young chang piano is just one of the few piano brands that is available in the market. you should keep your option open for now and narrow down the choice of piano based on your budget. good pianos can be very very expensive however, not everybody can buy one. some other brands which you may want to consider would be as follows:- yamaha (indonesia/japan/china), kawai (china/indonesia/japan), wagner (czech republic, china), hailun (china), bosendorfer (austria), petrof (czech republic), weinbach (czech republic/china), challen (indonesia/china), c.steinbert (indonesian/china), samick (indonesia/korea), steinway (germany), boston (japan/indonesia), essex (china). few of the pianos listed might exceed ur budget but not to worry. there is no harm of trying those expensive one 2 and compare with mid-level quality instruments. there is surely a big different in tone and touch. tone - sustain qualities, projection of tone, clearity, full bass, tonal colours & many more. touch - sensitivity in controling the dynamics and so on.

unless u know wat you are really buying, you should stay away from used pianos, particularly those reconditioned pianos. i always called them junk from japan, these are pianos which no longer have any quality values of being a musical instruments due to age and not worth repairing. and they are nothing but a shape of a piano with new beautiful paint on its body when they arrive here. look nice or new doesnt means it sound new. u buying an instruments it should have those musical qualities too. try the bass, is almost dead like thubby sound, try the upper register it doesnt ring long enough. compare the tenor the sustaining power is weak. well if u walk into a shop that is all reconditioned pianos you most problably wont hear the different becoz they are all the same. and next reconditioned pianos are at least 30 + years average. things deteriote this include piano. (yes, the older the piano is the more repairs are needed, and NO sound wont get better when it ages it get worst instead, the soundboard collapse becoming flat, bridge's upper and side bearing weaken because of compression set coz by humidity) as the piano ages wood materials, steels wire, felts, clothe and other organic materials deteriote and wear off. unless these materials are change having a beautiful finishing means nothing. other important components suchas pinblock, soundbaord, bridge & etc also deteriote due to humidity and age. any of these that is not working properly or is damage (some parts are visible and some are not) will have lack of power, no tonal colour, weak sustain & etc. and replacing major components are very expensive and it does not justify the cost for reconditinoed dealers to spend since they will not be able to sell at a price to cover the replacement cost and piano cost. importantly, japanese have many times redesigned their pianos over the last few decades to be better. if u pro-japanese products, then dont think that buying a reconditioned pianos that have the same name on the piano is the same as the newer model. NO, the earlier models are generally much much better designed then its predecessor.

anyways my suggestion is to bring along a friend who plays (if you dont). play as many pianos as you can. visit the same shop over again and again. and listen for yourself the tone (imagine a singer being the piano singing a song for you). they are different. just like u know what type of music u like to listen and what type of music u dont... it is not that difficult to listen and choose a piano based on ur preference.... have fun. cheers...

This post has been edited by jhp: Jan 19 2010, 12:16 PM

if you refering to new pianos, generally, entry level pianos are starting from RM10K onwards and mostly it will fall within the categories of pianos made in China or Indonesia. new pianos, better quality korean piano, will start from RM 20K+ and fully imported from korea. new pianos, better quality japanese piano, will start from RM 30K+ and fully imported from Japan. New pianos, high performance quality pianos, will start from RM 50K onwards. and most of these pianos are fully imported from europe. N yes they r all uprights. depending on ur budget and requirement (as in ur needs in tone and touch) frankly to certain ppl RM 30K+ piano can be a beginner piano wherelse to other maybe RM 10K would also be fine. every purchase is determine by how much u can spend. just like car. dont know if there is a beginner car! have fun

wow.. if this is true i advice to lodge a police report. u can even sue the company immediately... for misrepresentation and misinformation...