Silent Piano: £10k budget

[FJacob]

Greetings,

I'm currently moving to London and am considering buying / renting a new piano. I will be living in a victorian house with very thin walls, and the piano will be probably placed in my 5m x 4m (13x16 ft) bedroom. I like to practice at night, so I figured it would be wise to go for a silent piano.
Here at home I own a Yamaha C2, and I very much like its touch and bass, though I find the tone lacks the "personality" of, for instance, a baby-grand steinway (though it's also worth a fraction of the price).

What do you guys think would be the best option for me considering the £10k budget?
I've been looking at U3, YUS3 and YUS5 by yamaha, and they seem to be quite good pianos, though as I said I'm not a huge fan of the yamaha tone color. Are there other options? Are those great pianos?

Also, I read somewhere that the silent mechanism on yamaha uprights makes the piano less responsive, since you lose control of the hammers a few millimeters earlier due the placement of the metal bar. Is this relevant?

Since my room will be quite small, I figured a baby grand might not be a great option, but I'm willing to consider it as well.

Thanks for the help,
Felipe.

[Barrie Heaton]

Look at Schimmel silent they use the Yamaha system well they use to when they were part owned by Yamaha
Or
kawai silent upright for a more rounded tone
Look at
Vale pianos
Jaques Samuel Pianos Ltd

both stock Schimmel and kawai so you can do a side by side

Also to look at Sauter Pianos Markson Pianos sell them and Yamaha so again a side by side comparison

A silent system can be retro fitted to most uprights quite easy the cheapest on the market is the Gabore system The nice thing with the Gabore system you don't have to alter the set off (let off ) so the touch remains the same.... +001 g to the touch weight

Barrie

[athomik]

Look at Schimmel silent they use the Yamaha system well they use to when they were part owned by Yamaha
Barrie

Kemble also use the Yamaha system, and I think Seiler may have done at some point.