Congratulations on getting on Wes' list, fortunately, I'm ahead of you in line! This will be my 5th Royal, 3 of them takedowns at 66", in a few weeks I'll take delivery of a 68" t/d. The other 4 were moved on due to multiple shoulder surgeries and decreasing draw weight req'ts. I've had longbows from 4 other makers, and some of them were excellent, but when it came to getting back into archery I got back on Wes' waiting list.
To your questions: I shoot heavy arrows, and the Royal is silent, even without the few catwhiskers he adds--as quiet as any bow I've shot, even with light arrows. Very good performer for the mild r/d design; seems to cast a heavy arrow faster than it should. Smooth as butter--my 66" bows could be drawn a lot longer than my 29.5" without stack. Nevertheless, I went 68" after shooting Wes' demo bow--wow!