Tell me about your Hi Fi purchase regret?

A strange question but I think we have all been there. You may have read about something believed it would improve the sound but all it did was change the sound & despite giving it chance it just didn't suit your set up.

For me there has been quite a few & before I start I'm am not slating the product , it just didn't match what I had. This is the problem I think we have all had is the case of building something that chases after the last component

In 1979 I had a Phillips cassette recorder connected via din plug to an Amstrad amplifier & some speakers with no name written on them but the wires were built in!!! You have to start somewhere but funnily enough what I have today steams from that.

My regrets have been (and some will surprise you) have been Audio lab Pre/power, Spendor LS3/5A , Meridan 501 Pre amp, Sumiko BPS MC cartridge , Roksan Xerses, Chord Signature Interconnect & Dynavector P75 Phono Stage . As already stated I'm sure these components are worthy but either I couldn't get on with them or they didn't gel with my system . Anything else I bought & since outed I have accepted it was natural progression. I also had a mismatch in the 1980s using a Quad 405 power amp with Mission 770 freedom speakers . I wish I built it round one or the other but my knowledge was less than it is now.

Please tell me your Hi Fi purchase regrets for whatever reason .

Please respect each others comments. One mans meat etc

Thank You.

 

All the standalone SACD players I've bought over the years. I basically wasted my time. They were fine players, but the problem was the lack of material to buy. I kept holding out hope that things would pan out, but other than the jazz titles which I already owned on vinyl, there was basically no music that interested me to buy, so I moved on.

 

There's a plus side. Those players do well with Redbook cd's at least they should...

 

I think I only regret the things I passed on and didn't buy. All of my purchases have pretty much worked out in one way or another and I was more or less happy with them or sold them for cost when I had to downsize or move Etc.

 

Martin Logan Electromotion ESL. The speaker wire connectors drove me nuts. I previously owned ML Source and Purity (models which had nice binding posts). I eventually sold the ESL and the wire connectors played a major part of this decision. On recordings containing acoustic instruments and vocal material they did sound very good. I do still miss the Purity(s).

 

Sure. I have an Oppo 105 player at the moment (which is collecting dust), maybe I should pop in a CD from time to time. I usually listen to FLAC and ALAC via my DAC.

 

Sent my old AMC CVT3030 out to get new tubes. I had not purchased a volt meter and learned how to bias it myself, which is dangerous but no very difficult. UPS arrived with the box severely damaged. You could hear the shards of broken glass banging around inside. Well, the manufacturer was belly up at that point, the the insurance situation got me a used frankenstein unit with mismatched boards rather that the one I had so cared for for the last 15 years. I later bought a Euro version as a replacement that had been nicely upgraded, which sounded better than the original, but I put in some NOS power tubes that were operating at their limit and that unit started eating tubes. Somehow, I feel that had I learned to bias the unit earlier, I might still be listening to it today. Maybe when I have some extra cash, I'll put the best of the two I have together to make a working version.

 

There's just one regret I can think of, the NAD M5 SACD player that made a brief visit in my listening room a few years ago. Getting a good sound out of M5 or making it match the rest of my system was not a problem, because it was rather a nice sounding player. Sadly, it seemed to be riddled with all sorts of minor malfunctions. The one that eventually drove me to banish the M5 from the premises was its reluctance to play back older CDs with aluminum center properly (and I have quite a few of those, so it was indeed a big issue). After inserting one of these discs, the M5 started emitting a loud noise that resembled a power drill or, alternately, it skipped the first 5 to 10 minutes of the disc entirely. Occasionally - with any disc - the M5 would stop the playback after each track which also was rather infuriating. As I mentioned on the Tell me about your CD player thread, the M5 is the only piece of HiFi equipment I have ever had to return to the dealer.

 

I once bought a very expensive home-cinema amplifier + speakers to try multichannel music. I hated it.

 

10. Vandersteen 2C - respected but not loved
09. Magnepan MMG speakers - some good qualities but the treble bothered me
08. ASL Wave 8 - not terrible but Musical Paradise MP301 is much better
07. PR-41 passive pre - sucked all the life from the sound
06. Sony XDR-F1HD Tuner - great reception, not so great sound quality
05. Sequerra Met 7 - could not stand them
04. Best Buy Insignia NS-B2111 - looked cool, cheap, not for me
03. Fulton 80 - tweeter and woofer didn't mesh for me
02. Sonic Impact T-amp - great reviews but this "giant killer" couldn't even hurt a giant's feelings
01. Monarchy NM-24 -My first outboard DAC and since it replaced a very inexpensive Sony Playstation 1 SCPH-1001 (modified), was expecting to be WOWED by this relatively expensive (for me) upgrade. The sound was detailed, transparent, dynamic, has great bass BUT was slightly hollow and a tiny bit glassy and the music seems to be robbed of emotion.

 

I passed on a rare dB Systems amplifier on eBay, because it had a big scratch on the faceplate, IIRC. I haven't seen one on eBay since.

Similarly, I missed a used Conrad-Johnson MV55 by a couple minutes, when one was advertised in a dealer's ad in one of the hi-fi journals.

 

WOW! There are a lot of regrets in this thread!

I have bought/sold a lot of gear over the decades (like many of you), but I can't honestly say I've ever bought anything that I regretted. I do have a slight regret about selling my Oppo 980 DVD/CD/SACD player though.

 

Audio Physic Spark III - the ring radiator tweeter was brutal.

 

On the other hand a lot more music is being released on SACD these days, and although I'm basically a vinyl guy, I'm glad I have a couple of SACD capable players.

 

My Denon 5910CI universal player, a 45 lb. beast. While not a regret, it is a component that I seem to rarely use much these days. I now play almost solely LP's at home. At my parties I find it too revealing for main market CD's (I use my more forgiving Sony 3100ES for those). It is however an incredible DVD-V player, so much detail! When I do play my SACD's or HDCD's it is still my go to though.
I just thought of a regret....all of those AVR amps I bought looking to play music on....maybe 3-4 of those!

 

Magnapan 12qr's. What they did well was trumped by their shortcomings.
They are finicky with placement and lack deep bass, even with 200 watts pumped into them.

 

Linn LP12. I was sold on the hype a while ago and although it sounded ok(ish) I was convinced that if I threw enough money at it I would have something I could enjoy for life.

Eventually (over 10 years later) I gave up and stuck it on fleabay.

Falling for the Linn hype was my biggest regret.

 

JBL4410. Had them for like six months, then sold them. Just could not enjoy them.

 

Thanks for your posts . Feels good to get the honesty out eh?

 

none

apart from the odd LP, but that is not really a hifi purchase.

i regret a few sales though.

 

I'll start with the very first one - 1977.

I bought a Nakamichi 410 / 420 pre and power amp instead of a Harmon Kardon 430 or an Onkyo TX4500 MKII.

Dumb. Really dumb.

There have been so many more in the past 30 years.....

 

Angstrom 200 Home Entertainment Director - Sounded great but was obsolete within months of purchase. It is still in the house laughing at me.
A minor regret is Denon 9000 DVD/DVDA great picture and sound but SACD was promised and never delivered.

 

A dear friend of mine was headed for a nasty divorce and had to sell his Atma-Sphere MP1 pre-amp to raise some cash... he offered it to me, on time... was just getting into tubes (and leaving the dark side, SS) and passed on the purchase... Duh! Now, neither of us have it and I since acquired MA1 Silver Editions that would mate perfectly. Well, some day.

 

More SACD titles out there than ever........

 

I meant that SACD capability on the Denon was promised but never delivered. Sorry.