What was your most disappointing purchase for your audio system?

Randy · « **Reply #80 on:** 9 Apr 2010, 04:49 am »

Equi Tech "balanced" power conditioner. Paid about $2400 for a 50 lb. piece of iron that did absolutely nothing toward cleaning up my electricity. Came to regard it as just a glorified power strip. Couldn't even sell it since I dropped it one day taking it to storage pretty much destroying it. Threw it in the trash.

viggen · « **Reply #81 on:** 9 Apr 2010, 06:15 am »

Quote from: toobluvr on 9 Apr 2010, 02:39 am

It's not clear....
are you saying Rhapsodys sounded good or not?

And I agree with you about the musicality of the JMR Twins. I owned them years ago, and I would own them again.

Sorry I meant Rhapsodys were just as bad as the JTMs. I would keep the Twins too if I did not find a Evo 3 locally for cheap.

kgturner · « **Reply #82 on:** 9 Apr 2010, 12:41 pm »

probably my most disappointing purchase was a pass labs x2.5 preamp. i coupled it with a plinius sa-102. that was the most cold, sterile, uninvolving sound i'd ever heard. i moved to an audio research sp16l and have been into tubes since those days. perhaps the x2.5 was a blessing in disguise.

kevin t

Big Red Machine · « **Reply #83 on:** 9 Apr 2010, 01:00 pm »

Quote from: kgturner on 9 Apr 2010, 12:41 pm

probably my most disappointing purchase was a pass labs x2.5 preamp. i coupled it with a plinius sa-102. that was the most cold, sterile, uninvolving sound i'd ever heard. i moved to an audio research sp16l and have been into tubes since those days. perhaps the x2.5 was a blessing in disguise.

kevin t

Agree. I had one as well......for just a few short weeks.

toobluvr · « **Reply #84 on:** 9 Apr 2010, 01:09 pm »

Quote from: kgturner on 9 Apr 2010, 12:41 pm

probably my most disappointing purchase was a pass labs x2.5 preamp. i coupled it with a plinius sa-102. that was the most cold, sterile, uninvolving sound i'd ever heard.

What...and you didn't measure it to be sure?

C'mon, everyone knows you didn't really hear what you heard if you didn't prove it with measurements!

roscoeiii · « **Reply #85 on:** 9 Apr 2010, 01:34 pm »

Well, my my doesn't that help a poor soul such as myself who occassionally wonders, "What if I'd gotten an X-1, or X2.5?" This may at least put of a trial of one of those for a little while longer...

Ronm1 · « **Reply #86 on:** 9 Apr 2010, 01:58 pm »

Without ? the Oppo 70/80
After reviews hyped them, I bit....
Quickly the 70 went to daughters room, 80 relegated to movies, certainly at 150 one can't complain too much, but for audio they bellied their price point big time. They certainly would drive listeners to vinyl, if that's the only digital they have listened too.

sts9fan · « **Reply #87 on:** 9 Apr 2010, 02:05 pm »

I was also never really happy with my Odyssey Khatargo. I felt I was given the hard sell plus the gain is just too high IMHO. If you are using a tube pre with any sort of rush it was really annoying. With a sqeezebox directly it was on but over all it had to go.

rollo · « **Reply #88 on:** 9 Apr 2010, 02:16 pm »

Bryston 4B amp. Bright, thin and exaggered sibilance. Boring, no soul. Phillips SACD 3000. Never worked correctly. Sony SACD player. Brighter than bright.

charles

toobluvr · « **Reply #89 on:** 9 Apr 2010, 02:21 pm »

Quote from: rollo on 9 Apr 2010, 02:16 pm

Bryston 4B amp. Bright, thin and exaggered sibilance. Boring, no soul.
charles

Ditto. Except mine was the 3B-ST. You can put the BP-20 line stage in there with it, as I owned them together.

hifiman5 · « **Reply #90 on:** 10 Apr 2010, 12:48 am »

Polk SDA-1 speakers. Returned after a few days. Ugh.

timind · « **Reply #91 on:** 10 Apr 2010, 12:56 am »

Quote from: toobluvr on 9 Apr 2010, 02:21 pm

Ditto. Except mine was the 3B-ST. You can put the BP-20 line stage in there with it, as I owned them together.

