spirio in the articles below and consider a visit to one of M. Steinert’s two showroom locations in Boston and Newton. Or we would be glad to come to your campus first for an assessment of your school’s particular needs. Please fill out the form below so that we can get in touch with you.
Could the Spirio ever become obsolete?
How much does a Steinway Spirio cost?
Spirio vs. Disklavierby Stephen N. Reed
updated September 20, 2022
Player pianos have a long and storied past, going back to the 19th Century. What started as a novelty became a best-selling musical instrument. Just as the smart TV is the home entertainment center today, the player piano was the center of the home at the turn of the 20th Century. This was the golden age of player pianos.
The player piano continued its roll until the phonograph and radio came along in the 1920s. Those two inventions essentially wiped out the player piano.
Two generations later, in the 1980s, player pianos made a comeback, utilizing cassette-based players, followed by floppy disks, CDs, and now wireless self-playing pianos.
Modern player pianos can both record and playback performances. Yamaha’s Disklavier has been doing that for many years. The more recent entrant, Steinway’s Spirio | r, features a high-performance quality playback AND record system.
Plus, both have content libraries that are digitized from early 20th Century recordings of famous composers and pianists. We’ll take a look at this technology, along with other key similarities and differences between the Disklavier and Spirio below.
As Yamaha and Steinway & Sons have emerged as the two piano companies that have put the most significant investments into creating the 21 Century player piano, a closer look at both is helpful to any buyer looking into one.
In 1982, the Yamaha Corporation introduced the first Disklavier self-playing piano in Japan. In 1987, the first Disklavier was sold in the United States, the MX 100A, a studio model upright. Shortly after that, the first Disklavier grand, known as the Wagon Grand ( “Wagon” came from the large rolling cart required to hold the hardware) was rolled out.
A third early model, known as the MX80 series, was created in the early 1990s. Like the prior models, the MX80 series recorded on floppy disks and recorded performances in a Yamaha-proprietary file format.
This was a forerunner of the subsequent industry-standard file format known as Standard MIDI Files. Technical innovations found on these early model instruments included hammer sensors for recording, recording and playback of incremental pedal data on the Wagon Grand, and moving pedals during playback.
Since then, Disklavier has gone through many changes, including those in the chart below.
Spirio was a new direction for Steinway, which had staked its claim on the meticulous, handcrafted quality of its pianos, their unique tone and touch, and their preference among the vast majority of professional concert pianists.
Could a company steeped in high musical performance also develop a self-playing piano designed more for home entertainment?
Since introducing the standard Spirio Play model in 2015, Steinway has risen to the challenge, making sure that each part of Spirio was up to Steinway’s historic standards of quality. For example, a recording option was not originally available in Steinway Spirio pianos.
However, after significant research and development, in 2019 Steinway introduced the Spirio | r, which is capable of both reproducing and recording high performance piano music for later playback.
Similarly, while Disklavier has already implemented Remote Performance Technology, which grew in popularity for distance learning and remote performances during the pandemic, Steinway’s engineers the latest high-resolution Spirio | r recording technology in November 2021.
In the end, whichever one’s preference between the Disklavier and the Spirio, no one can question the financial and philosophical commitment of Steinway in their pursuit of creating the best 21st Century self-playing piano.
| Item | Yamaha Disklavier | Steinway Spirio |
| Approach to Player Piano Design | Yamaha C series | Steinway & Sons historical designs – adapted for the Spirio integration. |
| Year Introduced | 1987 | 2015 |
| High Resolution | PRO models only | Yes |
| User Experience | Many complicated features–not easy | Easy |
| Separation of Core Player System From Rapidly-Changing User Interface | Average | Excellent |
| Soft Play and Repetition | Above average | Excellent |
| Proportional pedaling | Yes | Yes |
| Operates keyshift | Yes | Yes |
| Remote Performance Technology | Yes | SpirioCast – Released in November 2021 |
| Immunity to Line Voltage Variation | Above average | Excellent |
| Supports Recording | Standard, digital recording on all but low-end models | Spirio | r included the highest performance recording possible |
| Included Music | 500 of 11,000+ pieces given at installation. More songs available at additional cost. Also, Disklavier Radio. | Complete 4,482 piece library given at installation. 3-4 hours of new music added free per month. |
| Proprietary Music Catalogue | Disklavier E3 Artists. Live video events available. | Steinway Artists. Spiriocast library growing |
| Quality of underlying instrument | Yamaha–manufactured in a production environment. | Steinway–handcrafted with over 100 craftspeople involved. Steinway tone and touch. |
| Cost | Ranges from $28,899–$225,000 | Ranges from $113,700–$243,400 |
Over the years, Disklavier models have utilized a range of devices that were used to operate the piano. These included a control box mounted on the piano, infrared handheld and Wi-Fi controllers.
A variety of devices have been used to control the instrument, including buttons on a control box mounted on the piano, a Java app running via a personal computer, and other apps that run on IOS-based devices.
All Disklaviers have an option for remote control. In most cases, this has been a line-of-sight remote that uses infrared signals (much like a typical TV remote).
Disklavier PRO models have a detached interface. Disklaviers are equipped with non-contact optical sensors but also incorporate continuous grayscale shutters on the hammers to measure their speed and distance.
The addition of continuous grayscale shutters for each hammer allows the user to natively record and playback high-resolution performances with 1023 levels of key and hammer velocity as well as 256 increments of positional pedaling using Yamaha’s proprietary XP format.
Spirio has 1020 levels of key and hammer velocity, along with 256 increments of positional pedaling. The Spirio system is operated through the Steinway Spirio App, which provides a seamless interface to the piano and is both intuitive and easy to use.
Whereas Yamaha’s Disklavier system relies on MIDI data, low resolution data files, Spirio is recording at the highest resolution possible. Steinway has created a proprietary data file format that captures the nuances and full range of emotion from each artist’s level of performance, resulting in a heightened level of playback.
The Spirio’s nuanced playback comes from a combination of both the proprietary data file format, along with the Spirio’s ability to replicate smaller increments of velocity on both the hammers and proportional pedaling.
This recent technology captures a range of subtlety and nuance that, before now, has not been possible.
The advent of a detachable interface, one everyone can learn to use in an hour on a familiar iPad or equivalent has made the 21st Century self-playing piano extraordinarily popular.
Someone with very little experience with technology can suddenly entertain dinner guests like a tech pro, simply by accessing a selection of songs from the proprietary music catalogs provided by Yamaha and Steinway.
Having said that, the Spirio may have benefitted from getting in later than the Disklavier, as the Spirio has a reputation for having technology that is easier to use. The Disklavier can take up to four steps to access the piano’s technology, while Spirio often only requires one step.
