Question 1

How wide is this ring that holds the pipes?

Accepted Answer

just under 9 inches in diameter

Question 2

How long are the chimes - the tubes? and what is the weight? Says here 4 lbs and the length is either 50 or 17 inches??

Accepted Answer

The Alto chime has these dimensions:Japanese AltoPipe Diameter     1-1/2"Height            50"Weight            10 lbs.

Question 3

How can one preview the sound?

Accepted Answer

We could not preview the sound.  We were staying at a friends cabin and when we were out on the deck, the sound caught both of our attention so we went down and took a picture of it.  Other chimes we have purchased were very tin sounding, this has a lovely tone to it, almost like a zylaphone

Japanese Alto Wind Chime

Details