Of course a begginer student will have a crappy sound on a 3000$ gold plated horn, but he will have a dark crappy sound.
You give the beginner too much credit. A bad player can make a $3000 horn sound shrill. There is a point of diminishing returns. A horn can make a difference, only to a point. Then it is up to the player. You could give me an Indy car and I would not qualify for the 500. But no one would qualify for the 500 in my VW Beetle, even if it does have a turbo.
Two errors can be made. One, you blame the equipment when you practice 1 hour a week. On the other extreme, you blame yourself when you practice 20 hours a week on a leaky Conn Director. When you get to a certain level, you need a professional horn and piece. Then a lot more practice.
One of my favorite books is
For The Love of It by Wayne Booth. Its subtitle is "Amateuring and Its Rivals." He is an amateur of the highest quality on Cello. He spends about 1 hour or more a day practicing. He figures if he spent 40 years, one hour a day studying trilobites he would be a world renown trilobite expert. But 1 hour a day on a musical instrument makes you a good amateur.
We practice and play for a large part of our lives -- and most of us become the best of amatuers. Some are pros. But don't we do it for the "Love of It?" If so, we need the right tools -- and the right attitude to practice.
M&C