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Has anyone done a teardown of the Steinway&Sons Spirio System?
I'm intrigued as to how they managed to get the high dynamics but still very fine control. And how it's integrated into the instrument.
Hey Huy! That looks like one sweet piano, however, with a price tag of $100k it’ll be hard to find someone willing enough to tear it open. Here’s a link where someone brings up a teardown and why they aren’t doing it.
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Heya. Thanks for the link.
I disagree with that guy though.
Measuring is way easier than actuating. There are tons of ways to accurately measure the position of a key along a fixed actuation axis. The moving part of the sensor (probably passive, maybe just a small magnet glued to each key for a hall effect sensor for example) can be easily made to not influence the response of the instrument.
Controlling a solenoid actuator so that you can pull the key ranging from very softly for a pianissimo to a thunderous fortissimo at is a lot more complex I think.
Also you'd have to integrate the actuators in a way that preserves the Steinway feel and sound for a player.
Repairability should be pretty good for a piano though, so it shouldn't be too hard to tear down the piano action and reassemble it without leaving any damage. They have to renew the various felt pieces in a piano action after all. And the life span of a 100k piece of craftsmanship is way longer than the throw away electronics that we're used to seeing here. Many pianos probably outlive their owners.
We will be left to wonder I guess.
For now.
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