I'm pretty much with you there, Ian, except for the blanket stereo statement... There ARE some arrangers that their piano, although VERY good in stereo, collapse to mono without nearly as much phasing issues as the Yamaha's do. And there are some WS's that provide mono piano samples based on exactly the same piano samples as the stereo ones.

I simply feel that this isn't a universal problem, just one that Yamaha in particular could pay more attention to, vis a vis their piano samples. After all, they ARE a piano company...

Surely their piano sample sets should be BETTER than the rest, not worse (at this particular function - we won't go into tastes, again )?

BTW, I am sure that stereo L1 system (you got the MkII?) is wonderful, but jeez! $5000+US for a stereo PA? You got a gold mine under your shack in the Klondike, Ian?