How hard is it to admit you bought bad gear?

I agree. It's a shame that reviews like Stereophile's Recommended Componenents have so much weight as to what is good or bad. I bought an outstanding product 7 years ago, a DPS design set of speakers from Quadrature. The interest in their line has almost died, and their value on the used market is almost nothing. If Stereophile had given it a good review, then they would have made mucho dinero. But since they didn't, you don't hear about this fine product. And regardless of whether it's good or bad, their value is based on one powerful source. So you better be on their good side if you want to make it in this world.

Jvia; Didn't hear no confession from you / I guess IT IS hard to admit-A ??

I've been fortunate that I don't think it's happened to me except for a very few times. Twice was with cables. They just didn't work for me--they might have been snake oil, or perhaps it was just system synergy. Once was with new cables, which I returned for a full refund. The other was with used cables, which I resold for 90% of what I paid for them. The new user was very happy with them. Once was with a used amp. It had a great name, but sounded very poor. As a result I haven't even attempted to sell it, because I can't feel comfortable selling something that sounds that bad. Instead I use it as an amp that runs in wall speakers for multi-room sound around the house (it sounds really good for that purpose--but a bit overkill).

I think Audioreview is another tool to help in our researching, I am glad it exists, but you have keep an open mind while doing using it. Generally, the more user reviews the better. There are some, I am not excluding myself, that give rave reviews but never really compared the product to anything. There are others that I believe are just out to trash a certain brand.

I've had a couple of purchases that didn't work out, but the most egregious, meaning I spent WAY too much money with WAY too little satisfaction, was the $13,000 Goldmund amp I bought a few years ago, in the hopes it would be "the last amp" I would ever need. It was a Mimesis 29, bought new for retail price from my dealer, that just did not work w/my Genesis 500 speakers. But I didn't realize that until I had to send it back to Switzerland the second time for repairs and Goldmund would not respect their 3 year warranty OR pay for the return shipping (which was $500 on its own). Goldmund said my speakers were the problem. I guess I have to agree that the amp didn't match well w/the speakers, but it should not have started emitting smoke. anyway, I repaired the Goldmund, got it home, and sold it (for less than half price) to someone who did not own Genesis speakers. I trust it is working for that person. But I feel that Goldmund is overpriced and overrated and will not drive anything and everything, and most importantly has absolutely NO regard for their customers! Even those who have paid $13,000 for one piece of equipment. I sure wish I had known about Audiogon way back when I bought that amp. I could make that $13,000 go extremely far now.