Hello,  I have owned reproducing pianos for ten years or more and
now own two Live Performance LX systems installed in vintage pianos.
Initially I was fascinated by the gadgetry of the players but I came
to appreciate the music more as my experience with rebuilding
increased and my pianos actually produced convincing performances.

An Ampico Welte or Duo-Art in excellent restored condition produces
musical performances that are remarkable, especially considering the
primitive technology.  The expression coding on reproducing piano
rolls has to be appreciated as one of the greatest efforts of the 20th
century.  If your player is working well and if you listen you will be
truly amazed.  These odd looking holes punched on the margins of the
rolls are not random punches put there to impress the customer.

Now my principle interest is in enjoying the music with minimal
maintenance and expense.  I have a small business creating electronic
versions of these rolls for modern players.  I don't know why I am
putting so much effort into it but I feel that this music needs to be
preserved just in case future generations become tired of formula rap
and reggae.

My current effort is directed to music for the Live Performance LX
system.  I previously owned a PianoDisc which is great if you have a
lot of time to fiddle with it or a massive budget to keep a technician
on call.  The Stahnke LX is something entirely different.  I knew that
I could buy a Disklavier Pro but I do not especially like Yamaha pianos.
I prefer a Steinway or a Masons & Hamlin, etc., of the 1920s and '30s.
A Boesendorfer SE would be fine if I had the money.

When I heard the LX at the Southern California AMICA meeting a couple
of years ago, I was hooked.  I now own two of them because I spend the
summers in a country house and can't imagine life without an LX nearby.

To me it is the performance in music that I want.  Music is a universal
human language which is capable of stirring the emotions as well as the
best written or spoken words but only if the level of quality meets your
standards.  These standards vary from person to person and situation to
situation.  Who has not heard a great pianist make a worn out junker of
a piano sing?

When it comes to mechanical music, there is no performer to make
musical judgements and adjustments to a performance so the system has
to be damned good to be believable.  Other than unaffordable (to me at
least) pianos there has not been such a system until the LX.

I appreciate the "romance" of the old players and am addicted to
gadgetry as much as just about anyone I know but if you like the
classical romantic style performances of the mid 20th Century which
are coded in reproducing your best alternative may be the LX.

The engineering of the LX has overcome all of the problems of other
consumer marketed retrofit systems.  Performance is unquestionable with
dynamic range equal to the pneumatic players (finally) and precision
that is remarkable.  The engineering is stunning.  Maintenance is
simple and rarely necessary.  All of this comes from a lifetime of
experience on the part of Wayne Stahnke combined with a decision to
make the best consumer marketed retrofit system possible.

I have installed two of these systems (my own pianos but I am authorized
to install them in customer pianos) and have spent hours working on the
pianos to get them up to reasonable standards.  Plenty to do on the
piano side but other than regulating note evenness whenever I tune the
piano (this takes about 15 minutes compared to a day for the PianoDisc)
there has not been a single thing to do on the LX.

I am known as a highly critical person and occasionally make enemies by
telling what I perceive to be the truth at any given moment.  I still
have not found anything to complain about with the LX.  Before condemning
solenoid players, listen to an LX and then decide for yourself.

Best regards,
Spencer Chase
Garberville, Calif.