Being a clarinet and bass clarinet player, I have never understood the "weight" issues alluded to by many straight soprano sax players. IF this were the hockey locker room, the term "effing candy-ass" would probably get some use. But, I'm the guy who can play a low C bass clarinet off of my thumb for extended periods, so maybe you all are just normal and I'm some sort of superhuman...
While on the topic of saxophone necks, let me bitch about the sacred tenor saxophone (and its bastard cousin, the C melody). While I have owned one in the past (Mark VI, no less, purchased for all of $400.00 in near mint condition), I have never enjoyed playing them (or the C melody) due to their "flat" neck".
Just like the cheap student bass clarinet necks, these two force what (to me) seems like a poor angle for the mouthpiece. Passages that I can handle on the alto or the baritone just do not articulate as well on the tenor, not unless I adopt an "unnatural" posture with the horn to better angle the reed in the mouth.
Back during the "celebration" of the 150th anniversary of the invention of the saxophone (there actually was some mention of this here in the United States), I saw a tantilizing clue that this may not always have been the case. A visual for one segment of the tribute on The History Channel showed a slow pan down a line of original Sax saxophones, starting with the soprano and heading downward.
What got me excited was that the horn in the "tenor" slot, after the alto and before what was clearly the baritone and bass, had a coiled neck, just like the baritone and (to a greater extent) the bass. Now, that is a tenor that I would like to try on for size...
Unfortunately, that's a piece of work I would imagine that few would be willing to attempt.