5 things I will not do agian, what about you?

1. Tape a couple of quarters at the end of my tonearm over my cartridge.

2. Place my right speaker in an entirely different room from my left speaker.

3. Wire an extension cord from a ceiling fan.

4. Install my entire system in the bathroom so I can sing along.

5. Place my tube mono amps on either side of the toilet.

OK, I didn't really do any of those things...I just made em' all up.....no, really, I did....what, do I look like anyway!

It's a good question so here's some more honest responses:

1. Purchase an SS amplifier.
2. Give vinyl "just one more try" ...I know, I know...but it just ain't for me (yes, I know how good it sounds)!
3. Purchase speaker cable the girth of a garden hose.
4. Use Chinese tubes in any component.
5. Assume there is one "right" way to do anything.

Marco

Buy into some new technology, just because it's the latest thing. Pay full retail.

Completely believe the reviews in magazines
Use a computer extension cord
Use component power cords supplied by the manufacturer

That's three anyway...

Marco, I have been following your sense of humor here and there (remember OZ?), and you, once again make me laugh. I have to hurry out the door to get to work; it is nice to leave with a giggle.

Jack n Roberts, I feel for you if you never try seperates again. Frankly, I have only heard one integrated amp that I would say is better than most of the solid state seperates I have ever heard. That 'integrated amp' is made by the German company ASR and sells for $10,000 Euros. It also has 3 boxes, one box for the control section, one box for the poweramp/power supply section, and one box for the battery power section that powers the preamp part of the unit.

Sad to say though, I have tried a number of the above things people (listed) will never do again. Some I have had a lot of success at... heh heh.

5 things I will NEVER do again

1 - Run a passive preamp. Passives might theoretically be the simpliest way to run a signal, but almost invaribly their sound quality is not constant over different levels of volume a system outputs.

2 - Run a subwoofer in a 2 channel system. If your speakers you have were not designed to hear low frequencies, getting a sub may let you hear those frequencies afterall; however, getting those frequencies to sound coherent (with your speakers) is next to impossible.

3 - Use stock anything when aftermarket gear is oh so much better. I do not even unpack stock AC cords.

4 - Buy speakers sight unheard. I have never had bad luck with this; however, I recently was very close to buying a pair of speakers, and I had the amazing idea of hearing them first at a dealer. I did not like the sound of the speakers at all, and I was glad I listened to them first.

5 - Buy a component solely based on one rave review. Reviews are probably the single worst ways to research components short of using a dart and a catelogue to selct components to buy.

Honerable (or dishonerable) mentions
- Place a fridge on a shelf above an amplifier... I did this in college, we had a huge blackout... Fridge dethawed and leaked...
- Run amps that get REALLY hot. I have had it with Class A amps that I can roast food on. I do not have AC (not that I really need it), but an Amp should not raise the temperature of a listening room significantly.
- Run a solid state DAC... I will probably go back on this in the future, but great tube dacs are almost as addictive as any hardcorde narcotic drug.
- Commute 130 miles to a Hi Fi show each day for 4 days in a row. At the end of HE2003, I was almost a vegetable.
- Plug a vacuum cleaner into a PS300 power plant. Actually I did not do this but a friend of mine did. I'll be sure to never do it.

KF