Your worst HiFi/Audio purchases ever...?

[kevinrt]

Apologies if you found my repeated postings tiresome, but my point was listen before buying. Less risk if buying used, of course. Something I've never said before: Dynavector amps are very nice to handle as they look and feel very competently designed and put together.

My apologies. I intended my post to be lightly humorous, but that has clearly failed.

Nothing wrong with your post, and I'm sure repetition on this forum is quite common. I just remember yours because it related to something I owned at the time.

Kevin

 

[Del monaco]

If I can't get the AT-VM95ml sounding enjoyable on my Rega 3, it'll be joining the list. Thin, etched sounding thing it has been! - really putting me off my record listening.

Update: reduced overhang by 1mm & increased VTF a little to 2 grams, & things are greatly improved.

This is good to know. I was considering upgrading the styli to an ML on my Cambridge!

 

[Hazelberry]

This is good to know. I was considering upgrading the styli to an ML on my Cambridge!

I think the ML stylus needs precise setup to be at its best. I wouldn't have believed the improvement a single mm of overhang adjustment made (the current thread on Rega arm overhang here got me on the case), along with increasing the VTF by less than 0.4g.

 

[Del monaco]

Maybe I should go for the EN first and try the ML later.

 

[Mr Pig]

Oh I'd love to try an Exact! Trouble is the nearest dealer is hours away; the cartridge twice the price of the AT; & the stylus is likely to have a shorter life.

ATs ML stylus profile does seem to last a ridiculously long time for some reason and it is a good sounding tip. The Exact is very different from the AT 'house sound' and I do prefer it. There is a fullness, richness and strength of tone that is rare in cartridges of any price. A bit like the Grado Green I have here but the Grado is rubbish at the frequency extremes. The Exact isn't.

I'm not saying the AT is a bad cart but if you find yourself happy to trade a tiny amount of detail for a fuller, more powerful but still very bouncy and fun sound, the Exact is it.

 

[Hazelberry]

Maybe I should go for the EN first and try the ML later.

I was thinking of buying a VMN30EN stylus to replaced the tired bonded one on my lovely AT100e, but the entire VM95ml was better value overall & I liked the prospect of threaded bolt inserts.

 

[2ManyBoxes]

Back when I was 15 a brother-in-law gave me what I think was a Thorens TD135, main feature a massively heavy platter.

One night I decided to have a look underneath so I balanced it on a chair and a huge stack of HiFi magazines that I was then avidly reading, main lining the Naim / Linn gospel then prevalent.

With my head and shoulders under the thing, I got the base off and started poking at things. I'd collected a screwdriver from the other room when I heard a heavy thump back from the room with the turntable

The HiFi magazines were obviously allergic to the Thorens and took a leap sideways The rear edge of the TD135 came down just where my face had been a few seconds before The platter had time to come slightly out so it was the edge of it that hit the floor. It would have crushed my skull like a water melon. The spindle was bent so that the platter rubbed so that was the end of that.

An acquisition so bad it tried to kill me, anybody else match that?

 

[Hazelberry]

Back when I was 15 a brother-in-law gave me what I think was a Thorens TD135, main feature a massively heavy platter.

One night I decided to have a look underneath so I balanced it on a chair and a huge stack of HiFi magazines that I was then avidly reading, main lining the Naim / Linn gospel then prevalent.

With my head and shoulders under the thing, I got the base off and started poking at things. I'd collected a screwdriver from the other room when I heard a heavy thump back from the room with the turntable

The HiFi magazines were obviously allergic to the Thorens and took a leap sideways The rear edge of the TD135 came down just where my face had been a few seconds before The platter had time to come slightly out so it was the edge of it that hit the floor. It would have crushed my skull like a water melon. The spindle was bent so that the platter rubbed so that was the end of that.

An acquisition so bad it tried to kill me, anybody else match that?

An acquisition so bad it tried to kill me, anybody else match that?

No, but my platter killed Grace Jones yesterday - enabled by myself

https://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/threads/ive-just-broken-a-record.278998/

 

[RoA]

ATs ML stylus profile does seem to last a ridiculously long time for some reason and it is a good sounding tip. The Exact is very different from the AT 'house sound' and I do prefer it. There is a fullness, richness and strength of tone that is rare in cartridges of any price. A bit like the Grado Green I have here but the Grado is rubbish at the frequency extremes. The Exact isn't.

I'm not saying the AT is a bad cart but if you find yourself happy to trade a tiny amount of detail for a fuller, more powerful but still very bouncy and fun sound, the Exact is it.

+1
Seems a nice cartridge.

 

[shug4476]

The worst purchases I made were:

- A BK Monolith subwoofer, where the supposed low-pass filter actually acted as a pass-band, presumably done deliberately in order to limit the load for the amplifier, which meant integrating it into my system was impossible. I sold it at a heavy loss because, BK being a remote sales business, it was prohibitively expensive to try and make use of the warranty. I won't ever buy a subwoofer from anybody other than a local dealer now (if buying new), or used.

- Sennheiser HD700 headphones. I auditioned them first and they were OK performers, and tremendously comfortable, but there was something seriously wrong with the treble which made several brilliantly mastered albums difficult to listen to. I sold them at a modest lost.

- Arcam AV888, this was actually a brilliant sounding pre/pro, but Arcam had, extremely frustratingly, made a complete mess of the HDMI switching, which was incapable of transparently passing a video signal and could not handle 24p at all without dropping frames. An otherwise beautifully made piece of kit let down by a single (massive) failing. So frustrating as, with only a little bit of care pre-release, it would have truly been a classic.

 

[htm_1968]

Bought this Thorens TD2010 in 2002 to replace a Rega Planar 3 I had since 1991. We lived in Melbourne at the time. It was very dry and static would build up on it and discharge so dramatically as to cause my NAC52 to change channels. That was the best thing about it as it sounded dead. It was sold via Acoustica when we moved back to the UK. Awful piece of crap despite looking very shiny. I hope nobody on here bought it.

 

[Eoin]

Bought this Thorens TD2010 in 2002 to replace a Rega Planar 3 I had since 1991. We lived in Melbourne at the time. It was very dry and static would build up on it and discharge so dramatically as to cause my NAC52 to change channels. That was the best thing about it as it sounded dead. It was sold via Acoustica when we moved back to the UK. Awful piece of crap despite looking very shiny. I hope nobody on here bought it.

very shiny though, eh?

 

[zucco]

Audio Analogue Puccini amplifier after owning an Arcam Alpha 9, under powered and boring sounding amp. After this I tried a Denson but this wasn't my cup of tea either. Then Naim 90/92, not bad BUT then discovered Farlow made Exposure pre + power supply/4 Dual regulated.

 

[k90tour]

Chord Hugo.

 

[uncl_nigel]

Two contenders:

- Hadcock 228 arm

It looked and felt so flimsy I sold it more or less immediately - there was no way I was going to trust the thing with a cartridge and that was on a non-bouncy deck.

- SAC power amp (the one Hi Fi World raved about)

The b****y thing literally caught fire before my eyes when a KT88 failed.