<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> I'll be interested in your review after a closer look of the action. Curious to know whether theyve changed in the past few years. The newest one I have seen is 4 years old now as the fellow who used to sell them stopped. Look for heavy assist springs up to the first few notes in the treble... around note 65.  These actions feel light to the touch on soft play, but you notice you are working when you start pushing it. Interesting combination really...  lots of hammer mass, little key mass, high action ratio yeilding high hammer to key velocity ratio. The only way to get this is with assist springs set pretty strong. Might be interesting to set up such an action with hammer and key mass on smooth curves ala Stanwood.... not his favorite solution mind you... he likes useing a low ratio here... less reliance on springs for weight help, but at a cost of hammer to key velocity. Anyways... I'd like to hear what you see after a closer look see. I aggree about the sound to be sure... big clear  sound with good projection. Cheers RicB Delwin D Fandrich wrote: <blockquote TYPE=CITE> <blockquote dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000080 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">  Be advised : Big boomy sound, especially in the bass. Very heavy action which employs very strong whippen assist springs to counterbalance heavy hammers. Low on key leads, often significant of backweight. Weigh off appears to be done with whippen assist springs attached and at full strength. They also use graphite and some kind of clear lubricant in action centers with varied results. Interestingly enough, I hear comments about these actions having  << the right kind of heaviness >> from several pianists.</blockquote> <div dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">I've only looked at a couple of the recently -- in a store -- but have had no opportunity to look at the action setup. A brief excursion up and down the keyboard didn't seem all that heavy, however. I'll try to look closer the next time I see one.</div> The 7-footer had a very nicely balance sound. Very clean bass, nearly invisible crossover and very nice treble. No discernable killer octave. No nasties. All of this could have been the result of good in-store voicing and prep, of course. Not quite as warm and dynamic as I'd like, but better than many other German pianos I've looked at. As to how this will all age is another question. The graphite in the action centers is a Renner feature not unique to Forster. I expect if they are using some additional lubricant it is an attempt to counter the graphite. Del</blockquote> -- Richard Brekne RPT, N.P.T.F. UiB, Bergen, Norway <A HREF="mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no">mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no</A> <A HREF="http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html">http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html</A> <A HREF="http://www.hf.uib.no/grieg/personer/cv_RB.html">http://www.hf.uib.no/grieg/personer/cv_RB.html</A>   </body> </html>