Advice on home organs please

[Guest]

Have been to look at new ones. Need some advice please.

The two organs on display in our local shop are:

Johannus Opus 27SE http://www.johannus.co.uk/Product.aspx?productID=14

and

Makin Westmorland Jubilee II http://www.makinorgans.co.uk/Product.aspx?productID=10


The organ my son is inclined towards is the Johannus, but as a three manual, the Opus 37SE:

http://www.johannus.co.uk/Product.aspx?productID=15


So, a few questions please

1. The Westmorland is normally twice the price of the Opus 27 - but he has an ex-demo version of the Westmorland on sale which makes it £4,000 more expensive than the Opus 27. It is clear that the Westmorland has a higher standard of finish than the Opus, e.g. the toe pistons are solid brass instead of plastic, the stops are made of a nicer material etc - but is there a sufficient difference in specification to partly justify this difference in price? It would appear to us that some of the price difference is also due to the additional amps and speakers which will not be necessary for a house - although it does make the sound richer as less is going through each amp. The organ is going to sit in a normal-sized room, maybe even slightly on the small side, not a big one! My son will use headphones quite a lot I would think, but by no means all the time.

2. The three manual obviously sits between the two in terms of price - but only £1,500 less than the Westmorland. Is a three manual better to buy? It then ends up with more stops than the Westmorland.

3. Standing back from it all, are any of these organs worth buying for home practice? Our budget would not stretch to anything more - but still no point in buying something useless. They certainly sounded excellent and to our untrained ears we could not tell the difference between them and a real pipe organ. There was also a Viscount organ there to try and the difference between these organs and it was immense.

We are probably coming to the same conclusion as our son - go for the three manual, but would really welcome advice - we know little about organs, electronic or otherwise.

[CEB]

I would repost this in a different sub forum many who could really help you a lot may not read the Hammond subforum. I would be tempted to go with the three manual Johannus if the playing experience is comparable but I'm a pianist who has only about 6 months of classical organ training. So my opinion is pretty worthless compared to some of the classical organist on this forum. You generally don't use a 3rd manual starting out and you need to make sure there are enough stops but if he is serious why not get it now if it has an adequate number of stops.

[robmcginn]

Hi
I do not know your location but by the organs you mention sounds like you might be in England?
I guess a new organ in your case will depend for one thing on the availability of service and warranty back up? I have had no experience with Johannus or Makin organs. Sound certainly matters as does console quality and confirmation to AGO (or whatever European) standards apply.
Your son sounds like he is serious about learning the organ and I applaud you for supporting him with a home practise instrument which is just so much more conducive to practise.
You may find you want to add some external speakers at a later time and I have experience to back that up.