How hard is it to admit you bought bad gear?

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.

solution: try before you buy.

if you don't, you are sure to get a dud now and then and you'll have noone to blame but yourself. i'm constantly amazed by people who buy stuff site-unseen based on the reviews or the brand name.