Today’s piano buyer is still buying for the sound experience; they don’t look forward to complicated, multi-step ordeals. On the question of ease of use, Spirio wins hands down.
The Disklavier has Remote Performance Technology, and Spirio rolled out its version in November 2021. During the pandemic, this technology became better known and quite popular for its distance-learning capacities.
For example, a famous musician, college professor, or high school instructor could offer a masterclass to students located remotely.
The Disklavier features a silent play option, which means that a player can practice silently.
The playback on the Disklavier and the Spirio both have high levels of reproduction. Both also have MIDI-editing software. This allows one to record without rerecording the entire piece.
Spirio | r has an iOS app to edit high-definition recordings. Yamaha does not provide software to edit Disklavier Pro recordings.
Both Yamaha and Steinway offer sweeteners to their piano purchases through their respective Proprietary Music Catalogues. Steinway knew that Yamaha had the jump on them, having unveiled the Disclavier a decade earlier.
Since rolling out Spirio in 2015, Steinway has outpaced Yamaha in the number of high-performance recordings available to their customers. At their current rate, Steinway’s number of recorded songs should overtake Yamaha’s in five years.
Notably, Steinway gives all of their Steinway Artist songs–now over 4,450 tracks–as part of their piano sale at no additional charge.
Yamaha has always taken a different approach to its music catalog. First, they have roughly 11,000 songs in their catalog, and their system can handle vocals and background music, not piano music alone.
However, Yamaha usually provides a number of free songs away at the close of sale; their customers have to purchase any others afterward, at an additional cost per song or album. Also, if Disklavier’s music catalog sounds a bit dated, it is: their prime years for new recordings were in the 1990s and early 2000s, most of which is not recorded in high resolution.
In contrast, the Spirio musical catalog contains not only vintage classical and jazz recordings but many new recordings by contemporary piano artists.
Both Yamaha and Steinway & Sons deserve great credit for developing the self-playing piano as a 21st Century combination of an acoustic piano/home entertainment center.
Both companies have invested millions of dollars in design, cutting-edge technology, and marketing to restore the piano to the center of hundreds of thousands of homes worldwide.
As just one indicator of Spirio’s rise in popularity, over a third of all new Steinways sold today are Spirios.
While there is no question that the evolution of the Disklavier plowed the ground for any self-playing pianos to follow, Steinway & Sons has invigorated the self-playing piano market with a more usable interface, more recent activity on Music Library production, and the highest resolution of playback yet created for this kind of piano.
On the other hand, the Disklavier has earned applause lately for its performance during the pandemic as a Remote Performance Technology, which allows for remote performances, master classes, and other forms of remote learning.
With the addition of Spiriocast in 2021, Steinway & Sons is now pioneering a Steinway-caliber roster of ‘live’ performances.
Competition is good for piano buyers as well as for Yamaha and Steinway. As each company strives to make their self-playing instruments even more sophisticated, both will be kept on their toes and will show prospective buyers their updated versions of the 21st Century player piano.
In the end, despite other technological differences, the choice may simply come down to whether the buyer wants a manufactured Yamaha or a handcrafted Steinway for their 21 Century player piano.
We have taken a deeper look into the differences between the Yamaha Disklavier and Steinway Spirio in this article and hope that it helps you to choose the best 21st Century self-playing piano for you.
But an instrument this technologically advanced needs to be seen and heard up close and personal. Towards that end, we hope you will fill out the form below to make an in-store appointment with our informed and helpful M. Steinert & Sons staff. They are available at either of our two locations in Boston and Newton, MA.
For further reading, please see these additional articles on the Steinway Spirio.
Could the Spirio ever become obsolete?
How much does a Steinway Spirio cost?
Spirio Pianos at M. Steinert & Sons
by Stephen N. Reed
Audiences enjoying a pianist’s performance at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood, or a Billy Joel concert can all attest to the experience of encountering a Steinway. So, too, can movie viewers who watch a classic Steinway grand with an ebony finish being played by one of the characters.
Generations have now had the Steinway sound become part of the fiber of their lives. As a result, the value of a Steinway piano is not in doubt. In this article, we will break that value down to understand better whether a Steinway piano is a good investment.
M. Steinert & Sons has been selling Steinway pianos since 1869 and understand the different kinds of value a new Steinway brings as an investment. In this article, we will walk you through the 4 main measures of value in a new Steinway.
A Steinway’s value includes a slower depreciation than other premium brands. The relatively low volume of production (roughly 2500 pianos per year for the entire world market) is a significant contributor to a new Steinway piano’s value.
Additionally, 97% of the world’s top pianists, those performing solos with major orchestras, seek out new Steinway pianos for their performances, burnishing Steinway’s reputation as the world’s best concert piano.
Another significant factor related to value is the extraordinary attention to craftsmanship that yields a handcrafted instrument that takes twelve months to build. All this plays into the fact that a Steinway piano retains its value better than other premium pianos.
High quality materials play a role in the overall value of a new Steinway piano. Features like the special Sitka Spruce wooden soundboards and Hard Rock Maple rims adds value to a Steinway. Steinway remains the most durable and rebuilt piano in the world.
With a historical annual price increase across the Steinway line of between 3% and 5% to maintain their standards of excellence, the 20-40 year increase in cost can seem dramatic. As a result, the new Steinway model you purchase today will likely cost more as a new model in the future.
For example, a brand new Steinway Model B cost $51,200 in 1998. In 2022, a new Steinway Model B costs $124,900. As recently as 2017 a used Steinway Model B from 1998 was purchased at M. Steinert & Sons by a customer for $61,000.
However, we do not promise or promote a return like this across all Steinways – since instrument character, maintenance history, usage environment, and market conditions are big factors in the pricing of any used instrument.
Plus, one of the most tangible expressions of a Steinway’s value is the lifetime trade-up policy for a more expensive Steinway piano offered by authorized Steinway dealers like M. Steinert & Sons. Any money invested in a Steinway of lesser value can be applied for any trade-up to another Steinway.
Facts like those given above give us benchmarks as to a Steinway piano’s value. But even greater value is found in the commitment to music itself that Steinway & Sons has always exhibited.
Early on, Steinway pianos were winning awards and impressing listeners with their unique, rich tone. Steinway & Sons founder Henry Englehard Steinway, a German cabinetmaker, and his family were meticulous in their craftsmanship as they built and refined the first Steinway pianos.
But they were also musicians from a country with a rich musical heritage. Indeed, Henry had built his wife a double-string fortepiano for her wedding present. He even played the pipe organ at their own wedding before saying his vows.
