you cant go wrong for the money- they look great and dont play too bad at all. for under 300.00 its a steal- so is the band now soprano- i use it as a sub on my professional gigs... you just saved yourself a ton of money.....good job

Is it normal for the aux f key notes to not sound good? the high e f f# using aux f doesnt really change tone like when using it for e to f it sounds more decending than accending... The other way using highe high d and high f keys sound better than using the aux to me, but more difficult.

To sax101... I think the whole discussion over soprano not being a good sax to "start on" is based on the fact that intonation has typically been difficult to achieve with the soprano across various registers. The fact is, in my opinion, that if you have any music experience and a sense of intonation, give it a try! It can be difficult to acheive perfect pitch on ANY instrument and soprano can be more difficult to learn the centered pitch on, especially when just learning the saxophone. As far as this particular model being a "good one" or not, well... there are awesome student models available, and really shotty pro models. It's like the famed Selmer Mark VI. Many would consider them to be the best saxophone EVER produced, hands down. That may be true for many of the instruments, but I have also learned that there were many VI's which were not nearly as good as some, even making them quite BAD! As for the newer models, I know manufacturing processes produce more "consistent" horns, so you would more typically get the same basic characteristics out of each one. BUT, to get more to the point... Congratulations on your new purchase! I wish you the best in your quest for learning the instrument and this Barrington model should get you started very well! Have fun!

In answer to your questions about the high notes, it could very well be the sax. I have a straight Yss-475 and mine can barely get those notes out for some reason. I can play those notes on my other saxes, so it must be the soprano. Could be the same with you too.

Im sorry i keep posting but i notice when i have a A major progression in the back ground the C major scale works nice on my soprano... i figure this is a minor 3rd back... well.. i also heard the soprano is suppose to be a whole step (maj 2nd) So would it be a min3rd or maj 2nd?

Sorry, i can't help with that question. Don't worry about asking questions. these forums are here to discuss, debate, and help.

When you play a C on the Soprano, it sounds like a Bb in concert pitch, that's one whole step lower (a major 2nd). I can't imagine a Bb sounding nice next to an A, unless your sacophone is out of tune by a half-step, which could be. You might need to push the mouthpiece on further to get it to concert pitch for a soprano.