Size of room for Kawai GM 10

[quinie]

I tried out the above piano, really liked it and am now seriously thinking of buying one.

We had a space picked out for it in our dining room but having measured the area much more carefully it is not going to fit in there at all

We have a room at the side of the house that at the moment is called our "sun room". It needs a small amount of work to house the piano but it's not that big a room - it is 8 feet wide by about 12 feet long. The Kawai is 5 feet wide by 5 feet long.

At the moment it has a very high vaulted ceiling which we are going to lower.

My question is - is this room too small to house the piano? I know that it will physically fit in there but will it sound too loud? Is there anything I can do to help it sound good?

If we lower the ceiling it can be anything from a 7 and a half foot height to 13/14 feet high but if it is too high the room is pretty difficult to heat. It has a hard floor at the moment but one of the modifications could involve putting a wood / carpet floor. It is bare brick too at the moment but we want to get it plastered and make it into a proper room - specifically for my piano.

Am I living a pipe dream? I really did love the piano! Hubby is willing to turn over the sun room to my hobby but not willing to give up the dining room completely!

To be honest the sun room would be a much much nicer room to have for the piano becuase it has loads of windows (I am going to fit adjustable wooden blinds) and overlooks the garden and has a door out onto the garden which would make a lovely room for playing in.

[chrisvenables]

Hello quinie:

Nice choice of piano! The piano isn't too big for the room - choose a particular piano which is nice and mellow to start with. If it sounds too loud when you get it home, then your tuner can mellow it down even more. In addition, you may need to deaden the acoustic of the room with carpets, soft furnishings, even wallpaper and drapes or canvas prints to remove all traces of echo.

Don't move your piano into a newly plastered room until the plaster is totally dried. Check the humidity levels with a humidity gauge - around 50% is good and temperature around 20c. Absolutely no sunshine on the piano either! UV filter window film and/or blackout blinds are a must in a sun room.

[vernon]

I would not be happy putting any piano in a sun room if it lives up to it's name

[ATG]

I agree with Vernon, in my line of work (house surveys) most conservatories are too hot for comfort from about April to September, particularly if the sun's out, in which case your Kawai would soon be in flat pack form.

Does your sun room have a glazed roof or is it just a wall of windows? Does it face north?

Regarding the hard floor and high ceiling, I happen to like an echo-ey sound, helps to cover up the gaps. But seriously, many recordings today are made in tonally dead studios, so there's no warmth to the sound.

Hope this helps.

ATG

[quinie]

Hi there - thanks for all your replies!

The room has one long side and one short side - the short side gets the sun from about 4.30 in the afternoons when it is sunny - the other side doesn't really get any.

It does have a proper ceiling, not glazed. It has brick walls all round - full height to two sides and half height to the other two sides - then the rest of it is double glazed windows. I was going to fit good quality wooden venitian blinds all around the windows and curtains over these to close/open over them. There is also the chance of us fitting blinds to the outside of the windows to be opened and closed to suit or an awning to block the sun.

I shouldn't have called it a "sun room" - the estate agents called it that when we got the brochure because it has windows on two sides I think - it is definately not a conservatory!

I am more than happy to make all the ajustments necessary to make the room suitable for a piano but can't make it any bigger - sadly!

[Peter Smith Pianos]

Kawai GM10 grand is certainly the choice for a small room and its build and tone qualities are superior to other makes trying to retail at similiar prices.