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Your top 3 worst purchases ever


Hopefully none from me!

While many are asking what are the best preamps, best amps, best this or best that, wouldn't it be nice for others to know our worst nightmares with certain products?

:-)

My top 3s are:

1) Kora Eclipse preamp
From an Canadian member, the preamp arrived DOA. SInce it was shipped from Canada, return shipping cost and logistics are typically expensive and brutal. So the preamp was sent to a self-proclaimed Kora fan and expert in VA. Turned out, the repair cost was way more than I bargain for. The seller refused to fund it adequately. Ended up a super overpriced purchase with 2 months down time. Lesson learnt: Just return anything that is DOA even the seller talks sweet and offers to repair it to save you money.

2) Kora Galaxy Reference power amp
From the same Canadian member, this unit arrived with all output tubes mixed up. The amps kept blowing fuses and overheat. Bias pots do not work. Again, I was too nice to have it 'repaired' at seller's expense. Not a single penny was collectible from this seller, however. The unit was sent to the same Kora 'guru' who wasted near a grand of my money to fix it - turned out nothing was fixed, the unit suffered additional shipping damages, and I was labelled as a tube idiot by this repairman who just conned me $1k. Out of total frustration, I hammered the amp into pieces and sold it as scrap for $4 in Audiogon. That's a near $3k loss! Lesson learnt: Take anger management class.

3) Krell PAM-3 dual-mono preamp
Arrived working for first few days with noisy volume pot, then the unit caught on fire - the caps melted with lots of tar inside. Seller refused to take it back obviously since it was not DOA. Sent to Krell for repair, only to be told the repair estimate was near $3k (including $350 return shipping cost from Connecticut to New Jersey - $250 of which is for a Krell shipping box). Made perfect sense to me when I had purchased it for $550.

What are your lemons?
bsimpson
viridian's avatar
viridian
4,184 posts
 
1) Jennifer Warnes "Famous Blue Raincoat". Some good things came out of it though; I learned that many audiophiles are idiots. Horrible music enshrined in early digital sound. She makes Krall, Cole, Monheit, et al sound like Fitzgerald and Washington.

2) CD player and CDs. Yes, I was an early adopter, well kinda anyway. I ponied up for the new format and a handfull of CDs. I was cured after the first few minutes. I finally bought in again when Rega released the Planet. I guess we both ended up being late adopters.

3) Low efficiency speakers. Don't get me started. I started reading the mags in the late 1960s and ate up every word. A long sucession of unhappiness until finally finding solace in very high sensitivity speakers. Probably not right for everyone - nor does everyone have the room, but I'm finally off of the merry-go-round. Kinda.
timrhu
2,778 posts
 
1) Jennifer Warnes "Famous Blue Raincoat". Some good things came out of it though; I learned that many audiophiles are idiots. Horrible music enshrined in early digital sound. She makes Krall, Cole, Monheit, et al sound like Fitzgerald and Washington.
Viridian

Hmmm, I thought it was just me. Lackluster performance of some great music IMO.
baranyi's avatar
baranyi
664 posts
 
AMR CD 77 was one the worst purchases. It was only marginally better than a playstation. I would have sworn the playstation was the simplified version of this CD player. Got caught up in the 6 moons review and paid dearly for the privilege. When I tried to sell it used the importer fabricated a story about my unit so he could sell a unit directly to my eventual buyer.

Hcat preamp. Ok, I am a sucker! Luckily I was able to return it. Even went to the designer's house to hear the Doppler effect. Some people will go to any lengths!

TRL Marantz SA 14. I liked the SA 14 unmodified. I spent the money for the mod based on the 500 post Audiogon thread. I found it sounded very mechanical after it was modded. I took a bath on resale and it took forever to sell.
kurt_tank
1,188 posts
 
I haven't really made too many mistakes when it comes to high-end stereo equipment actually. But here goes:

1. Sony DVP-S9000ES SACE/CD player. A fair 2 channel SACD player and a mediocre, at best, CD player. (Thankfully bought used - still own it for the few SACDs that I own, but it was not good enough to get me hooked on SACD as a format.) Overall I would grade it as a C- piece.

2. Audio Research PH-3 phono preamp. A decent enough phono preamp, which worked well, but the mute switch did break. Not a very flexible unit though. I'd give it a grade C+.

3. A Nakamichi BX-2 cassette deck. Bought used for $50. Broke about the fifth time I used it. Oh well, it was only $50, so I did not expect much. I'd give this unit a grade D-. Still have it. Maybe I can fix it.
wc65mustang
524 posts
 
Merlin TSM- no bottom end. A paper thin sounding speaker

Canary 339- worst 300B amp I ever heard

Koetsu Coralstone- sounds very much like the $1600 Black
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