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Your worst HiFi/Audio purchases ever...?

Beauhorn speakers. No matter the partnering equipment, nor positioning, nor room, they sounded dreadful with all but the most simply recorded (midrange only) material. Sold very, very quickly.
 
Chord 3200 preamplifier. Bought it for what looked on the surface to be an absolute steal. Until I plugged it in, ugh what a pile of polished shite! Found a buyer quickly and moved it on as fast as I could.
 
Rega ELAs. In a new room in the early 90s, I wanted more bass than I was getting from my Heybrook HB1s. A pair of private sale ELAs sounded impressive in the system of the owner and they were cheap. However, in my house and system (e.g. 72/140), they just weren't very good at playing music. A pair of Shahinian Compasses was a vast improvement (and back in those days not a silly price). Unlike the ELAs, they stayed for years, and are now in my bedroom with an Atom. I gave the ELAs to a friend, with a Creek 4040 (IIRC) and a Marantz CD52 - 2SE - they worked well enough to get by in her room.
 
Goat said:
Kef R3, after an all too brief store demo. Believed in the hype - a sure fire upgrade from my old Kef R100.

Lumpy, disjointed bass, metallic taste to the high, lack of naturalness and warmth in the mids. Realised within minutes I'd made a big mistake. But it taught a valuable lesson about home demos being vital!
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Yes, I tried a pair of those, terrible. And heavy.
 
Neat Mystique - picked up from the factory. Flat, dull, lifeless boxes. Trilogy 958 monoblocs - shiny, unreliable and not remotely special.
 
Castle Durham 900 - bought as a stepping stone as I planned to go down the valve route. A two minute demo wasn't a wise idea either.

I genuinely believe they had no output below 200hz. Quickly gave them away as I was so disgusted with myself and couldn't bear to look at the box every time I entered the room.
 
Audiolab 8200T tuner bought 2nd hand. The DAB stopped working after a year. A year later one came up on Ebay. Bought it, after a year the DAB also stopped working. The FM is fine nothing else wrong with it. I suspect faulty software, nothing I did could reset the software. I need to send them to Audiolab some time.... Avoid this product like the plague ( should have known better as other wise a good SOUNDING tuner)
 
mercalia said:
Audiolab 8200T tuner bought 2nd hand. The DAB stopped working after a year. A year later one came up on Ebay. Bought it, after a year the DAB also stopped working. The FM is fine nothing else wrong with it. I suspect faulty software, nothing I did could reset the software. I need to send them to Audiolab some time.... Avoid this product like the plague ( should have known better as other wise a good SOUNDING tuner)
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Did you remember to disable the “turn off DAB after 365 days” option?
 
Seanf said:
This still hurts. I was 17, just started working and decided to splash out on my very own 'music centre'. An Amstrad box that did everything. The disappointment I felt when I listened to it cannot be exaggerated. My new found workmate, an experienced music dude of at least 23 years old, laughed at me and offered to sell me his old Teleton Amp, Goldring Lenco deck, Wharfedale Cassette deck and some half decent speakers (forget the name now). Needless to say, that system wiped out the Amstrad and I sold it as soon as I could.

There is one on ebay for 299 quid (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/19437163...d=link&campid=5338728743&toolid=20001&mkevt=1). A lot more than I got for mine!

s-l1600.jpg
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My mate bought one just like that, not exactly the same. He sold it, at a large loss a coupla weeks later. Sir Alan held the unenviable record for having more returns than sales, over a 12 month period, once.
Folk who complain about Chinese goods should be made tae listen to and use Amstrad stuff for at least a week - it won't last longer anyway.:(
 
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mercalia said:
Audiolab 8200T tuner bought 2nd hand. The DAB stopped working after a year. A year later one came up on Ebay. Bought it, after a year the DAB also stopped working. The FM is fine nothing else wrong with it. I suspect faulty software, nothing I did could reset the software. I need to send them to Audiolab some time.... Avoid this product like the plague ( should have known better as other wise a good SOUNDING tuner)
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I have a Cambridge Audio tuner that did something similar for while (bought used)
A while after ownership the damn thing stopped getting a signal - I did the usual sharp slap on the top and sure enough it worked for a while, only to pack in again.
After repeating sharp slap, temporarily working, sharp slap, temporarily working ... etc. I decide to take the top off,

Transpired the the aerial input was via a discrete PCB that was only anchored to the case by the f type aerial socket and then a strip connector to the motherboard
Any twist when securing the aerial plug turned the PCB out of the connector and up against the top plate of the casing - the slap nudged it back enough to make contact for a while....
(obvs now taken care of)
 
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A Tron Seven Ultimate.
Was running a Tron Seven basic MM with MFA SUT, when a TSU popped up on eBay so decided to go for it after reading reviews etc. DAMN! Most expensive mistake of my hifi life, didn't come close to the Tron/MFA combo I'd been running, but unfortunately both had been sold so was stuck with it. Eventually grabbed a BigBottle BB3 which comprehensively walked all over the TSU.
 
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