Yamaha SH2 Silent System

The silent side of this piano is ideal for families with young children or night owls looking to practice late into the night.

The most common question regarding the silent piano is "is this a digital piano?".

Our range of silent pianos are all completely acoustic instruments; meaning that hammers are still striking strings to produce a sound and therefore have the benefit of playing a real acoustic piano, however, they also have a digital component that simply allows players the option to switch to a digital sound for "silent playing" via headphones.

The Yamaha SH2 system allows for silent piano practise with headphones. With the added flexibility of the silent system, it is an ideal instrument for busy and demanding musicians wanting to practice without disturbing others.

A huge improvement from the SH predecessor, the SH2 Silent System features:

• Sampled sound of the full-size concert grand pianos: Yamaha's concert grand CFX, and Bösendorfer’ legendary and majestic model Imperial.
• Binaural sampling technology to record the CFX samples with special microphones to portray a more natural tone.
• VRM physical modelling reproduces the distinctive reverberation generated by the body of a concert grand piano.
• Smooth release technology - Emphasizes a crisper tone when playing staccato
• Key-off samples - The tone a grand piano makes when the dampers slowly move back into place when you take your hands off the keys.
• 2 different main piano voices - The world-famous CFX concert grand piano and Bösendorfer's Imperial grand piano.
• 20 pre-installed sampled sounds which include - Piano, Electric piano 1 and 2, Harpsichord, Vibraphone, Celesta, Pipe Organ, Jazz Organ, Strings and Choir
• Voices for song playback - 480 XG voices and 12 Drum/SFX kits
• 64 note polyphony
• 30MB Wave ROM
• Built-in Metronome
• Built-in recording and playback functions - 80 minutes per song
• MIDI IN/OUT
• AUX IN/OUT
• USB
• 2 headphone socket
• Downloadable Apps are available to connect your piano to your iPad

Under every single key on the keyboard, there are greyscale shutters and optical sensors. These sensors track the movement of keys allowing for a very responsive digital sound. There are additional optical hammer sensors on the grand pianos. 

Unique silent Yamaha grand pianos there is also an additional feature called the Quick escape system

This quick escape system allows the muting mechanism to be fitted to the grand piano without having any adverse effects on the playability of the instrument.

As Yamaha say "

Grand piano with SILENT Piano™ SH2 type features a quick escape system that allows the sound muting mechanism to be fitted to a grand piano without sacrificing any of the playability or musical expression demanded of such instruments in an acoustic performance. This system allows optimal separation to be obtained between the hammers and strings by adjusting the distance between the hammers and strings, ensuring that the feel of the keyboard stays in the best possible condition whether playing acoustically or with the sound muted.

All silent pianos by Yamaha are supplied with a pair of Yamaha headphones

All models of Yamaha piano are available with a silent option. This cannot be retrofitted to a piano and therefore a new instrument with the SH2 system installed by Yamaha in the factory must be purchased to benefit from this technology. Please see individual pianos for further information on pricing and availability.