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I think euphonium players are the only ones who seem to know how the compensating system works. Tuba players have the tradition of 5 valves to comensate for low note intonation problems and see those type of instruments as being superior. The thought that (on a 4 valve tuba) you could play down, chromatically, to the fundemental seems to be a mystifying concept. The thought of having a usable 1 and 4 combination has still not been unversally accepted by tubists.

I do not play any compensating instruments for the reasons I stated. I do understand how the compensating sytem works and have never had the time or money (to purchase a compensating instrument) to invest in the pursuit.

Just my .02 pence

This is coming from a euphoniumist, who always plays a compensating horn....

I suppose its because the tubist himself is always "compensating" the horn with that 1st valve slide you always see them moving around. I am betting that the average professional tubist has about a dozen different "positions" for that slide, if not more...

Some horns also have a half-tone fifth valve for intonation compensation.

I am no tech guy, but I am guessing that an automatic comensating system becomes less useful with longer and longer tubing, because more linear adjustment is needed to move a pitch--say 5 cents in a tuba than 5 cents in a euphonium. So, I think it'd be hard to make a compensating tuba that is "set it and forget it"--that all pitches would be in easy lipping range, without touching a slide. A euph, on the other hand, can be made reasonably in tune--that 95% of the pitches are easy to adjust with embouchure alone.

Thats my uneducated opinion... lets see what the tubists say

Please allow me to (re)state some obvious basics.

Compensation on an instrument matters only when the last valve (3 on a 3 valve or 4 on a 4 valve) is depressed. Until then, there's no practical difference between a compensating and non-compensating horn.

Compensation improves intonation on a 4-valve instrument only when the 4th valve and some other valve is depressed. Depressing the compensating valve and 2 or more other valves still results in intonation errors, albeit not as serious as on a non-compensating instrument.

If a horn has bad intonation because of problems in construction, a compensating valve cluster won't improve things.

The compensating system with the largest number of notes in tune (at least theoretically) is the 3 valve system. The 4 valve system has an extended low range, but at the expense of intonation accuracy involving valve 3 combinations wtih valves 1 and 2.

So, for instance, a low F played on a compensating Eb tuba (134 depressed) is no more accurate than the same note played on a non-compensating 3 valve BBb instrument.

The compensating 4-valve BBb tubas that I have tried have been so stuffy in the low register that they were not satisfying to play. I understand the system perfectly well and have great respect for its inventor and for the manufacturers. I have played on some wonderful compensating euphoniums and Eb tubas, but they just haven't made it work well enough yet on big tubas in my opinion.

How many works have you seen lately where you're required to go below E natural? If the answer is next to none, then perhaps the 3 valve compensating Boosey BBb is all you really need.

I know of a few non-orchestral works that go down to low C or so, but they're comparatively uncommon in my own experience.