Entry-level Sterling Royale
Caveat: I own a Sterling Virtuoso Euphonium and it is one of my favorite brands so my comments are biased, however I am NOT a Sterling artist and have no commercial ties.
At USABTEC, I had the opportunity to play a Sterling Royale euphonium at the Custom Music booth. This is the entry-level Sterling horn. The one I played had a 12" yellow-brass bell (instead of 300mm heavy red-brass) and used a Cerveny valveset instead of the Bauerfeind valveset my Virtuoso has. It has no trigger and no gold platiing, but is silver plated. It also does not have the heavy bottom cap of the Virtuoso, so the whole horn is quite a bit lighter.
I was very pleasantly surprised with the way it played. The horn felt very much like the Virtuoso next to it (same spec as my own) and had a glorious, singing sound with excellent response. However, I was astonished when I heard the price... $4,299. This is about $1,000 less than an equivalent Besson 967S and is near or below the best price one can get for a Yamaha 642S.
In terms of price/performance, this has to be one of the best buys I saw at the show.
Doug
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