@Pallas @ShiroKuro I apologize if my post came across as ‘you have to play at a certain level for a grand piano to make sense.’ That was not at all my intent and that is not how I feel. In many ways, I feel rather the opposite. Technically, a good upright should not hold you back, and I’m not convinced that a piano with all the bells and whistles is going to help you very much in technical achievements. But if you’re going to spend a fair chunk of time with an instrument, it can only be a positive thing if it is an instrument you feel lucky every day to be playing. That is certainly how I feel about mine. So if you think a different piano will be more inspiring, will bring you more joy, for whatever constellation of reasons, then I’m all for finding the piano that will bring you the greatest satisfaction, as long as it does not cause financial hardship and as long as the purchase will not strain important relationships.
My post was really about what I had perceived upthread as the only specific thing that was clearly identified as missing from your current piano, and the comment that
Pallas My piano doesn't have very much dynamic range
To me, this is a reason that I don’t think makes a lot of sense as the springboard for wanting a different piano, because I have a very, very difficult time believing that an almost new YUS5 shouldn’t be able to provide the breadth of dynamic range that one could want in a home environment. Through high school, I played on 2 home instruments. One was a Yamaha console and the 2nd was a U1. There would be many, many reasons to want a different piano. Neither was the quality of instrument that you have currently, but even with the console in a pretty big living space, lack of dynamic range was not really something that was a setback or that I could complain of, and that specifically would not have been in a top 10 list of reasons for getting a different instrument. I just can’t think that a YUS5 shouldn’t be able to provide as much dynamic range as you could want in a home environment. So to me, if that is the thing that is particularly bothering you, this suggests that either the instrument needs some work by a good technician to optimize it for you (maybe the voicing is too mellow for you/your space) or this is an area of technical development that you are continuing to acquire. And my example about myself and my teacher is just that this is a technical skill that is developed over a very long period of time. Going back to the Yamaha console of my childhood, when my teacher played it, she sure could get plenty of sound and plenty of pianissimo.
Anyways, if you do want a different instrument, then by all means go for it. But I think it is useful to think through the reasons that you want a different instrument and to articulate these very clearly to yourself, so that the next piano will meet your short, medium, and long term wishes and needs. What kind of touch and tone do you want? Aesthetically, how will it work in your space? Acoustically, how will it work in your space?
And if you’re not yet ready to embark on finding a different instrument, I would encourage you to get your YUS5 serviced at a pretty high level. Perhaps somewhat analogous to the ‘do I deserve a Tier 1 piano?’, I think people can write off servicing uprights to a very high level because they are not as expensive/fancy as grands— so ‘does the piano deserve to be serviced at that level?’ If we were talking about an old beat up console piano, I’d probably say no. But you have a high quality instrument, and if you want the piano to perform at its best for you, it may be that a half day with a highly skilled technician can bring it a lot closer to your ideal piano sound. It’s never going to be a Bosendorfer concert grand, but it still could get to a place where you’re much happier with it than you are now, and that significantly addresses your feeling that the dynamic range is limited.
