What's the Single Worst Piece of Audio Equipment You've Ever Experienced?

Not an audio component (audio-adjacent), but also in my Top 10: in 1998 we went whole hog on a home theater setup centered around a 53" Sony XBR200 rear projection TV (a KP-53XBR200). This thing cost US$5K, but that money paid for a Faroudja scan line doubler that gave you a picture as close to HDTV as you were likely to get from NTSC sources in 1998. Then we got it home...

...and soon after doing a setup and calibration in our home theater room we noticed the faint but insanely annoying green lines down the right side of the screen during scenes with a dark background (we first experienced this while watching the DVD of 2001: A Space Odyssey).

The store we bought it from (a Sony Sound Center store in Edina, MN, as I recall) was awesome and swapped it out *4 times* over the course of a month or two without resolution until Sony finally figured the problem out and issued a field bulletin with a fix.

After that it was pretty rock solid and worked faithfully as the center of our home theater system until we finally went to a 50" Philips plasma HDTV with "Ambilight" sometime around 2006 or so.

 

When I was 9 years old (1971) my uncle gave me a portable transistor radio with some gas station emblem on it --- and though at the time I though it was the coolest thing in the world, I bet today it would probably qualify as the crappiest piece of audio gear from a pure audio output standpoint!

 

Make that two popular tube DACs. It would be a toss up for which one was worse. Used to really love tubes. Still love tube amps and preamps and my vintage 500c but the modern tube DACs just really seem to suck. At least the ones I’ve heard.

 

Sony PS-LX510 Linear Tracking Turntable: worked well for three months with a Sumiko Blue Point P-Mount cartridge. Then the tracking mechanism go sticky and you could hear a faint thump through the speakers each time it moved the tonearm. Traded it for a Thornes TD320.

35 years later it still bugs me each time I play a tape recorded off that engineering failure.

 

Same experience here with that crappy turntable. After the thumping, mine would stick, and then abort playing the record - over and over again. I kept it in the attic for years until about a month ago, and it still bugs me, too!

 

Is it possible to disclose names of those DACs? ))

 

Dynaco PAS-3 Preamp. It was my first preamp and a true piece of garbage. Sounded muddy and dull, scratchy pots, some of the tone controls didn't seem to work right, etc. Shockingly I resold it on ebay for a profit after a few years. Hopefully whoever bought it knew how to fix it up better than I did. I replaced the main power supply caps and the tubes but it still sounded bad.

 

I will qualify with IMO and they are the Boarder Patrol DAC and AN 2.1.

 

I was wondering as the best DAC I ever own (and heard) is 15 year old AYON CD-5, also tubed )).

 

Musical Fidelity X-10D tube buffer amplifier.
Worst waste of money: An Audio Note clone that I built three years ago with no expense spared.

 

No idea of the model number but it had Amstrad on the front. And only a 5 segment LED VU meter.

 

I went through several home CD changers. Overall I’d have to give the worst to a Craig in dash CD player. Had to cut the dash on my beloved 1976 Olds Toronado to install it. Had to exchange it twice which got me through the 1 year warranty period.

 

Colin, don't tell me my parents bought the upmarket model!


Stansted Mountfitchet (and some of the surrounding area) is a lovely part of the county.

 

Remember them surveying shelves of Stacked systems in Laskys on Tottenham Ct Rd. Then Dixon’s for Matsui & Curry’s for Sansui?

 

BSR did make a plastic TT that was about 2/3rd size platter and it came in a plastic plinth. Had one as a gift (with Eagle receiver and speakers) and soon upgraded to a Garrard SP25 mkIII. Can't even remember the model number.

 

ADCOM 5 channel amp. Grainy sound

 

Way back I got a new Adcom GFA-5802.
When I turned it on the second day it turned into a Sparkius Explodius light show.
Needless to say back it went never to be seen again.

 

So not grainy then?

 

Ugh. Which adcom was the Nelson pass designed one ?

 

Some Cambridge Audio CD player that Robert Harley touted as "the world's greatest CD player...for $1500?"

It was nice, but it was as turned inward (meaning, the sound did not leap out at you, even on crescendos). It was very Zen: seeking inner peace. It just forgot to deliver "outer" music. If you played jazz on it, it would make you want to drink. Or fall asleep. I've never heard a piece of equipment so lacking in testosterone in my life. If you only listened to Schubert, maybe. And even then, it would have to be one of those delicate pieces with NO dynamics. Actually grew to dislike it. And that's saying something in my case.

 

Cambridge makes good stuff but it’s very laid back sounding. I’m not for me either !!

 

Ha, I wouldn't part with mine, and even splurged on the matching power supply!

 

Many years later I recall Sir Alan Sugar talking about the relative failure of his music systems and blaming an underpowered amplifier!

 

This mirrors things when l had a NuVista dac from MF - never again.

 

Two speakers, not really that bad but when i consider cost, yeah not good. Wilson WAMM speakers from decades ago and most recent AN HE speakers.