price: £15,000 (RRP £17,850)
With a design embodying the latest in technology, Yamaha signals a new direction for the piano. This, our flagship model, is the ultimate expression of “Innovation With Soul”. A keyboard action and pedals indistinguishable from those of a grand piano. Stunningly authentic tactile response. Speakers with the authority and presence to deliver flawless sound…. The AvantGrand N3 weaves advanced technology and traditional craftsmanship into an extraordinary design that gives form to Yamaha’s aspirations for the future.
When do you, as a pianist, feel elation? Is it in that instant when you see a score for the first time, and feel the inspirations of the composer bloom inside your mind?
It might be when you’re up on stage playing a grand piano that projects every aspect of your sound, bathed in a shower of applause from an appreciative audience.
Call it accomplishment, call it exultation – we’re certain that you’ve experienced your share of such moments.
But above all, there is that incomparable joy you feel in those moments when you sit at your piano.
Those instants when, threading the fragments of your imagination together as sound, you become at one with the instrument; those treasured moments of delight for all who love the piano, regardless of their skill or experience.
It’s why we believe that you can spend so much of your life in front of the piano.View All
To play when you want, how you want, as much as you want.
For those that love the piano, this is an extravagance above all else, something that all pianists yearn for.
In reality playing the piano brings with it many limits.
Beyond the physical issues of time to play and a place for the instrument, there are the fine nuances, particularly with the grand piano, of touch, tone, and reverberation, that contribute to the true thrill of playing the piano.View All
Not creating a piano, but rediscovering one.
This, summed up in a single phrase, was the concept behind the development of the AvantGrand.
Making a so-called “acoustic” piano requires extensive technique and know-how, qualities accumulated through our many years of experience.
However, a major theme in the creation of the AvantGrand involved consciously refraining from relying on this experience.
Rather than designing from a standpoint of what a piano must be, we gave priority to looking at what it could be, searching for the kind of instrument that would suggest a new direction for the piano..View All
The nuanced touch and response of the grand piano are an essential standard yardstick for piano quality. It offers the player a specially-developed grand piano action that features the same configuration as the action of a real grand. The hammers strike the “strings” from underneath, allowing minute adjustments to the weight distribution of the hammers, and to the movement of the hammers themselves, for a smoother feel when playing. In addition to a hammer sensor, this instrument employs a non-contact key sensor that has no effect on the movement of the keys, affording excellent recognition of the player’s pressure on the keyboard, timing, and the other delicate nuances that affect musical expression. This combination provides an impressive sensitivity for the entire range from pianissimo through to fortissimo, and the ability to translate even the swiftest trills of the pianist with transparency. The wood construction of the keyboard mirrors that of the grand piano, and features New Ivory II on the white keys. This is a unique material developed by Yamaha, with a texture superbly close to that of natural ivory, allowing you to play swift passages with ease while also offering a sure response for slower pieces.
With the introduction of the AvantGrand, Yamaha ignited a revolution in the approach to sampling recording and playback of the notes of the actual acoustic piano. Treating the soundboard not simply as a point source of sound but as a plane, we took samples at four positions, adding optimum center and rear locations to the traditional left and right. As a sound source, we carefully selected the best single instrument from among our CFIIIS full concert grand pianos for sampling. The end result of these efforts is that AvantGrand series instruments recreate the original sound of a superb grand piano almost to perfection. Meanwhile, the AvantGrand’s speaker system has been designed to ensure that this sound is heard best at the playing position. A three-way system featuring woofer, mid-range and tweeter speakers reproduce the rich natural resonance of the soundboard accurately. What’s more, each of the low-, mid-, and high-frequency bands has been given its own amplifier to prevent interference between bands. This innovative configuration allows the instrument’s outstanding sound system to reproduce the nuances of each individual note. For even greater sonic accuracy, the speakers of the N3 duplicate the original sampling positions.
In addition to the four-channel multi-speakers, the AvantGrand also features a f lat-panel “Soundboard Resonator” where the music stand would be when laid f lat, allowing a more subtle reproduction of the buildup of sound felt by pianists when playing a grand piano. An oscillator called a “transducer” transmits vibration to the f lat-panel soundboard, giving a realistic sound response that is especially evident in the higher range.
The sound of an acoustic piano resonates throughout its entire body. The bass range in particular is an essential part of the reverberation that is continually transmitted to a player’s body. In the AvantGrand, this is replicated by our newly-developed Tactile Response System (TRS) that focuses on reproducing reverberation. This system features two transducers in the soundboard, the area underneath the keyboard, resonating natural reverberation throughout the entire instrument. The player receives the natural sound felt f rom hands touching on the keyboard and feet depressing the pedals; the epitome of real piano playing. This system can be turned on and off, and the vibration set to one of three levels.
Light to the touch at first, with subtle firmness partway through its travel, and lightening again as the player pushes further; the pedals of the grand piano have subtly different stages that can be felt when the pedal is depressed. Skilled players take advantage of these pedal movements by using extremely delicate pedaling that allows them to achieve finely nuanced expression in their play. In developing this instrument, we set out to reproduce the sensations of a grand piano’s pedals as faithfully as possible. The resulting pedal allows for music as you believe it should sound, equally responsive for more impressionistic pieces that require a lot of half-pedaling.
