tooba wrote:1 - There are many tuba players that made WISE choices in buying tubas in H.S. and college and who still own and play those tubas. Some of us have had a strong enough sound concept to KNOW what type of tuba to buy early on AND have improved greatly after college and still own the same horn. Sometimes we have even "tweaked" those horns we still have. It's much more common than you think. Many pros out there that still own a tuba they (parents) bought back in H.S. or college. Again, it's about making WISE choices.
My point is that wisdom is based on experience, and experience is a sparse commodity for a high-school sophomore. So, in the absence of wisdom, one has two choices: Develop the skill necessary to make one's own choice, or depend on the wisdom of others. The kids who do the former don't need to ask our opinions.
A used Miraphone 186, whether or not you or I or Bob happen to like them, will be worth what you paid for it four years from now, eight years from now, or 20 years from now. They have withstood the test of time. They play in tune, and they require the player to play well to get a good sound from them. Thus, they are good teaching tubas. That's about as close to a no-risk purchase as there is. The Meinl-Weston 32 falls into the same category, but the market for used examples is not so strong even though some prefer it. I've seen them for $3K, but not very often, and not that meet the requirements stated by the OP. Those requirements, by the way, excluded Bb choices altogether. The OP stated those requirements, and I was just getting him to realize that his requirements left little or no solution space.
Let's say that the person buys the used 186, and a few years later decides it isn't for them. If they took care of it, they'll get their money back. Sorta like free rent. There are not many tubas for which that can be said, especially not affordable tubas pitched in C. For example, Cervenys rarely keep their value because it is hard for a kid (or an adult, for that matter) not to dent them all to hell. And many who bought 186s in their younger years are still playing them, just as you describe. But they pay little or no penalty even if they don't stick with it. So, I'm trying to understand why that is not a wise choice.
I once took my Miraphone to a rehearsal a few years ago for some reason I don't now recall. We had a couple of high-school kids in the section at that time--it was during our summer series when we invite students to join us. They had turned their noses up at my rare and excellent Holton 345, and were completely unimpressed by my York Master, but they oohed and aahed over the Miraphone. "You have a
Miraphone?" And that's on the east end of the country, where Miraphone didn't own the market the way it did further west. But it still had that appeal in the market, particularly for amateur players who make up the biggest group of buyers at that price point.
Lots of kids these days get their parents to buy them high-end professional-model musical instruments in their early high-school years.
Those are the kids who are trading their instruments every few years and taking a bath on them, because those instruments are fashionable for a while and then lose their appeal after the novelty wears off. I do not advocate that approach unless the kid is such an obvious prodigy that their road in life is laid out before them. And those who are that good don't need to ask the Tubenet Freak Jury about every brand in the market, listing mostly unimportant and ambiguous requirements and saying nothing about what's really important. Kids that age can of course be really good, but few have developed their own sense of what they are about as a performer. Without that sense, they will be depending on others to help them make wise choices. In those situations, it's awfully hard to predict where the student will be in their personal development after a few years. Buying something with proven long-term value in the market seems more sensible to me than buying something that appeals to their as-yet undeveloped sound and performance concept.
The same is true for adult amateurs who buy instrument after instrument searching for what they as musicians cannot provide. Ask me how I know--I have 8 tubas and I suck on all of them. But adults can buy whatever they want with their own money, and need no justification other than having the money and wanting it. I certainly never expected anybody but myself to buy me a tuba, though I certainly spent my time in the wilderness with cheaper alternatives.
I remember the story which I've recounted here before of the high-school hot-shot golfer who gets a college golf scholarship. His first statement to his new college coach is, "Don't make me change my swing--it's working for me." The coach, being wiser than the kid, says, "Son, you don't even have a swing yet." There is wisdom in that story--change "swing" to "sound".
Rick "who has been asked to help students make selections many times" Denney
Wow.......where do I begin?
I think I will "ruffle some feathers" here by saying "just get a M-W 32 and be done with it". 
