I have a student Selmer AS300 and absolutely LOVE it! It plays smooth and with a great sound and tone throughout all registers. I`ve heard that Selmer saxes are really great and I supose that the quality of this is comparable to other "pro" saxes.

Overall, is there really a difference?

Also, is a high F# key really neccessary? I have never seen the note in any music so I don`t see why it would be needed. Any thought on that?

Thanks!!!

Yeah- there is a huge difference! A beginner sax is for... big surprise- a beginner. As long as you feel comfortable playing on a beginner sax it`ll be good to you. But if you keep playing you`ll get to a point where you want to move up... then you`re ready for an intermediate or even a proffesional model. A proffesional sax will help you play in that next level. -- as to the f# key- you will encounter music that uses it and it`s much easier than the altissimo fingering... Hope I helped
- Mojo

I have to support what Mojo said.

I recently tried a bunch of horns and I was hoping to save money so I tried some of the intermediate and Taiwan Pro horns. I`m used to Selmer and Couf pro horns from the 80`s.

They were all missing complexity in their tone. Keyaction on some of those Taiwan horns were fantastic. But at the "pro" level the sound is key.

So much for saving money.

F# is needed from time to time and most Taiwan horns have them anyways. Only vintage horns seem to be missing them or true "student" level horns.