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

Yes. Not only that but Mark Levinson designs and eq's there systems for each model of Lexus. The one we have has 17 speakers each with it's own amplifier plus a large built in hard drive. Stunning sound.

 

...and a resident IT guy that rides along to keep things operational!

 

Nope, five years not a speck of trouble.

 

What was your bad experience with it?

I have the Vista Phono 2 and Phono 1 mk-II and really like them both. I haven’t heard a bad word about any of their products, before now. So I’m curious why you say that.

 

it sounded horrible

 

I was interested in a Chrysler 300 a few years ago until the salesman proudly stated it came with a Beats audio system. The salesman was flabbergasted when I said, "Well, that's a deal breaker." He said, "But sir, Beats makes some of the finest gear available." I just laughed and walked away.

 

three BOOGERS I picked:

Pro-Ject RPM9, WITH "speed box" upgrade---would not play with any heavy tracking cartridges as these slowed it down and caused wow and flutter galore!
Threw it in garbage and bought Technics SL1210M5G and lived happily ever after...



CREEK OB8H-SE phono preamp.
Thin, screechy, noisy---and then it BROKE after six weeks and I simply **** canned it...



MUSICAL FIDELITY X-CAN three can (phono pre/tube buffer/power supply).
This was heavily pushed by Stereophile back in the day as being a big upgrade for your CD player.
NOT!
Thin, wispy tone, right channel broke after a year.
Threw it away. $1,000 if I recall or something obscene like that...



As you can tell, my investigation of the wonders of phono playback were fraught with horrible sonic mistakes at first.
In the early days of the rebirth of vinyl---nobody knew NUTTIN'!
And after getting burned with consumer "Hi-Fi" DACs, I then dove into what we offered at the recording studio level and finally bought some real pro audio DACs that WORKED.
DACs like Apogee, Yamaha, Bryston and so forth.
Stuff that wasn't marketed to idiots over at the "home audio" side of the biz.

 

Have to agree 100% that the MF X-Can V3 was a total POS. It was the only piece of gear that I ever bought solely based on a review! I should have known better. The reviewer in Stereophile ( cannot remember who) must have had cotton wool in his ears to think this POS was even remotely musical. BUT, I do remember hearing years later that the reviewer was known to not listen to gear and had a friend who he relied upon- and he simply parroted whatever this guy reported! Would explain a lot in this instance.

 

I realize this is not an audiophile grade cd player but the first thing that came to mind is the Pioneer PD F1007 301 cd changer. I bought it new in 1998 when it came out because it was the largest capacity player on the market at the time. I already had a Sony 200 disc changer I bought circa 1994. The Pioneer sounds horrible with a weird etchy grainy quality. I only used it for a short while because I like the Sony 200 (and eventually a Sony 400 player) which sound much better. Just for the heck of it, when I bought my Cambride Audio DAC Magic in 2012 I tried using the optical output from the Pioneer and it didn't improve the sound very much. The grainy etchy sound was still there, so even with an outboard DAC it retained its sonic signature. Also the random mode never worked correctly. Sometimes a song would end and the player would shuffle to another disc and get hung up trying to pick a song off the selected disc and nothing would play. I had to press the stop button and put it back into random mode again to get it to play. I still have the player but I only use it for storing my cds for easy access.

 

Reminded me of this...

A friend of mine has some "Acoustics V" brand speakers, might have been some kinda white-van thing, or something Schaak Electronics sold back in the '70s. Absolutely horrid. They needed refoaming and I just said, come on, let's go find you something better.

But he was offended by the idea (and he's cheap) so he threw good money after bad getting them refoamed at a speaker repair place in town.

They are still horrid.

 

My pair of DM603 S3 was/is like that. At least when playing ''rock''. They were/are great for Jazz and more mellow music.

 

Audio Physic Avanti.

 

Ppl posting should also say WHY something was the worst piece of audio equipment they’ve ever experienced.

Just sayin’.
.

 

Bose 901 speakers, didn't even make good firewood.

 

I had one too. Dolby Pro Logic unit w built in amps for the center and surround speakers, maybe 20 watts. Actually, I recall it being semi acceptable. Clearly it was a weak device but it produced surround sound. Haven’t thought of that unit for many years.

 

SavageGeese is perhaps the only car reviewer in the industry that reviews the car audio systems with measurements and he has stated over the years that the Mark Levinson system is one of if not the best - once it has been set-up. They include a CD player too - not sure if they do on the 2021 models but they did on the 2019 models. And finally for 2021 a touch screen as well as their own mousepad system so people can be happier.

