Kelon is really just a name for a plastic and fiberglass blend.  The only thing that kelon is good for is junior high and high school bands or to be played outside in a marching band or drum corps.

Rosewood costs more, but the differences are evident.  It sounds MUCH better.  Rosewood should be used at the college and professional level.  It should NEVER be used outside, because it can be very easily damaged by inclement weather.

--adam--

Although I know the above comment was made tongue in cheek, I feel I must say that I disagree with those who say Kelon or other synthetics sound "worse" than rosewood or just plain "bad". It's not that the glassy, ringy sound is inherently worse, it's just that it's completely different than natural wood. In my opinion, a synthetic instrument is not a "xylophone" or "marimba" per se, but a different instrument with it's own sonic qualities which may be exploited for their own sake or may sometimes be used to substitute for a real marimba or xylophone if no other option exists. This view is borne out by certain composers who have written music that specifically calls for synthetic instruments (e.g., "Flazure" by Gregg Bendian who calls for a "Kelonophone", meaning a Musser synthetic xylophone).

That much said, I agree with everything else that has been said here; get rosewood if at all possible, padouk if you can't afford rosewood and if you have no choice but to go synthetic the Yamaha Acoustalon sounds much closer to wood than Musser Kelon or Ross Prolon.

As a side note (no pun intended   ), be very careful as to your mallet choices when dealing with Kelon. A quick example would be to use a Stevens (Malletech) marimba mallet on a Kelon marimba. The bars will destroy your mallets far more quickly than any wood bar marimba. Just my experience.

Thanks for everyone's advice.

Jess