To understand the value of a Steinway piano, one has to develop an awareness that all of Henry Steinway’s efforts to build the best piano were geared towards producing the best music. As beautiful a design as the Steinway has, without that perfect tone and touch, it would disappoint Henry Steinway.
Musicians as notable as early 20th Century Russian composer and pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff caught on to this high standard of quality that Henry Steinway started in 1853. In a letter to Steinway, Rachmaninoff wrote:
“I am very happy to have the opportunity of using your pianos for my concerts, because I consider them to be perfect in every way. Faithfully yours, Sergei Rachmaninoff.”
Rachmaninoff became a Steinway Artist, a group of musical “immortals” that included Franz Liszt, Arthur Rubenstein, and George Gershwin. Each understood the musical value of a Steinway, preferring them over all other brands.
Today, the Steinway Artist distinction continues with a range of performers including Lang Lang, Harry Connick, Jr., Ahmad Jamal, and Diana Krall.
Today, Steinway & Son’s share of the high-end piano market is over 80 percent. As a result, the sheer value and impact of Steinway on our modern culture is immeasurable.
When a concert pianist plays a Steinway, they are sharing an instrument from a company that has been granted 139 patents in piano making. Any piano made today, by any company, has some of Steinway’s influence in it.
Steinway occupies a place in the imagination of people around the world: an American company with international appeal. Every so often, a Steinway announcement reconfirms this place on the cultural landscape.
William Steinway showed the family’s commitment to culture and music by building a Steinway Hall in New York City between 1864-66. This structure housed the second-largest concert hall in the U.S.
Steinway Hall quickly became one of New York City’s best-known cultural centers, serving as the home for the New York Philharmonic for 25 years until Carnegie Hall was built Another Steinway Hall was built in London in 1875.
In the early 20th Century, Steinway provided elegant grand pianos to both Roosevelts at the White House. Later, the European part of the company received a royal warrant of appointment to Queen Elizabeth, which it still holds today.
Steinway’s commitment to the nation and modern culture has continued throughout its storied history in America and Germany. No evaluation of the value of investing in a Steinway is complete without an appreciation of Steinway’s place in the fabric of American and world culture.
Beyond participating in a company that has produced arguably the best musical instrument in history, and beyond affirming the value Steinway pianos continue to give to our culture, the daily value one derives from such an instrument comes from the practical use it yields to its owner.
A Steinway not only helps bring out the best music a top performer has to give. It can empower a young piano student to reach for his or her best as a piano student, compelling them to dig deeper for their personal best.
The satisfaction a parent gets from seeing their child learn to appreciate and to produce good music, along with the discipline needed to create it, has a value all its own
From Steinway & Sons’ beginnings, pianos have been built not only for concert venues but homes. With the advent of the new Spirio self-playing piano, Steinway has now made the bold move of bringing the grand piano back to the center of the home.
In addition to playing the Spirio, a Steinway Musical Library of over 4,000 pieces by Steinway Artists is included, giving added entertainment value.
Any Steinway piano, new or used, still has heirloom value as long as it is in decent condition. The original buyer, seeing their piano purchase as a long-term, family investment, can pass their Steinway down to the next generation, where it can continue to add musical value to the lives of the next household.
Thus we see that evaluating a Steinway piano has different streams which converge to create an overall value, one that may be difficult to quantify financially but which is apparent to all who benefit from the instrument.
The Steinway owner is participating in an ethic of hard work, high quality, and positive contributions to music and culture that stretch back to Henry Steinway’s roots in Seesen, Germany during the 1820s and 30s.
Henry Steinway’s commitment to building the best piano in his adopted country of America never wavered and was passed down to succeeding generations of Steinways. It is his determination that produced the overall value of the Steinway pianos that have been creating beautiful music ever since Steinway and Sons’ foundation in 1853.
Is a new Steinway piano a good investment? Musically, culturally, and practically the answer is yes. Granted, for those who are not yet able to afford a new Steinway, a used Steinway may be more comfortable.
A well-maintained Steinway can retain much of its value, more than other premium piano makers. This is partly due to the fact that used Steinway prices are tied to the price of a new Steinway, which rises 3-5% each year.
However, that is not where the primary appreciation resides. The new Steinway is an asset with several forms of value, beginning with its musical value and including its cultural and in-home value.
For more information on the investment value of Steinway pianos, read these selections:
by Stephen N. Reed
Many people would love to own a Steinway piano. However, the price of one can seem out of reach for many. Even those who can afford a Steinway may wish to have their money working for them, not placed all at once into the purchase of a handcrafted piano.
M. Steinert & Sons has been selling Steinways to a wide range of customers across New England since 1869. As we’ll see, customers with quite different financial backgrounds avail themselves of the financing options.
Being able to break the purchase price down to manageable monthly payments provides our customers with more choices, all of which are relatively easy.
As treasurer of M. Steinert & Sons, Jerome Murphy has helped many people finance their Steinway pianos over his 40-year career. Indeed, over the past ten years, 14% of M. Steinert & Sons’ customers finance their piano purchase.
Jerome explains the three ways to finance a Steinway or Steinway-designed piano at M. Steinert & Sons: through Allegro, Piano Credit Corp, or folding one’s piano loan into an existing mortgage.
“Through Allegro, a national third-party financing company endorsed by Steinway, we provide an option that works well for many of our customers,” explains Jerome.
Allegro finances other kinds of expensive purchases nationally, including luxury items and hearing aids.
“I’ve been around contracts all my life, and Allegro has one of the easiest, online credit applications,” says Jerome. The paperwork is easily produced online. You type in your information, then M. Steinert & Sons sends it off. It may seem a little daunting at first, but the terms are clearly stated. Plus, it’s simple interest, which is some serious savings.
Another way to finance a Steinway is to go through Piano Credit Corp., which is the financing company preferred by some of the bigger banks. With Piano Credit Corp, interest rates are low. Currently the interest rate is 8.99% for a ten year loan, which is a good rate for consumer lending. For a $100,000 piano loan over ten years, that would be $1,266 payment per month.
Allegro has similar rates. For a current Steinway summer sale, Allegro offers an 8.99% interest rate. For this sale, Allegro requires only a 10% down payment for all piano loans under $100,000 and 20% for loans of $100,000 or more.
“Both of these options are sound ones,” says Jerome. “Plus, we work with customers’ credit unions and are working on a local bank option. However, there’s another route worth checking out: incorporating your piano loan into an existing or new mortgage.”