@3:45 he discusses the audio system - the Lexus ES 300h (hybrid). The car actually makes more sense here in Canada than a Toyota Avalon because Toyoto has 1 less year on the powertrain warranty. Lexus and Toyota have 10 year 250,000km warranties on their hybrid systems while B&W (the junkers) only offer 4 years 80,000 because they know their cars fall apart as they age. Albeit they are more fun to drive but it's expensive fun.

 

So you threw $3500 worth of equipment in the thrash? Not claiming any warranty or selling it on?

 

I will add, the Lexus service and service department is second to none.

 

Replaced by the rock solid Marantz AV-600 & Marantz DP870 combo. The Audio Source found it's way curb side.

 

the CD player in my 2019 nissan rogue is piece of shinola and i bought the bose system upgrade. utter garbage.

 

The Carver Receiver MXR 2000 ~ AM/FM Stereo ~ Magnetic Field Power Amplifier
Horrible hi frequency, burnt out my ear drums. The RCA connections on the rear were attached to a PCB board by two (2) tabs (ears) that bent down on the other side of the board. Obviously these connections did not last too long if you changed your interconnect cables too many times. Once they pulled out of the board it was almost impossible to reattach securely enough to so you ended up with an intermittent connection. The five way binding post would not allow for an easy spade connection. You had to take the plastic tightening nut off completely and then it was limited to the size of spade one could use. Lastly all the rear connections were not gold plated and corroded very easily.

 

Yes.
The manufacturer gave it to me dirt cheap as I was a sales rep for them.
Complaining or warrantee and asking for help seemed like bad form.
As for passing on stupid non working crap to another poor soul---that seemed negative also.
So in the trash it went.
When I was a young buck I wasn't so noble and would gladly sell you something that was garbage.
But I made my living on my reputation as an audio expurt and I was happy to take an over priced piece of turd and burn it, if you know what I mean.
What irked me in particular was that I was there when the Technics SL1200 was introduced and sold them and knew they were great and yet the public perception that Technics was crap for DJs (propaganda) steered me away from direct drive.
At least the story has a happy ending as finally bought a Technics SL1210 and lived happily ever after...
As I recall at the time I bought the SL1210M5G (which came with upgraded OFC tone arm wiring from the factory!) it cost me a little over $500 bucks as everybody knew Technics was cheap crap (!).
So in the long run I got it before prices for direct drive Technics tripled...so Karma evened out the real cost to ME over time.
I calculate what stuff "costs" me after using it for ten or twenty years.
THAT'S the TRUE cost!
And I am not sorry I trashed that first miss step I made.
It just made me very wary of claims by the home audio market about what kind of performance to expect from equipment. A valuable lesson indeed.

 

The Philips 3 in 1 (or how is that crap called) I got for Christmas with 14 ...
Everything totally crappy, Cassette Player never working normal.
Full range speakers. DIN Connection. 10 Watt Output. Plastic Tone Arm.
Everything was just wrong ...

Needless to say that my friends had Kenwood, Pioneer, Sony Receivers and
these glitzy turntables with S-Arms. And two way speakers.
I was the underdog, a piece of dirt ... and got a trauma.

Until 17, whe I had saved enough and bought me the best amp I could afford
(and carry, no car), a Pioneer SA 9500. Plus Jamo speakers with 12inch drivers.
And a Thorens. It saved my (HiFi-)Life.

 

You’re right. Best thing you could do is remove these things from the market instead of passing them on to the next poor chap.

And calculating what good HiFi stuff costs per hour over the years is actually a very good way to justify spending thousands on a component. Especially when compared to cars/motorcycles/boats.

Funny that you bring up the SL1200... About 20
years ago my uncle left me some hifi stuff including a hefty flightcase with two SL1200’s and a small mixing console. Gave it away because I figured it was DJ crap. Kept the Sony PS2250 from the same collection. That was slouch either but boy was I wrong about the Technics.

To go back on topic: Pro-ject RPM1.3 Genie is the worst piece of crap hifi equipment I’ve ever owned. Motor humming, arm lift leaking oil, arm bearings rattling, wall-wart PSU made noise when the TT was not in use.

Aw... now I feel bad for the guy who bought my Pro-ject turntable.

 

See?
Karma is a bitch.
Burn the ****.
If it is crap and will distort opinions about what is good and what is bad---take the high road and BURN THE ****.
And it's FUN to do so!

Gosh I hate wasting my life chasing bad equipment that will never work correctly.
Now THAT'S a sin!
And I'm not particularly religious or anything...
As the country song says---life is itty bitty.
And there is no time to lose.