Very interesting as I was looking at a used 3B-ST.

SET Man · « **Reply #92 on:** 10 Apr 2010, 01:48 am »

Hey!

Well, not really a component unit but more like an electrical component for my system.

The famous and expensive Vishay resistor TX2352 "Nude" version. Bought a pair of these to replace the Caddock in my pre (single line) expecting that they will be better. But as it turned out I couldn't tell a difference if any. Maybe it was just me or my system

The Caddock was as good if not better at half the price of the Vishay! Dang! Could have bought 2 Caddocks for the price of one Vishay.

But was a while a go. Maybe I should give it another try. Or maybe not... I think I'll stick with the Caddock and others cheaper one.

Take care,
Buddy

doctorno · « **Reply #93 on:** 10 Apr 2010, 03:16 am »

PS Audio Duet Power Conditioner.
It just sucked the life and air out of everything.
Come to think of it, every PS Audio piece of gear I heard has sucked.

Stealth Audio Gold PGS IC's...they just sucked
Stealth Audio MLB Jr. speaker cables..not bad...just not worth the money at all.
I know they have a great reputation, but not for me.

Lots of things came and went, but these I remember hating( at least in my system)

zybar · « **Reply #94 on:** 10 Apr 2010, 03:31 am »

Odyssey Mono Extreme SE's

Two reasons for my disappointment:

1. I didn't like their sound

2. They didn't come close to the hype that was written here on AC.

George

toobluvr · « **Reply #95 on:** 10 Apr 2010, 03:38 am »

Merlin VSM Gen 2 (maybe Gen 3?) with BAMM

Another candidate for the "hypus maximus, but performance minimus" award.

tdangelo · « **Reply #96 on:** 10 Apr 2010, 03:39 am »

Wisdom Audio M-75 - what a bad joke & some Nuforce V8.?? - 3 pair and they never worked correctly... NAT Audio Utopia, Navison MKII Pre - Gershman Avant Garde speakers, Stealth Audio Gold PGS IC's, much more but I forget. just remembered something else - Pass 600.5 amps very over rated IMO

Lamm L2 pre - $14k of HISSSSSS into the Lamm M1.2 amps - had to sell both to get a quiet system.

zybar · « **Reply #97 on:** 10 Apr 2010, 03:42 am »

Quote from: toobluvr on 10 Apr 2010, 03:38 am

Merlin VSM Gen 2 (maybe Gen 3?) with BAMM

Another candidate for the "hypus maximus, but performance minimus" award.

Remember lugging them all over the place trying to get them to sound good? We never could get them to sound even remotely like the way people described them.

I will admit that I have heard later versions sound very nice at some audio shows.

George

toobluvr · « **Reply #98 on:** 10 Apr 2010, 03:50 am »

Quote from: zybar on 10 Apr 2010, 03:42 am

Remember lugging them all over the place trying to get them to sound good? We never could get them to sound even remotely like the way people described them.

I will admit that I have heard later versions sound very nice at some audio shows.

George

Yep...remember it like a nightmare.

I'll never forget the look on your face and your comment upon hearing them in my place for the first time. Your exact words:

"I wouldn't listen to those things if you gave them to me!"

Since then I too have heard them sound excellent in several home environments.....full rich and musical. Complete opposite to what mine were spitting out. But they were later versions. Lotta mysteries in audio, but that one still perplexes me to this day.

toobluvr · « **Reply #99 on:** 10 Apr 2010, 03:54 am »

Quote from: tdangelo on 10 Apr 2010, 03:39 am

- Gershman Avant Garde speakers

I'm really surprised about this one. They've been on my "must look into list" for awhile now. Not based on having heard them, just based on what I've read and heard about them. I figured they'd be right up my alley in the musicality dept.