Some people could possibly buy their new Steinway through their line of credit. However, what is more likely is to incorporate the piano loan into a mortgage. If a customer has a mortgage at a low rate or would like to refinance it, folding the piano loan into that mortgage can achieve significant savings.
For those with a home mortgage, it’s the difference right now between a loan at 8.99% or 3.5%. Or, say you’re a young couple, about to take out a new mortgage on your first house. This can be an opportunity to simply add the piano in as part of a new home, locking in the lower interest rate.
One other short-term option that M. Steinert & Sons does that helps some customers is the in-house financing option. Any Steinway buyer with good credit can be eligible for in-house financing by M. Steinert & Sons with 25% down.
The customer then pays three equal payments due 30, 60, and 90 days from delivery, with no interest as long as they make their payments on time and by cash, check ACH debit or wire. If the customer doesn’t make payments on time, the in-house option reverts to a simple interest installment loan with an 18% interest rate beginning at day one.
Jerome notes that he has been involved in some creative efforts over the years. In some cases, he has gone the extra mile–literally– to help M. Steinert & Sons’ customers find the financing plan that works best for them.
“I once took a Mercedes wagon as a down payment on a Steinway Model M,” says Jerome with a chuckle. “I drove it myself and turned it over to the service department each day for deliveries and home service calls. It was a very nice navy blue. Great car!”
But just who finances their Steinway? Which customers find financing to be to their advantage? Most of the financed piano purchases at M. Steinert & Sons have enabled entry-level piano buyers to buy Steinway-designed pianos from the Essex and Boston lines. However, those buying new Steinways have also benefited from M. Steinert & Sons’ financing options.
“Some are new parents, getting a new piano for their child,” says Jerome. “Others are like one customer, a wealthy gentleman, who could’ve bought his Steinway outright but wanted to keep more of his money in the market, helping his investments. He told me, “My investments return a higher rate than the interest rate on this piano loan, so it makes sense for me to finance for the longest available.””
Several years ago, Jerome encountered a new customer, a lady immigrant from South Korea, who was a professional pianist who taught piano lessons in Boston. Jerome worked with her and was able to help her receive financing through M. Steinert & Sons.
Years later, the same customer wanted to buy a new Ford car, which led to the Ford Motor Credit to call Jerome to check her credit payments. “She had paid 36 months, each time on the due date or the day before,” Jerome remembers. “I wish all of my customers had a credit score as good as hers.”
Interestingly, the same customer later purchased a new Steinway Model B from M. Steinert & Sons to add to her Model M. “You just never know who might seek a helpful financing option,” says Jerome.
For any of these financing options, good credit is the key. Any financing option becomes easier with a strong credit score. Credit cards are an issue for some people, but if they are able to clear that up, then an affordable monthly payment is often available. Substandard credit may take some time to clear up, after which a financing option can become possible.
M. Steinert & Sons is well-known for wanting to establish long-term relationships with its customers. Their piano trade policy is a good example of this.
The M. Steinert & Sons Lifetime Steinway Trade-Up Promise states that any piano, new or used, purchased from M. Steinert & Sons will receive 100% of the original purchase price for the life of the original purchaser towards any new Steinway & Sons piano of greater value.
So by starting now with a financed piano at the entry level, the M. Steinert & Sons customer can later apply the sum of those payments to a better piano. Their past payment history is rewarded well.
“And if they eventually trade up to a Steinway, by then we’ll probably have an even greater range of financing options for them to consider,” says Jerome.
Today’s piano customer has an increasing number of financing options to consider. Whether one finances through a national piano financing company like Allegro or Piano Credit Corp, folds the piano loan into one’s mortgage or has an in-house loan arranged with M. Steinert & Sons, the different financing options cover an increasing number of customers.
Such financing options make a new Steinway or Steinway-designed piano within reach.
For more details about these financing options, call Steve Hauk, Sales Manager, at M. Steinert & Sons at: (617) 426-1900.
by Stephen N. Reed
Say the name “Steinway” and images of beautiful, resonant pianos fill the imagination. Much of this imagery is due to solid facts regarding the exceptional craftsmanship and design that has been the trademark of Steinway & Sons pianos for nearly 170 years.
Along with this high-quality has come awards and distinctions. Yes, Steinway & Sons’ pianos have been the choice of American presidents and Buckingham Palace. And yes, 97% of concert pianists worldwide prefer to play a Steinway, believing that this brand of piano helps them bring forth the best musical performance within them.
For all these real achievements, Steinway, like every international brand, has some myths that should be addressed. Separating truth from fiction can help us understand what is truly outstanding about Steinways and what some may use to mislead prospective buyers for their own purposes.
Addressing such myths is part of M. Steinert & Sons’ business as New England’s authority on Steinway pianos since 1869. Our piano consultants keep abreast of new developments in the Steinway line, as well as assertions made by others about Steinway instruments.
By keeping track of such myths, we are able to serve our customers who may have heard unsubstantiated information from sources like online forums.
Below, we will examine the Top 5 Steinway Myths to determine whether any of them hold water.
If there is any “Golden Age of Steinway,” that era is today. The vast majority of top pianists and the best performance halls in the world today would agree that today’s Steinway pianos are the finest instruments yet made by Steinway & Sons.
Throughout Steinway’s history, some of Steinway’s competitors, be they used piano sellers or other piano brands, have perpetuated a prior, mythical “Golden Age” of older Steinway pianos.
Their years for this imagined “Golden Age” cover the period of time when Steinways typically become worn out (any age exceeding about 75 years) and which, conveniently, are in need of restoration.
In addition, more pianos were produced during the mid-20th Century, so the used piano market is awash with thousands of older used Steinways.
Such restoration firms may do an acceptable job rebuilding old Steinways, but they overstep when they falsely claim that the old designs, materials, and workmanship were superior to today or that their restoration workmanship is “unparalleled.”
The truth is that the piano designs these firms are restoring are now in many respects technologically and musically obsolete. Moreover, technologies, equipment, materials, and expertise necessary to the construction of current Steinway designs are not available to them.
Moreover, the accuracy, precision, material excellence, manufacturing methodologies, equipment, and advanced designs of the newest Steinways far exceed those of previous generations.
For good reason, today’s leading music conservatories and symphonies categorically invest only in new Steinways for their performance halls and faculty studios. New Steinways are state-of-the-art. The best Steinways have always been and still are new.
Again, the only genuine Steinway Golden Age is today.
So Myth #1 is FALSE.
Even without the “Golden Age of Steinway” legend, another, similar myth makes the rounds now and then. This is the more generalized myth that older pianos are inherently better than newer pianos.
