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nworbekim wrote: my King 2341 plays great... but i've never been really really happy with the valves. i think if i could get them going i'd be happy but it seems like i just can't get them to go as fast as i want.

Tell us a little more here. It is my understanding that the MAW valve is more about the way that the air flows through the horn rather than the mechanical movement of the piston up and down. A MAW valve will have to be hand fit into your bores especially for your instrument. The clearances between the piston and bore are especially tight and they need to be machined or lapped to fit. What is the condition of your King valves? Are they the correct size that they need to be? Are the bores round and are the sides parallel from top to bottom? If the horn isn't that old, did it come out of the factory correct? Perhaps the refitting of your current valves would give you the action you want without the cost of the MAW valves themselves.

I have a set on a 52J, so the C equivalent of your King. I've found they make longer valve combos feel a little more free blowing (although I know some debate the merits of this). Low range is less barky/smoother sounding. I thought softer playing was a bit easier.

That said I've always loved the default valves on these horns as far as feel of playing/moving them goes. I don't think that changes much with the MAWs.

I got a set of silver hammered caps with my MAWs. Went right back to my originals as I like the feel of the inverted/pit style valve caps. The hammered caps did look pretty baller though, I tried them on my Neo Bb but they didn't fit into the stems.

I'm pretty content with owning the set. I'd say if I went back in time, I'm like 70% likely to re purchases verses keep the money. Not life changing, but some nice changes in the feel.

I should go back and try the originals again, it has been a year.

I should add, as mentioned they do have measurements for your horn. Mine all fit perfectly except a little the first one bound up a little. Nothing a cleaning didn't fix, not sure if they altered the valve or casing to make it work, but it didn't take much work.

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Have you had a good tech examine the valves to check the alignment, ports, construction, etc? Definitely worth it before springing for the MAW valves.

If you want to know whether you have G.A.S. or a real need for a new horn, practice for an additional 90 minutes a day for a couple of weeks and see how that goes. If you can't make time for the 90 extra minutes, buy the horn, you have G.A.S.

nworbekim wrote:
thank you... that sounds encouraging. do you feel like they're quicker than the originals?

I never had a problem with the hand feel of the originals, I bought my horn used in 2002, so I'm assuming it was in the first bit of production.