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

Absolutely. But not just placement. Actually, placement is pretty easy.

But they are extremely revealing. If something isn't a good match upstream, you'll know. Actually, @MichaelXX2 described my system when I followed Magnepan's rules regarding amplification- high power high current solid state. Then I went to Class D (Rogue Pharoah) which was an improvement despite landing on someone's list in this thread. Now? Tubes. Perfect. It shouldn't work but it does.

 

That's funny. Two pieces of gear I liked ended up on this list. My Large Advent/Marantz 2270/Dual 1229Q/Cheap Grado system sounded great when was 18. Bought all of it used for a song. Wonder what 52 year old me would think now.

 

After hearing the sound signature of Maggies, I wouldn't dare power them with anything but tubes. Same with any Klipsch speaker. That sound works very well for some people.

 

That CE marking is a funny one though. It's a health and safety certification mark for toys, electric appliances, protective equipment and such, meant to indicate that they're safe for consumers to use. The funny part is that a lot of Chinese manufacturers apparently got it wrong, thinking the marking has to be included in all exports to the EU. I've seen all kinds of Chinese products from acoustic guitars to car tyres proudly bearing the CE logo just in case, lending credibility to the old joke that "CE" stands for "Chinese Export". So there's a high possibility that preamp has something resembling a CE logo anyway...

 

As @SandAndGlass implied, what didn't work for me may have worked for others. That said, here we go:

1. The worst by far was a giant, high-powered Sansui receiver I bought (and immediately returned) in the 1970s. It was perfect on paper, but the sound was hard and steely. Shortly after, TIM distortion was identified; perhaps that's what the receiver suffered from.

2. The next worst was a direct-drive turntable I bought in the 1980s. I know new ones are well regarded, but without doing anything obviously wrong, this one just sucked all the life out of the music. When I replaced it with an AR ES-1, it was like opening a door onto the music.

3. My first CD player, back in the 1980s. Though well reviewed by JGH, it sounded flat and lifeless -- though clean.

Finally -- not a piece of equipment -- but something I think sounds terrible is playing music at 3x the volume of a live instrument. I listen a lot to classical music, and when people reproduce a string quartet or solo harpsichord or cello at the volume of a large orchestra playing fff, it's terrible. Manufacturers sometimes do this at demos. Turns me right off.

I think we're making progress -- most relatively new gear I've heard sounds good!

 

I had to think about this for a bit. Back in the late '70s my eldest brother had a BIC 940 turntable. I thought it was the coolest thing.

So when I was is high school and wanted to upgrade my Garrard, of course I bought a BIC- the 40Z. They had a bad habit of rotating counter clockwise after a few weeks. My first one was exchanged. My second one was lost when I took it in for repair. They gave me a third new one which I sold sealed and bought a Technics.

 

A crystal radio built by yours truly.

 

So that you could check for satanic messages. It was a feature, not a bug.

 

Sequerra Met 7.7 speakers which were hyped by Sam Tellig. I've heard plastic computer speakers with more life than theses.

 

No idea. All I know is it had problems and I wasn't the only one to complain about it. I have other phono preamps that aren't super expensive and both are quieter than the Mani.

 

Probably a pair of Sony headphones I purchased years ago. I was very ignorant, and I said, "Sony! Must be good!" They were fart cannons!! At the time, they cost me US $49.95, which was 2x as much as I paid for Koss Porta Pros, which were superior in all ways except for looks.

A distant, DISTANT 2nd is my Ortofon 2M Red cartridge. What a loud, in-your-face, unrefined sounding cartridge! Maybe it is my listening preference, but I much MUCH prefer my Shure V15 Type III (JICO SAS) and my Audio-Technica VM750SH (yes, I know those SHOULD be preferable). Every now and again, I'll replace the VM750SH with the Shure, but I'd never consider spending the time to swap carts to use the 2M Red. It isn't a bad cart - just something I don't care to listen with when I have preferable alternatives.

 

That’s a bit surprising! I owned several pair of Sony cans and never had one that was truly awful, the ones I had back in the 80s were pretty good, and the X1000s I have now are very good.

 

iPhone speaker...

 

I'd also add the latest iOS if that counts for audio gear

 

Just about everything hyped by Sam Tellig was worth avoiding.

 

he laughs his little laugh...

 

These were relatively cheap headphones - not anything Sony would consider mid-fi, high-fi, or "audiophile" level. I've heard good things about their higher end headphones.

 

Actually the CE Mark covers many more products other than those you mentioned. It really depends on the Applicable Directive(s). I am not an expert on the Automotive Directive but I would not be surprised if tires require CE marking. Guitars may also be covered for the RoHS restricted materials Directive as well.

But you are correct product from China can be suspect as the CE Mark is a Manufacturers self declaration so there is a lot of abuse marking non conforming product.

Not wanting to bore people and hijack the thread so back on topic I have had issues with every Sony product I ever owned, CD players, TV's, headphones, so have not bought their products in years

 

Magnepan 1.6

 

GOgroove Mini Phono Turntable Preamp. Modest preamp for my modest system. No bass, I mean NO bass even with my sub and amplifier at max. Ugh.
I replaced it with the Pro-Ject Phono Box MM DC Phonograph Preamp. $50.00 more but still modest. Now, I can turn off my sub when spinning vinyl and keep my amp flat.

 

I saw that deck when I was considering purchasing a cassette deck at one time and gave it a pass just because of its looks, it just looked overcomplicated to me. I think it was a style that Pioneer was going with with all of their equipment at the time.

I've purchased a few Sony headphones and while they were fairly good sounding, an issue I had was with their comfort. I've found that they become a bit uncomfortable after a short time. That is one of the reasons I've stayed with my Koss PortaPros: I can wear them for long periods of time without them becoming uncomfortable.

The comfort issue is what has stopped me from going for high-priced headphones. I'm willing to plunk down $10 to $50 for a set of headphones without trying them out first and if they end up not being comfortable I consider it a lesson learned. But if I'm going to spend more than $50 for a set of headphones I must try them on first to see out they sound and how they fit. The best headphones in the world are worthless to me if I can't wear them for more than 5 minutes due to comfort issues.

 

Had a Carver pre-amp in the '80s that, if you set the selector switches just right, would send full volume feedback through the speakers. Killed a B&W woofer that way.

Also around that time had a red Dynavector cartridge that was so mechanically loud you could hear the music at six feet distance with the stereo turned off!

 

Rega Exact. Wayyyyy over priced ($599. Really?)and just didn’t work for me.
Made records sound just like records. Very polished. I know some folks really like it.

 

i had one and thought it was very cool- it took a big wire antenna in the attic to make it pick up anything though.