But the truth is that, while Steinways go down in value more gradually than other premium piano brands, they, too, depreciate in value with the passage of every year after being sold.
Generally speaking, pianos are at their performance peak in their first ten years. Whenever a performing arts center or music institution needs another piano, a new piano is their first choice.
Music institutions’ budgets are frequently tight these days. If older pianos were better, why would they not save money and buy a used one instead?
Today, over 95% of the major piano concerts in North America are performed on Steinway & Sons pianos that are typically 10 years of age or less.
In terms of quality, a used piano’s tone does not have as great of a dynamic range as a new piano, and the action is not as responsive.
While it is possible for older pianos to be acceptable to some players, the piano never plays or sounds as good as it did when it was new.
As a result, Myth #2 is FALSE.
Steinway & Sons have been making their pianos in New York since 1873 and in Hamburg, Germany since 1880. Steinway has no intention to move either factory.
For example, the craftspeople who have been making each Steinway over nine months in Astoria have developed a community there that would be impossible to replicate elsewhere.
However, the Steinway family of pianos does include two lines manufactured in Asia to serve the entry-level piano market. Those lines are Boston and Essex.
Steinways continue to be handcrafted at a rate of only 1,250 pianos per year at the Astoria factory and a similar number is made at the Hamburg, Germany factory. When a company is handcrafting pianos over 12 months rather than more quickly manufacturing them, the quality is superior.
Spreading a myth that Steinways are now made in Asia is a clear attempt to bring Steinways down to the same manufacturing level as other pianos. This is an attempt to bolster their claim that a used Steinway somehow has more value than a new Steinway.
For quality and performance, the latest, a new Steinway, still made in America, remains the best option over a used Steinway.
Nevertheless, a certified used Steinway, purchased from a Steinway dealer, can have a significant amount of value left in it, depending on its age and condition.
Myth #3 is FALSE.
The internet can be a source of information, gleaned from pieces like this one. Such online information, from credible sources, can be a great starting point to learn about Steinways, new and used.
However, the internet can also be a source of misinformation. In internet chat rooms, people who give advice often have their own agendas. Some may try to sow doubt in the mind of the consumer about other brands or exaggerate the value of their used piano inventory.
Consider the value of visiting a Steinway showroom, trying out the pianos there, talking face-to-face with a piano consultant. Now contrast that with taking advice from an online source expert whom one has never met.
Often such online sources talk about the benefits of purchasing a piano which they have never heard or played.
Oftentimes, the hunt for piano information on the internet will lead to piano forums. Such forums are a mixture of those not connected to the piano industry and piano technicians and salespeople who offer their opinions to steer people in direction favorable to them.
Such salespeople rarely work for one of the few Steinway dealers.
This is not to say that some experienced members of the piano industry don’t have interesting insights. However, their understanding of Steinway & Sons products can be quite limited.
For example, many online voices offer dated views due to having little experience with new Steinway & Sons pianos. Many have never played the other Steinway-designed lines, so a new Boston or Essex piano is foreign to them. They offer advice on pianos they haven’t personally heard or played.
The best source of information on Steinway is an authorized Steinway piano dealer like M. Steinert & Sons, where you can physically hear and play a variety of pianos.
Additionally, a visit to a Steinway dealer allows you to talk face-to-face with an expert who has helped many other customers find the piano that is the right fit for their needs.
Myth #4 is FALSE.
Piano rebuilders and restorers who are not Steinway dealers are unable to help a used Steinway become “good as new.” This is because they cannot get a pin block or soundboard–two Steinway-defining parts of the piano. Steinway only sells those to their dealers.
Labor is hugely variant in the rebuilding community, ranging from top notch to shoddy opportunists trying to trade on the Steinway name. Even some skilled rebuilders take extreme shortcuts when they think that the buyer will not notice. Sadly, this is often true.
At M. Steinert & Sons, certified used Steinway pianos must be 30 years of age or younger. While all new pianos depreciate in value after the sale, Steinways do depreciate more gradually than other brands.
As a result, depending on age, condition, and whether or not any restoration was done by a Steinway dealer, a used Steinway can still have considerable value and many years of quality piano playing in it.
Still, if one can afford a new Steinway, it will always be the best overall value as it represents the culmination of nearly 170 years of improvements by Steinway & Sons engineers, designers, and craftspeople.
Myth #5 is FALSE.
Myths like the ones detailed above were probably destined to crop up, simply because a successful, international brand like Steinway naturally becomes a target for those with their own agenda.
Myths like these simply do not hold water under closer inspection.
Again, some will try to use Steinway’s credibility to sell a low value piano to an unsuspecting buyer. Others try to cut down Steinways in online forums to help another brand, Steinway & Sons have long understood that this is an unfortunate price to be paid for success.
The savvy piano buyer will do extensive research first to understand the real value a quality Steinway has to offer–and how to screen out low value pianos of one variety or another.
A visit to a Steinway showroom like those available through M. Steinert & Sons is a crucial step in one’s education about Steinway pianos. Their touch and tone simply cannot be experienced online.
See for yourself why today’s professional concert pianists believe that a new Steinway is the most evolved piano, one that brings out their best as a musician.
For more reading, look further into the difference between New and Used Steinways.
by Stephen N. Reed
Even those who have not investigated purchasing a Steinway piano before can sense that it is going to be an expensive proposition. Even so, those unfamiliar with new piano prices for premium brands can be surprised at the upper five-figure and six-figure price tag for a new Steinway grand piano.
So what makes them so expensive?
M. Steinert & Sons has been following the evolution of Steinway pianos while distributing them since 1869. The Boston-based company has become the leading authority in New England on the subject of Steinway pianos.
M. Steinert & Sons has helped thousands of customers decide upon this significant investment for their home or educational institution: a new or certified used Steinway piano.
Understandably, some customers come to a Steinway showroom unaware of the cost of a Steinway, with its combination of special materials and legendary craftsmanship. An analogy from automobile purchasing may be helpful.
Imagine a sports car enthusiast who has received a significant promotion or bonus at the end of the year. Steeped in the mystique of the British-made Aston Martin from James Bond films, he goes to the nearest dealer to make inquiries.
To his surprise, he discovers that even the least expensive new Aston Martin model is out of his price range. What now?
This same experience can happen with music aficionados who come into a Steinway showroom for the first time. The price of a new, handcrafted Steinway grand piano can be eye-opening.
The good news is that, like a new car purchase, a new Steinway piano can be financed. Indeed, since 2000, 14% of M. Steinert & Sons’ sales have been accomplished through financing, making an expensive purchase more affordable.
So for those who simply need to stretch out their payments over time, a new Steinway purchase can still be a real possibility. Still, others will wonder: Why are Steinway pianos so expensive?
