[joojoo]

I and my girlfriend have decided to invest into some gear to try to
make as good of a recording as possible of classical piano music. We
have a budget 1500 but will go to 2000 if it would make an
appreciable difference.

We are trying to kill two birds with one stone and get preamps and my
daw interface for my x2 amd computer. Have decided on the Focusrite
Sapphire Pro 10. I am wanting the eight pre's for possible future use
when four I know would do it. I have also ordered two Cascade Ribbon
Microphones as I am trying to mellow a Yamaha in a non pro
environment. I also simply like the ribbon sound.

I plan on using both Cascades and the NT1 (already in my collection)
in some fashion based on standard techniques. Will the preamps (gain
is 60) give me a quality sound? Do I really need a two thousand
dollar microphones? Also, this is the most difficult - carpet on the
floor and sprayed popcorn on the ceiling in a 21x18 foot long room
(long dimension opens to the hall- hoping to relieve figure eight
bounce back a little- maybe?) Normal plaster walls. And recording in
the middle of the night for noise reasons. Fairly quiet anyway as far
as street noise goes. Yamaha 6'3"
in mint condition (will tune) and a fabulous pianist. Given the
figure eight of the Cascades Ribbon Mic FatHead (the cardioid I am
expecting to use as a fill at low percentage) how much room treatment
do I need?

Let me list the questions again.

1. How much room treatment will I need? (by the way there are
standard wood cabinets (bookshelves) in back of room.)
2. Should I take the piano away from the wall and corners?
3. Is my preamp quality enough?
4. Will the figure eight give me a problem and should I go all
cardioid and will that eliminate the room.

This is an art I know but trying to know what I am getting into here.
Thanks to all responders.