[Sax Maniacs]

Yesterday I bought myself a Tenor Le Monde Universal in Amsterdam, plays and sounds fantastic.
My first goal was a Mauriat but comparing these horns they are axactly the same, only the price makes the difference!
Le Monde is a brand belongs to the Dutch Distributor of Selmer saxophones, I payed only € 1695,- :shock: for it.
Great horn, this will be a hard job for other brands in this market!
Does anyone know these horns in the States as well?

 

[milandro]

I am afraid that " Le Monde" might be just a Dutch brandname for a generic Taiwanese product also known as Mauriat or Barone.

I too am from the Netherlands and yesterday there was a " get together " organized by the local Saxoforum.nl (many Participants to that Forum are SOTW members too!).

There was also someone from the BIN which is the Selmer (and other brands) distributor for the Netherlands. He had several saxes on show and I was interested in trying a saxello , while I was there I also tried an alto and a Tenor.

The Saxello was very nice and nicely made, a very good and sweet sound not so much " soprano"-like (in the negative " nasal" meaning of the word).

The alto didn't surprise me much..... but the tenor! Wow, and I mean woW! These horns look indeed very similar to the Mauriats, but Mauriat has many more models and choices.) I tried one with an vintage finish and abalone pearls, very nice. Many Keys feature a double arm (is that not an overkill :? ? Does it maybe detract from an even quicker action?) but I couldn't find any faults in the action. The sound was very good and the ergonomics perfect.


At the price of 1900 euro a " Le Monde" isn't exactly cheap and possibly, if they are made of the same stuff as Phil Barone is getting out of Taiwan it is definitely another plus point in favor of a Barone horn!

Granted the 5 years guarantee of the " Le Monde" is a plus point but for that kind of money you can buy a second hand Selmer SA 80 II or a Mark VII. Any money you spend on a horn like this you will have to consider gone, if you ever decide to resell you will have to take the punishment.


However, It makes you wonder. If the horns they turn out in Taiwan (and China) are that good why don't we all get some. Yes, this is another nail in the coffin of the saxophone's from the " old western world"

 

[milandro]

Yes they look very nice and somewhat similar to the Le Monde (but Le Monde has double arms on many keys, not that that really matters...)...I am convinced they are very possibly kindred.

 

[Dave Dolson]

Yanagisawa uses the double-arm thing and I suspect the Taiwanese merely copied it from Yanagisawa.

Still, I agree that the Le Monde is most likely just another Asian-made saxophone that some distributor had a trade-name slapped on - buy a dozen gross and here's what you get. They just as well could have ANY name on them.

This is in no way meant to be a negative - many of the Asian (non-Japanese) saxophones are real players and seem to be great bargains. I've played a couple lately that I'd buy if I saw them at a local store.

But Le Monde, Mauriat, Antigua, Unison, Selmer La Vie, whatever - hard to say whether one is better than another. If you bought it because you liked it - good choice. DAVE

 

[milandro]

Confusing, on one picture they have and the other they don't. However I do think that this is just something that some horn makers started doing (I do have a Super 20) to feature a Super 20 style key and impress and later on they started adding more to other keys under the motto " double arms look better" (how do double arms help or hinder keys bending for the technicians among ourselves?)

I also have found a " My sax" for a lot less than any of this others....go figure if it is the same horn!
http://www.saxcompany.nl/saxshop/tenorsax-budget-c-100_3_138.html

The most puzzling bit is that they sell and Mysax and System54!!!!

 

[Bullet]

From what I know and have seen (been to Taiwan - visited several factories) Le Monde is just a brandname from BIN - the distributor from Selmer in The Netherlands. Nothing more, nothing less. System 54 is the same story, Barone too, Buffet Crampon too...MySax is the (chinese) brand of the distributor of System 54.
PMauriat has a Taiwanese owner as far as I know. Most of these brand are made in same factory. To be able to claim that PMauriat has its own factory, they bought a part of that factory.

BUT they are not all the same: personally I don't like Le Monde, PMauriat is better.Maybe Le Monde has improved the past time but it couldn't move me.

If there is one thing I can say: PMauriat was one of the pioneers. Together with their great publicity and marketing, they did an amazing job. All the others just followed in their
footsteps. That doesn't mean PMauriat is the best Taiwanese made horn but that I respect what they did.

(Hi by the way - new here)

 

[milandro]

I am afraid that nobody would normally know a brand which is been produced in Taiwan for B.I.N. , which is also the Dutch importer of Selmer .........

 

[Bullet]

I am afraid that nobody would normally know a brand which is been produced in Taiwan for B.I.N. , which is also the Dutch importer of Selmer .........

That's what marketing does

 

[Ballad Man]

P.Mauriat is definitely the best saxophone I have come across out of Taiwan and, they do have their own exclusive factory which recently opened. I had the pleasure of visiting it recently. I think this is a great move for Mauriat and it puts them leagues apart from all the other brands made in Taiwan at the same factories.

 

[milandro]

and how does this unashamed " plug" for P.Mauriat (which I appreciate and like very much) have anything to do with a thread concerning " le Monde " saxophones?..........as much as I am a friend of the Taiwanese saxophone in general and of the owner of Mauriat I would call this a not very Stylish post in this place!

 

[evan1]

Yesterday I bought myself a Tenor Le Monde Universal in Amsterdam, plays and sounds fantastic.
My first goal was a Mauriat but comparing these horns they are axactly the same, only the price makes the difference!
Le Monde is a brand belongs to the Dutch Distributor of Selmer saxophones, I payed only € 1695,- :shock: for it.
Great horn, this will be a hard job for other brands in this market!
Does anyone know these horns in the States as well?

Can I please ask what kind of mouthpiece did it come with, and what kind of case did it come with ?

 

[Lester]

Hi, I have a Le Monde Sattelite Tenor for six months now. Fantastic instrument!!
Don't know if you can find it in the States but the brand is seriously growing in Europe. Just saw on their website that they have started to sell them in the UK also. If you like the P. Mauriat you will definitely like the Le Monde also. Very good craftmanship, good ergonomics and what a sound! My teacher and some musicians I know where blown away by the sound. And the look in their eyes when I told the price ;-) you also get 5 year warranty, a very nice case, a neotech strap, a Selmer mouthpiece and a Francois Louis ligature. That's what convinced me of buying a Le Monde and not a Mauriat. The extra I would pay for a Mauriat goes to the marketing of Mauriat and not into a better instrument. I'm not worried about buying a new brand because I'm nothing selling this one.
If you live in Europe check them out.