The special wood procured by Steinway for their famous soundboards alone is of great cost. Steinway pianos combine the resonance of Sitka spruce with the rigidity of Hard Rock Maple to intensify the richness of the sound.
Plus, all Steinway soundboards are made with Sitka spruce, the most resonant wood available.
To better understand the painstaking process Steinway has traditionally used to ensure that their soundboards are at their very best, only the top 1% of the Sitka spruce wood is chosen from the Steinway lumberyard.
Out of that top 1%, 40% is still not deemed fit for use by Steinway. From the remaining 60% of the top 1%, custom fitting of the wood is used to create each Steinway soundboard.
Along with the procurement of this special wood, the selection and fashioning of it by Steinway craftspeople add to the overall cost of the piano.
Perhaps the most obvious reason contributing to a Steinway’s bottom line is that it is made in America, with the associated costs of both piano materials and highly-skilled labor.
The generations-old craftsmanship that goes into every handcrafted Steinway comes at a significant cost, i.e. the cost of the labor at the Astoria, New York production facility.
One major American piano maker discovered the hard way what happens when its main factory moves to a less-expensive part of the country to save on labor costs: the quality of their product can take a nosedive.
If the craftspeople who alone know how to create these intricate musical instruments decide not to follow the company elsewhere, the loss can be staggering, even to the point of ruining the company.
Steinway & Sons has wisely remained in Astoria, New York, despite the higher costs associated with doing business there as opposed to other areas of the country. That decision underscores how valuable the Steinway craftspeople are to their company.
Steinway only makes 1,250 pianos annually at their New York facility, with 200 hands involved in finishing each grand piano.
A handcrafted piano like that is naturally going to cost substantially more than a mass-produced piano at a foreign manufacturing facility.
The various models of Steinway pianos vary in cost largely due to increases in overall size. A larger model requires more wood materials and action parts, along with the additional labor and craftsmanship needed to build a larger piano.
Larger models also have added value for their richer tone and dramatic appearance.
Another significant factor in the price of a new Steinway is the piano’s finish. As one example a Mahogany finish can add up to $30,000 extra on a new Steinway Model D.
The Steinway “Crown Jewel” collection has models with creative finishes that include Dark Cherry and Indian Rosewood. These kinds of custom finishes will increase the price over a standard ebony finish.
Steinway remains the choice of 97% of piano performers worldwide. These are professional musicians who make their living from playing the piano.
They consistently choose Steinway as the instrument that brings out their best as musicians and performers.
Such endorsements by Steinway Artists lead many to believe that Steinway is also the most expensive pianos in existence today. However, even a cursory glance at the most expensive pianos reveals a surprising fact: Steinway’s Model D concert grand appears at the very end of the list at Number 12.
The Model D’s price tag at $198,400.00 USD is actually quite a bit lower than the other pianos on that most expensive list. For example, Italian piano maker Fazioli leads the field with its F308 model offered at $347,000.00 USD.
Other top pianos like Australia’s Stuart and Sons and the Czech Republic’s Petrof are much higher than the Steinway Model D.
A CEO of a large company visited Steinway’s Astoria, New York facility and marveled at the intricate details of putting together a grand piano over 12 months (9 months for a Steinway upright) with over 12,116 parts and with 200 craftspeople’s hands contributing to the effort.
“I can’t believe you can make these pianos for that price!” he exclaimed.
Thus, the final price of a Steinway & Sons piano needs to be seen in the context of what one receives when purchasing a new Steinway: a musical and cultural work of art.
Read next an analysis of four factors that help one decide whether to purchase an expensive piano.
by Stephen N. Reed
Spirio, the first self-playing piano that measured up to Steinway’s exacting standards, rolled out in 2016. The Wall Street Journal captured some of its essence well:
“An uncannily accurate method of recording key strikes (with more than 1,000 velocity gradations) and the nuances of pedaling render the flat, soulless quality of playing pianos obsolete.”
But could the 21st Century Spirio itself become obsolete in time?
Patrick Elisha, with the M. Steinert & Sons’ Education Department, notes that Steinway has included key, sophisticated features which indicate that they built the Spirio to last:
This nuance and sensitivity in action dynamics, combined with 256 levels of pedal positioning, form the backbone of the Steinway Spirio performance library. There is widespread agreement that going beyond these specifications would yield no perceptible difference.
For on-board recording with Spirio|R, the same principle prevails: the extraordinary capacity to capture over 1,020 levels of dynamic range and 256 pedal movements, sampled 100 times per second. Other tech factors that should forestall Spirio becoming obsolete include:
However, because the Spirio’s hardware features all separate components, they can be repaired or replaced as necessary. Thus, if a single component of the hardware fails, the piano is not obsolete. Just as with other Steinway parts, individual components can be replaced if they wear out.
Patrick notes that Steinway & Sons has always been at the forefront of piano engineering and technology; these are areas that they have been comfortable working in for many years.
“Steinway is the catalyst and champion of modern piano technology,” explains Patrick. “The Spirio was engineered for the long haul, not for a price point.”
Steinway’s mission remains “Build the best piano possible.” Steinway Spirio is a continuation of this nearly 170-year mission.
For more information about the Steinway Spirio, see our article Is the Spirio Worth It?
By Stephen N. Reed
The Hamburg Steinway, built in the Northern German city of Hamburg, has an intriguing history. Whereas the New York Steinway factory opened in 1854, Hamburg Steinways began being built in 1880.
The New York facility serves Steinway’s needs in the Americas, while Hamburg serves the rest of the world. Both facilities are owned by Steinway & Sons.
While both facilities faced challenges during the Great Depression, Steinway Hamburg took some additional hard knocks in the first half of the 20th Century.
For example, during the pre-World War II years, Steinway Hamburg–part of an American company–was threatened with being nationalized, as Hitler mistakenly believed the Steinways to be Jewish. Later, Hitler’s friendship with Carl Bechstein, Founder of C. Bechstein Pianoforte, made matters worse for other piano makers, like Steinway.
Thus, while Steinway’s factory in New York was able to supply hundreds of upright Steinways and air drop them for entertainment use by American troops, Steinway Hamburg was supervised by Nazi managers after being declared Enemy Property after the United States entered the war in December 1941.
After World War II’s end in 1945, Steinway Hamburg gradually returned to full production and now supplies Steinway orders from Seoul to Strasburg. Piano performers worldwide are as enthusiastic about Hamburg Steinways as with their New York Steinway counterparts.
But some rumors surface now and then that significant differences remain between the two factories’ pianos, making the Steinways made in Hamburg better pianos. So is there anything to this?
