I recently came into posession of a Sterling Virtuoso, as an upgrade to the Jupiter that I've been playing on for years. The horn is in pretty much pristine condition, even after being owned for a year, but the problem is that it doesn't exactly sound like I've upgraded horns. While I can tell that there are certain things the horn is definitely better at (note consistency, range, general responsiveness), I doubt the casual observer would gather that I was playing on a horn 3 times as expensive, and in addition to this I find it unusually difficult to play. I figure this might be for a couple reasons:
1. The horn wasn't played much by its previous owner, so there is still a fair amount of breaking in to do.
2. Going from a small to large bore instrument, or playing on a new, unfamiliar mouthpiece, takes time to get used to.
3. The horn is heavy as all get out, and again, takes time to get used to.
4. The mouthpiece that I currently have isn't well suited to the instrument. I played my Jupiter with a Schilke 51D and adored it, but the same mouthpiece in large shank on the Virtuoso sounds terrible! The mouthpiece selection at my local music store was fairly limited, and in the end I walked away with a Bach 5G, but I still feel like there's a lot of 'nasaliness' in the throat of the instrument that's related to the mouthpiece.
I was also able to play on a Jupiter XO, Yamaha Neo, and Besson Prestige before purchasing this horn. I absolutely loved the Prestige, and playing that for the first time, even though it was a brand new horn, felt like an instant and noticeable upgrade. I ended up purchasing the Sterling because it's less expensive (I got a great deal on this used one), and I figured that the differences between really high end horns like that would be minute, and I would still find the Sterling very enjoyable to play, but this isn't ending up to be the case.
My overriding instinct is to say that I just need to find the right mouthpiece and get used to the horn, but my experience on the Prestige is giving me a nagging feeling. I still have time to return the Sterling if need be, and I can just wait until I can afford the Prestige, but I'm eager to get some other opinions on this.