Every company that I have talked to says the same thing. Powell flutes always need to be re adjusted after coming from the factory. The biggest complaint were the pads not being seated properly.

The Signature is almost identical except is has adjustment screws and a different style headjoint. For some reason the Signature feels heavier to me though.

Powell says that the Signature is less handmade and more machines are used. They still come out with the same results in my opinion.

Micron, I totally agree with you on the adjustment screws issue.

I think the new Miyazawa Brogger System uses adjusting screws. I`m pretty sure I heard or read that somewhere, but I`m not a technician so it doesn`t mean a whole lot ot me!

I wish my Powell had adjustment screws!!! Save me lost of $$$ for the overhaul I am getting now because most of the problems have to do with adjustments

I agree. Adjustment screws can be an excellent thing for the repair tech, so long as they are quality. Poorly made screws have the habit of working loose, and being extremely difficult to do fine adjustments on, which gives the idea of adjustment screws as a whole a bad name. This led makers to stop using them on upper line instruments (which also didn't help them, as the association with student flutes does not improve their reputation), but they are an excellent feature for the repair tech (assuming they are threaded right). Of course, not everything in the adjusting world can be fixed by the turn of a screw, but they definitely have the potential to save a lot of time and effort.

Screws woul dhave made it a lot easier to fix the adjustment..I hated sticking in little pieces of paper that always fell out. Hopefully the overhaul will get my flute in adjustment for longer

You must not be an advanced flutist if you can't tell any difference in playing an aurumite flute versus all silver. The sound is very different from all silver. Also, have you ever played many gold flutes to compare to? I've played several all gold flutes (Brannen, Powell, Sankyo) and different combinations of Powell aurumite flutes and silver. There's definitely a difference.

The aurumite flute sounds much like a gold flute, but with more of the response and flexibility of silver. Flexibility is the key word.

If you buy your flute from the right dealer, they should adjust it for free for you as needed. Any new instrument will need adjustments in the beginning. Just like new cars or auto parts,new pianos easily go out of tune and need frequent adjustment. Not much that you buy brand new can be perfect from the start without needing some tweaking. Right? Though, Brannen's Broegger mechanik is pretty sweet and rarely needs adjusting. Mr. Broegger is an amazing man. I met him in Boston at Haynes. Very nice in addition to being a brilliant technician.

I think that the impact of material on the sound has been debated many times in this forum.

There is a famous extract of a master class by James Galways where he is playing a silver flute then a gold flute then a platinium flute and they sound exactly the same.

I personaly find strange that the more expensive the material, the more beautiful the sound is suppose to be...

I also find that your sentence "You must not be an advanced flutist if you can't tell any difference in playing an aurumite flute versus all silver." is really unfair.

In listening to them, you might be right. I can't tell much difference listening to gold vs platinum, however I can usually tell by listening to someone if they're playing on something denser than silver. Some people sound like their sound is being swallowed up when they play on Gold or Platinum, that's why I love the aurumite because you get that silver crisp response and the round full richness of the gold.

It's also not so much the difference in the sound as it is the difference in actually playing the instrument. I hardly crack at all playing the aurumite flute but when playing it's silver cousin I have to work hard at keeping myself from cracking. It's funny...sometimes when playing the aurumite powell, I'll reach a note like E or F# in the upper register and think I'm on a wrong note for a split second because it came out so rich and easily.

Sorry about my comment, it wasn't fair...but it's also unfair to profess that there's no difference and that it's a gimmick. Gold plating is a gimmick, but aurumite is something completely different, and I think it's a great solution to the gold vs silver thing. I never wanted a gold flute because I think it dampens the tone so much, but I find aurumite get closer to gold but still keep it light.

I bet though, if you recorded yourself playing an etude on a silver powell handmade and then the aurumite powell handmade, you'd hear the difference. I usually record myself a lot so that I can hear impurities and intonation problems that I don't notice as much when actually playing.

Your statement was your opinion, but are you a pro flutist? What kind of flute performance study and tone of your own do you have? (I'm not being snarky or diva-esque by asking that, I'm asking just because it makes a huge difference...someone with highly advanced tone production abilities can tell the difference between any change of metals...even plated flutes)

I also wouldn't compare a signature flute to a handmade...but depending on how well you've adjusted it and tweaked it, you probably could. I know a technician who tweaked a Sonare so well that blindfolded (we're such nerds)it was hard to tell apart from a handmade Brannen that he was working on. The Signature headjoint is what I like the least from Powell. Too much beveling on the sides. It only has one tone color. I like the Philharmonic head...not much of that beveling. Leaving it up to the player to make the tone color.