M. Steinert & Sons President Brendan Murphy wanted to find out for himself. Murphy represents the fourth generation of Murphys at the head of M. Steinert & Sons, which is the oldest Steinway dealer in the world.
Brendan went on a trip recently to the Hamburg factory and learned up close about the state of Steinway Hamburg’s pianos today and investigated any differences with New York Steinways.
Brendan discovered that, yes, some differences had occurred between the New York and Hamburg Steinways–in the past. For example, during the two World Wars, Trans-Atlantic shipping could get interrupted, forcing Steinway Hamburg to use some different woods. A beech wood, available in Germany, was used for a time instead of the hard rock maple for the grand piano rim.
However, today, both factories use the same materials, mainly maple with some Sapele, but from different sources.
Also, both Hamburg and New York pianos get their sand-cast metal plates from the O.S. Kelly Foundry in Springfield, Illinois. To ensure a steady supply of cast-iron plates, Steinway bought that plant in 1999, after O.S. Kelly had just lost some failed defunct customers like Wurlitzer and Baldwin.
Both Steinway factories rely upon the strength of these plates to support tensions of up to 40,000 pounds.
Additionally, the hammers in both were made a bit differently. In the New York pianos, the hammers had softer felt, then had lacquer applied to make their surface harder. In contrast, Hamburg’s hammers had a harder felt which was then needled to make them softer.
However, today, both New York and Hamburg factories use a less-processed wool on their hammers. The natural lanolin found in this wool helps produce a clearer tone for both factories’ pianos, according to concert artists who overwhelmingly prefer Steinways.
Externally, Brendan has seen one area where New York Steinways have become more like Hamburg Steinways: their finish. Until recently, New York Steinways typically featured an Ebony Satin finish, not as shiny as Hamburg’s Black Polyester finish, which pops when the stage lights hit it. Now New York Steinways feature the same highly-polished look.
So are there any actual, substantial differences between the Hamburg and New York Steinway pianos? There was one obvious cosmetic difference, but even that has changed recently.
Steinway aficionados are aware of the difference in the arms of the New York and Hamburg Steinway piano arms. The Hamburg piano arm was more rounded, while the New York Steinway was a more clear-cut arm. The difference was a mildly cosmetic one and created no difference in the piano’s tone.
With the transition to the diamond gloss finish, the rounded arm has evolved as a preference and is produced by both factories.
Another past difference involved the pedals. The New York pedal system was re-designed to follow the Hamburg pedal system a couple of years ago. This is another point of uniformity between the Steinway and Hamburg factories and an improvement for the New York pianos.
Many pianists and Steinway technicians agree on this, especially regarding the damper pedal. Now for all Steinways, it is a simpler mechanism with less perceived travel and more accurate pedaling, easier to regulate and repair.
“There is one other minor difference worth noting, though it doesn’t affect the tone of the piano,” says Brendan. “The Hamburg pianos’ pin block has a single stratum of mahogany among the hard rock maple stratas. This may be a carryover from the time when sourcing certain woods was difficult during the earlier part of the 20th Century.”
Finally, much has been made by some writers of the “Renner Action” in Hamburg Steinways Brendan notes that, while it is true that these actions used to be contracted out to Renner in Germany, today is a different story. Like the O.S. Kelly Foundry in Springfield, Renner was bought by Steinway in 2018-19 to guarantee the same high quality of Steinway actions worldwide.
“The bottom line is that today, the two Steinway factories in New York and Hamburg more closely collaborate than ever before,” says Brendan. “What we saw in the handcrafted process in Hamburg was just like what we have seen in New York.”
“One can honestly say today that neither the Hamburg nor the New York Steinway piano is better than the other,” Brendan adds. “New York and Hamburg Steinways are twins: top quality pianos, reliable, and ready to perform for concert pianists and regular players alike. We hear frequently from performing artists that they prefer Steinways because they get the very best music out of them, the performers.”
Patrick Elisha, a piano consultant for M. Steinert & Sons who has worked for Steinway, agrees.
“Selecting one’s piano is a personal process, and choosing a Steinway & Sons piano is often a lifelong dream for people all over the world,” Patrick notes. “Whether you choose a Hamburg or New York manufactured Steinway & Sons piano is immaterial, their recipe being the same. The art of music exists in the bond formed between the Steinway piano and its master.”
Get more information on Steinway Pianos at M. Steinert & Sons.
by Stephen N. Reed, updated for 2023 pricing on January 24, 2023
Since its release in 2016, Steinway & Sons’ Spirio pianos have captured the imagination of those who want the high performance of a Steinway Model D, B, or M grand piano paired with the highest resolution self-playing technology.
Spirio Models start around $122,000 and reach over $400,000 (depending upon size, features, and finish). The Spirio Play model adds an additional $29,000 to the price of a Steinway Model M or Model B grand piano.
The newer Spirio | r, with its added recording and high definition editing technology, adds a total of $48,000 to the new Steinway Grand Model M, B, or D (the Model D Spirio is only available in the Spirio | r version).
Let’s look into four key areas, related to the cost of the only self-playing piano to meet the high standards set by Steinway & Sons.
Steinway wants nothing to go out under its name without an exhaustive testing process. This is true for any Steinway product but especially Spirio, with the complexities involved in integrating new audio technology with a Steinway grand.
As the world’s oldest dealer of Steinway pianos, M. Steinert & Sons has an extensive understanding of all Steinway products, especially the Spirio, which we have been carrying since its launch in 2016.
The state-of-the-art technology and engineering innovations created by the engineers at Steinway & Sons account for a significant amount of the value present in each Steinway Spirio piano.
What kind of engineering innovations?
As one example, in order to achieve the high resolution now available in every Spirio grand, Steinway engineers had to place over 1,000 levels of sensitivity per key.
This is not your grandfather’s player piano. This is extraordinarily advanced audio technology, software development, and electronic engineering, all designed to produce the high resolution, nuanced sound any audiophile seeks.
Such innovation is necessary to achieve the experience of having Irving Berlin or Vladimir Horowitz interpret a piano piece. That performance is played out on the Spirio keyboard in the same, precise manner as when these piano masters were recorded years ago.
High resolution technology is needed to offer the same, precise, subtle soft and loud key strikes that a Steinway immortal played in their prime.
It is important to note, that Spirio technology must be installed during the manufacturing process. It cannot be added on after the fact. Just as developing the latest technology takes a highly qualified team, so does the craftsmanship involved in creating a Steinway Spirio. Interfacing the exceptional materials and design inherent in any new Steinway grand with the new Spirio technology being installed is a complex process.
