I havn't played a bad Lowden and I know a few players who swear by them. I ever tries about 2 dozen once in a Dublin store and they were all good. The only problem I have heard about the cedar topped ones is they never improve in sound unlike spruce topped. These comments are from lowden players but if they sound good to start with then they don't need to improve. I didn't buy a Lowden, I bought a Docherty hand made instead, Terry Docherty is a Northumbrian luthier who builds all his instruments by hand and after playing my mandola which was built by him I had to have one of his guitars. I also bought one of his mandolins to complete the set.
Cheers Bill