Nice looking kit, Never heard /played one,and rarely see one for sale.People must keep them.

Spent a decent amount of time on a Phonic,and have heard/played a Sonorlite,those two sounded different from each other to my ear.

If you have heard either those two,how do the Hi Lites compare.

I only have a Hilite snare drum (see pic below), but I do have 3 Phonic kits. The Hilites are, as groovemaster points out, maple drums, rather thin shells too. Traditionally, up to perhaps the 1980s, Sonor's favoured wood was beech. Phonics have very thick (app. 10 mm) beech shells, probably making them louder than Hilites.

Here's my Hilite piccolo snare drum, which is the perfect match to your kit, groovemaster.

[img]http://web.comhem.se/inventions/downloads/IMG_0050.jpg[/img]

/Magnus

The Hilite series was followed by the Delite series, also all maple, but thinner than Hilites, with re-rings.

The Jubilee Edition snare, commemorating Sonor's 125 years, is essentially a Delite with different, single node lugs. Sonor made 125.

If I were forced to choose a "desert island" snare, it would be either the Jubilee or my Phonic reissue (12-ply beech shell) D615.

Ron