Every new Steinway Spirio is outfitted by Steinway craftspeople to ensure that both the integrity of the original Steinway design and the functioning of the new technology blend in a seamless way to create the Spirio experience.
A key part of this process is installing a solenoid (electromechanical actuator) rail into the piano keybed (a shelf-like part of the piano that supports the keys and action). On the solenoid rail, there is one solenoid for each key.
There is also a solenoid for all three pedals, soft, sostenuto, and sustain pedals, Steinway created over 250 levels of sensitivity per pedal and a solenoid for the on/off function of the sostenuto pedal, as well.
Each solenoid contains a mechanical device that, when activated by an electronic signal, pushes against a key or against the pedal trap work, causing the appropriate keys and pedals to move up and down. All of this is put into place without compromising the integrity of the instrument.
Perfecting this player-piano technology to achieve Steinway standards adds to the value of any Spirio piano.
Unlike pay-per-song technologies, Spirio owners enjoy a huge high resolution library at no extra charge. The Spirio music library consists of over 4,300 pieces from classical and jazz legends, as well as today’s pop artists. Some pieces come from Steinway’s proprietary archival recordings of famed Steinway Artists like Sergei Rachmaninoff, George Gershwin, and Vladimir Horowitz, unavailable elsewhere. Imagine what such exclusive performance recordings would cost if each piece was bought separately.
Steinway continues to pay for new recordings of modern Steinway Artists, whose works are among the 40-50 pieces added monthly in high resolution, recorded exclusively for Spirio. These pieces are added at no additional charge, thus growing and diversifying the Spirio owner’s musical library.
In addition to these factors, one other cost factor remains: does the Spirio buyer want the original Spirio Play version or the Spirio | r version to record from their keyboard? Spirio Play costs approximately $29,000 and is added to the regular cost of a new Steinway Model B or M grand piano.
The Spirio | r adds an additional charge due to the added technology components involved, such as editing capacities and linking up with other musicians remotely. The Spirio | r, with its recording technology, costs $48,000 and is added to the cost of a new Steinway Model M, B, and D.
Both Spirio models come with the highest levels of quality and durability expected of any Steinway.
For more information about the Spirio experience, contact M. Steinert & Sons by filling out the form below.
Or – directly schedule a time to try a Spirio in Boston or Newton.
Other Spirio Related Content:
by Stephen N. Reed
After five years on the market, Steinway’s Spirio high performance audio technology is gaining popularity. Indeed, one out of every three new Steinways sold today is a Spirio.
After reading this article, you will be familiar with what we feel are the best reasons to step up to a Spirio for your Steinway Model B, M, or D. M. Steinert & Sons has been a Steinway distributor for New England since 1869 and has seen various models of player pianos over the years.
“The Spirio includes a high resolution musical library, live performance capability, and recording,” said Chuck Johnson, Marketing Manager for M. Steinert & Sons.
“We’ve seen different attempts at player pianos, having served the New England piano market for over 160 years. Spirio is the most well-designed, easy to use, self-playing piano we’ve ever sold.”
First and foremost, a Spirio still has the broad palette, warmth and depth of tone, powerful resonance, and unmatched touch response—just like any other new Steinway.
The artisans at Steinway & Sons install Spirio technology at the time of manufacture, ensuring no alterations in the musical performance, nor compromise in the instrument’s beauty. The benefit to the buyer is that they have both a new Steinway grand but also Spirio technology with all of its functions.
While Spirio is state-of-the-art technology, Steinway has made it simple for anyone to use. An Apple iPad is included, and the varying Spirio functions are easily controlled with the corresponding app. Training is offered, but rarely required – it’s that easy to operate.
After working with every after-market player system in the piano business for over 30 years, we are continually impressed by the simplicity of the Spirio’s access to the genres, performers and songs we wanted to hear. When something is easy to use, it tends to get used, and is worth owning.
The exclusive, high-resolution library features over 4300 pieces and is updated with 40-50 new pieces every month at no additional charge.
This includes a growing number of classical virtuosos, jazz legends, today’s latest pop artist hits, and historical performances by Steinway immortals like Rachmaninoff, Gershwin, and Duke Ellington.
Much like the megapixel revolution of the digital camera, Spirio offers the high-tech benefit of exclusive, high-resolution recordings, preserving all the music. Every nuanced, dynamic level from infinitesimal gradation of hammer velocity as well as every shade of resonance from proportional pedaling.
The result? Experiencing performances captured by great pianists of today and yesteryear that are indistinguishable from their live performances. We’re not talking about mere recordings from your CD collection.
This is like having the ghost of George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, or Sergei Rachmaninoff playing the keys on your Steinway Model M, B, or D grand–exactly the way they performed them decades ago
Spirio provides additional, high-resolution audio entertainment long after children who play the piano are out of the nest. Moreover, the different functions Spirio provides can re-ignite an interest in music and piano playing.
For example, one M. Steinert & Sons customer decided to step up to a Spirio because her daughter, who was taking lessons, was beginning to lose interest in the piano.
Spirio has done exactly what her mother had hoped: rekindle her daughter’s interest in the piano. Exposure to all of the different musical genres and soon live recordings in real time has made music fun for her again. Indeed, their Spirio has brought the whole family together through music.
Spirio provides a Steinway grand piano that has increased value for music lovers who do not play or who do so seldom. For these customers, a Steinway grand with the Spirio feature-set makes for a more valuable, easy to use, frequently-enjoyed instrument.
The value for them is two-fold: they have both a traditional Steinway grand for the occasions when they need it, while also enjoying a high-performance Spirio system for regular use.
The Spirio is also excellent for teaching and collaboration, allowing players in different locations to share their own recordings with one another. Today’s Rodgers and Hammerstein can brainstorm from their own homes, if needed. Remote learning possibilities abound for musical educators with the Spirio, as well.
The years of testing Spirio’s capacities by Steinway craftspeople, engineers, and technicians yields tremendous value to the Spirio experience. One out of every three new Steinways purchased today is a Spirio, an indication of their growing popularity with Steinway owners.
M. Steinert & Sons has been serving New England with Steinway’s range of pianos since 1869. We were part of the 2016 rollout of the Steinway Spirio because we were impressed with the carefully-researched interfacing of the latest high resolution, audio technology and the classic Steinway craftsmanship.
We encourage you to come see and play a Spirio for yourself at either of our two locations. For more information, please contact M. Steinert & Sons by filling out the form below.
Schedule a visit to one of our showrooms in Boston and Newton to try a Spirio for yourself. Until then, learn more about the Spirio models.
