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Hello and welcome to the Merriam Pianos RU-vid channel. Today we’re going to be looking at Pearl River’s UP115 Institutional upright piano.
A new UP115 overlaps price-wise with a used Japanese piano as well as some higher-end digital pianos, and as such, it’s been getting a lot of attention in our showroom, especially among beginner piano players.
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Overview
The UP115 is a 45” piano from Pearl River and is part of their entry-level line. Pearl River manufactures pianos under many different brand names, but the ones branded Pearl River are the least expensive.
If this piano was built 15 years ago considering its place in the Chinese piano hierarchy, this would mean that we were looking at a pretty forgettable instrument here - any of the bottom-tier Chinese pianos from that time period had major regulation issues, poor hammers, poor string quality and subpar quality control overall.
At this time, there was no question that a similarly priced used Japanese piano built in the 1970s or 1980s was a much better instrument.
2022 Pearl River & Chinese Pianos
Fast forward to 2022 and Pearl River along with Hailun and a couple of others have achieved a much higher and consistent level of quality control, with their entry-level pianos being substantially better than they were a short while ago.
Today, a piano like the UP115 is comparable to what you’ll often find in a run-of-the-mill used Japanese piano.
Piano Sound
The first unexpected thing that jumps out with the UP115 is the sustain - the midrange has around a 25-second sustain which is very impressive. A sustain like this has been traditionally totally uncharacteristic for this price point.
The scale design from about C5 and below is super even, and the tone in the mid-range is getting to the point that it’s almost on par with an Indonesian instrument - very round and quite warm.
Now, the bass strings aren’t the most consistent that you’ll find out there, and even while there’s some warmth there, there’s also some tubbiness. Putting really good bass strings into a piano is simply too expensive at this price point.
For beginners and students, most of the repertoire they’ll be getting into will be in the mid-range so the bass isn’t necessarily a huge detraction.
Once you get into the treble, things start to sound glassy, though it is easy to tune and quite stable. We’re not looking at a complex bridge system so the tone in many ways is more simple.
Piano Action
The action feels quite responsive and tight. We don’t really have any complaints with regards to this action and think it’s going to serve it’s purpose very well.
Piano Features
The UP115 comes in a few different colors including Satin Black and Satin Mahogany. It comes with Pearl River Hammers, Roslau strings, a sand-cast plate, an all-spruce soundboard and very thick back posts as befitting institutional use.
The lid comes with a lock which is a nice touch, as is the New England key cover.
Conclusions
Who would we recommend this piano to? First and foremost, to folks who don’t need the level of sound management that a fine digital piano offers, the UP115 would be an excellent acoustic alternative to a similarly priced digital piano.
Institutions that need a good workhorse practice instrument will love the UP115 for the combination of price, musicality and durability.
For students and beginners, the UP115 is a very fine option for starting one's a piano journey with an acoustic instrument.
Thanks for watching!
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24 июл 2024