I have to agree that it le_koukou. There is very little evidence either way that material either effects a the way a flute plays or does not. I've played many flutes of many different materials, and while the sound and feel of the instruments changed from maker to maker and flute to flute, the pattern does not match up with changes in material. The gold flutes were not always dark, the silvers not always crisp, and wood not always reedy. I'm convinced that the material does have an impact, but only a very slight one, which is by far overshadowed by the player, and to a lesser extent the head, and that any impact material has is limited to the player's perception rather than the listener's. Micron is one of the most knowledgeable and experienced members of this (or any other flute forum), so your assumption that only an inexperienced player would claim material had no importance was clearly quite off. The material debate has no definitive solution at the moment, as it is impossible to create two flutes with exactly the same specifications save material. I also believe that makers tend to make better flutes of more expensive materials, so quality of craftsmanship plays into it.

ok, if you want to get into technicalities, anyone can be a "pro flutist" if they are payed to play. so that would mean that i wouldve been considered a professional as a 7th grader. highly unlikely that i would be as knowledgable as lets say micron. get my point here? and for what the flute is made of, it also depends on the player. i know that i play "better" if you will on my silver flute than on a platinum-clad flute. cant say why i do but i do. body also doesnt really have a deep impact on the tone of the instrument either, but the headjoint does.

now that that has been cleared up by pretty much everyone else (i just wnted to jump on the bandwagon) i wasnt too impressed with the aurumite, however i did like the mechanism. does this count? haha. i wasnt really impressed with powell in general actually, especially the signature. its most likely me, but different strokes for different folks, i guess.

The last two posts prove my point. Different metals have different qualities for different people. I wasn't throwing the word professional flutist around, either. I was asking because a lot of technicians I know are saxophonists who double flute. It's different than someone who has studied and performed advanced flute repertoire and technique.

Body totally has an impact on the tone of the flute. I used my own headjoint I've been playing on for the last 10 years and tried it with the bodies of several flutes of different metals and makes. It's not all just headjoint. Each one had distinctively different qualities. I recorded them to listen to the same piece with the same headjoint but many different bodies. Not a one of them sounds alike.

To people with a good ear, any change in metals and make-up of an instrument make a difference. French keys versus plateau keys...totally makes a difference. C-Foot versus B-Foot. Totally makes a difference. Split E versus not. (split E changes the tone of the E to be shrill so I prefer not to have it...but the g-donut tends to flat the A and is not a much better solution....but I'll work around it rather than crack an E I suppose. Body DOES matter significantly. To the more discerning flutist and listener. Some people who aren't even musicians can hear the differences when I've asked friends to listen and give opinions.

The signature heads are really easy to play. I think that's why a lot of people like them. But you can get far more colors with a less beveled cut. Squeeze your lips more to get that sweet crisp sound and relax them to get a nice dark woody tone. You can't do that with the signature head...it is difficult to get a wider range of sounds out of it. It's too bad that the Sonare flutes don't have the option of different style heads. It's really a great flute (with some work by a good repairman) for advanced high school or even entry level college students.

I'm not trying to be all Know-It-All, but I think a lot of flute makers and orchestral flutists and soloists would agree with some of my points. The finest flutists of the world buy all kinds of metals and are brilliant artists and pedagogues who would never buy an instrument just because it's pretty in rose gold or platinum just for the status of it.

To say there's no difference in tone quality between densities of metals is just plain foolish.

I would say to so pointedly insult a forum of flute players is the more foolish choice. Sir James Galway openly admits that he cannot tell the difference between his various flutes in recordings, and I daresay that he has a well developed ear if anyone does. I personally find it rather insulting that you insinuate that those of us who don't hold your beliefs are lesser musicians. I can agree that the body makes a very slight contribution to the sound, but would never go so far as to claim that a Split E mechanism makes a magnificent difference. Chances are you're comparing the quality of the build and the many small variations that occur even between flutes of the same make and model rather than Split E vs. no Split E or French vs. Plateau key cups. I have no problem with you saying that you hear a difference with different materials, but I don't have to agree. I have learned this the hard way, but adopting a condescending tone is no way to communicate with other flutists. You'd be surprised how much many of us know, and how widely opinions can vary, with none of them being decisively wrong.

With the adjustment and pad problems post...are these flutes coming from a really good dealer and technician or some big place like Flute World where almost none of the employees even play the flute?

I'm sure also that for people who live in far out places not near a good technician it could be really troublesome to deal with. I grew up in Northern Maine so when I finally went to college where we had one of the finest woodwind technicians in the country he had a field day fixing the problems with my flute. I'd gotten so used to them that I just thought it was me that was the problem.