Over the weekend, we were able to visit Lyra Piano Shop in Hawthorn East and Austral Piano World in Ivanhoe East.
Lyra is in a warehouse on a quiet street away from the retail strip.
Excellent customer service and lots of pianos to choose from.
Loved the Kawai 7X and Yamaha U3M (mellower that U3 and U3H). A bit pricey though. But they do offer instalment payments a la Allans Music: 50% upfront and up to 12 instalments on the balance.
Austral has a beautiful shopfront that makes you feel like you're walking into a very special, upmarket place. They stock Petrofs, Schumanns, Knabe, Bechstein, Kohler & Campbell. Lots of grand pianos (love the white one - Richard Clayderman!).
And Kawai.
Particularly like the full-size Kawai (the K series sounds better than the KX which according to piano forums is made in China), which is made in Japan and contains full spruce soundboard.
We were also able to visit the back room where old pianos were being refurbished and where they kept their used models.
The charming retail strip opposite (East Ivanhoe Village SC) with the Vita Bella coffee shop where we had brunch certainly added to that "I'd love to live here" vibe.
I thought the owner a bit bo-chap. After a few introductory remarks, he disappeared. But hubby says he was just being discreet and non-pushy.
The trouble with shopping for pianos is that when you've played a few, you sort of forget how they sound and what makes one stand out better than another.
It's like house hunting and display village visiting.
Just received an email from AllansMusic giving us the serial numbers and revised quotes (not including delivery + tuning) of the used Yamaha U3 and Kawai US50 that we tested a few weeks ago.
The question now is: good used piano or new one?
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