Craig Brougher wrote:

> Stop and think about it a minute, Randolph.  Whether I have the loud
> pedal on or off makes no difference at all when I play a note, does it?
> Because when I play a note, the key itself raises the damper, too.
> So however I strike the note -- with or without the pedal -- I get
> exactly the same thing: the same power, the same loudness.

That is, a priori, not true: Because with the loud pedal on, the one
struck string resonantly will trigger others.  The energy is the same
in both cases, but it is not clear that the energy loss over time is
the same -- and I would very much suspect it is not.

Test it: strike a note (loudly) with raised pedal and then press the
finger on the struck string(s): of course, you still hear a tone.  This
would be the additional energy creating a sound which is muffled by the
dampers of the other strings when the pedal is down.

I'd say that this should create some additional loudness.  However,
because loudness is a logarithmic thing (and, additionally, mostly
harmonic tones are triggered, which the ear probably tends to integrate
into the source tone), the result might also be just a sort of "richer"
tone.

Regards

Harald Mueller