OUCH!! That Dog Just Bit Me or Your Worst Audio Investment(s)

Two that bit me pretty good come to mind:

A Sony ST J75 (I think) tuner, one of the first "digital" tuners that I just had to have. Gave up a fabulous Kenwood KT-600 for it. Problem? After about a half hour of listening it got on your nerves and you didn't quite know why. Hello listening fatigue. Worst part was losing the best sounding tuner that I ever had.

An OCM 88 pre-amp. This unit besides having a rather thin sound, after about 10 min of listening got on your nerves (sound familiar?) had a rather fancy electronic attenuation (volume) control that could only be adjusted in what must have been about 2-3db steps. It was ALWAYS either too high or too low never quite right.

Oh, there also was the:
KR (tube company)s attempt at a solid state preamp. Sounded real impressive upon first listening but after a few hours of listening.....well you know the rest. Fortunately just borrowed this one to try out.

What about your painful experiences??

 

jansen electostatic speakers.

the electrostatic plates emitted awesome, realistic high end, when the worked. they were always on the blink.

 

My Dynavector DV10X3...miserable tracking, dull overall sound...even my $35 Grado from 1980 runs circles around it. Don't know about the X4's or the new X5 (which is far more expensive than my X3 ever was), but the X3 IMHO was a piece of overrated ****.

How about most of the Sony CD players I've bought that would quit JUST out of the warranty. Or the MDP-333 LD/CD player that went bad, like clockwork, every six months.

Walker CJ55 turntable. Lower price, neat idea...but a pile of junk. Speed ran too fast, and the platter system was too heavy for any belt to drive properly. Also had to have them send me a new spindle bearing for it. The seller even told me they lost money on my deal due to my requesting so many replacements for bad parts! Bought my Denon direct-drive, put my Grace arm and V15 cartridge on it, and have never looked back.

Out of dozens of purchases though, to have so few problems has been a good thing, I think.

 

I had a GREAT Denon DD turntable DP-75 (I think) with a fabulous SAEC tonearm. Really liked that one but, alas, gave it up when "perfect sound forever" came along.

 

I had (for a short while ) an Arcam DVD player - good sound and a fine picture but the problem was a transport mechanism that sounded like a jet taking off - this was not a small annoying noise that gradually drives you up the wall but effectively another speaker in the corner of the room.

When I went back to the dealers to tell them the Arcam representative just happened to be in - so he heard from the horses mouth why it was being returned and watched me hand over the readies for a competitors product.

A dish best served cold

All the best - Andrew

 

My 1st serious DVD player, a Toshiba. I forgot the model, but the Apex I bought later whooped its ass....if you can believe it.

 

Most Sony equipment that I have bought has let me down. Like Rudy says, they start to develop problems right after the warranty expires.

A Grado Blue cartridge that I bought was a major letdown. The volume in the left channel seemed to waver, and after swapping another cart in and out, the left channel died completely (also confirmed on a friend's system).

But the biggest disappointment in gear for me was not audio playback, but my Yamaha A4000 sampler. Horrible knobs that barely work, harsh and useless effects, terrible latency, cumbersome OS... I spent almost $3,000 Cnd on it, and I've barely used it. Today it's completely obsolete, having been replaced by software samplers and plug-ins that cost a fraction of what I paid for it. *sigh*

 

I keep looking at a 2nd turntable, and think about getting another Denon. I especially like those ones with the polished wood bases...they just LOOK classy.

However, I'm very confused by my own turntable. On eBay last week, I saw someone with the same turntable as mine, same model number (DP-1000, which was on the bezel surrounding the platter), but theirs had a standard Denon arm on it. (It wasn't one of their servo-operated arms, in other words.) Mine has a removable arm board, and as luck would have it, the guy I bought it from had removed the same tonearm I had (Grace G707II) from it. I noticed on the back of the eBay item, though, the nameplate saying a slightly different model number. Could have been the direct drive/platter unit was the same model, but they may have had different bases for it.

I have occasionally seen other Denon "armless" models, so I'm now religiously watching eBay for another. I like mine, but wouldn't mind getting another...even if it's a little better.

 

Here ya go Rudy, check this out:


DirectDrive Museum - Denon