The worst piece of HiFi Equipment you've ever owned?
- Thread starter Inspector_Sw
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Brian
An Old Geezer
Lottsa units but I will go with the Infinity 2000A and ARC Dual 50. I had 2 examples of each and none lived long enough to see the next sunrise, so to speak. Sadly because for the short time they worked they showed such potential. The Dual 50 was a simpler amp than the D76a pair I had and sounded as good. The Infinity were as good and much of the JansZens. I wish Infinity had put more time, effort and funding into the 2000A project. It could have been a killer speaker.
Wow, couldn't figure them out apparently.
Craig 8 track recorder. Thought it was pretty cool around 1974
Sorry to hear that. I'm using one now that's awesome. I had one episode of the runaway volume control...never again in the last year or so.
jt01
Well-Known Member
In 1985 I got my first CD player - I don't remember the model number, but it was a Sanyo. I bought it because of a review that said it had " the heart of a thoroughbred". That may have been true, but I never found out because it had the legs of a newborn colt. The thing skipped all over the place, with any CD. I returned it to the big box store - they didn't have any more in stock, so gave me a refund. I then went to a real audio store and bought a Yamaha CD300, which I'm still using after replacing the belt recently. This is not the current Yamaha CD-S300, but the CD300 as pictured in this auction. Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with the auction and am not advocating you do anything beyond look at the picture. Besides, the price is almost as much as I paid in 1985.
Fattner
Super Member
Really?... I have always been a fan of value and NAD in the beginning was poor man audiophlie gear, love the 3020 (199.99) sorry you had issues my good friend .
Valveglow
Super Member
The funny thing is that I used to sell audio equipment. We sold Sony, Yamaha, and a couple of other units as well. For some reason, the boss decided to take on some Sanyo, and we laughed at him. That BOTL Sanyo played every single disc we could find, including the discs that the Yamahas and Sonys couldn't begin to play. We were amazed.
jt01
Well-Known Member
Your boss must have seen the same review I did. If the store had had more stock, I probably would have been happy with a replacement instead of a refund, and maybe I'd still be using the Sanyo instead of the Yamaha.
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TubeHiFiNut
Super Member
Had a pair of M&K subs back in 1978. Never could get them to sound good. Muddy, loose bass. Not at all satisfying.
Honorable Mention has to go to Nordost Red Dawn interconnects and speaker cables. Very harsh and unpleasant. Not to mention expensive.
Honorable Mention has to go to Nordost Red Dawn interconnects and speaker cables. Very harsh and unpleasant. Not to mention expensive.
Mr. Soundman
AK Member
It's actually a great eq. You had bad caps in yours that's all. I had the same problem, and recapped it. I'm listening to mine as I type. To bad yours is in the landfill. It was designed by one of the engineers that used to work for Altec.
Mr. Soundman
AK Member
The worst I had was a tie between MPX Grand Prix and Soundesign. Both were used for target practice with my 22/410 over and under rifle when I was a kid in the early to mid 1980's.
Rach3maninoff
Speaker Magnate
My experience was very similar - a Technics SL-B100 with a crappy P-mount AT cartridge. I had one with the same issues that I purchased to replace a BIC 920 changer, that in retrospect was a much more reliable TT - at least it gave me none of the headaches that the SL-B100 did, which were enough to keep me away from vinyl for 22 years when I got rid of it.
69CamaroSS
New Member
Very easy answer for me.....a Pioneer SX-980 that I bought new in the late '70s. So unreliable. Spent more time being repaired than being used. It was beautiful to look at, and loved hearing those big switches lock into place, but it was junk.
Shure M97xE. At first it was a nice upgrade over the really terrible Audio Technica turntable I had been using. But the inner groove distortion was just too annoying. I started hearing other carts, including some really low end ones, and I prefered them all to the Shure.
I had high expectations for it. "Neutral", "balanced", and "relaxed" are all buzzwords that describe the M97xE. I've found they're nothing more than a fancy way of saying "boring" and "rolled-off".
The brush was nice, I'll give it that.
I had high expectations for it. "Neutral", "balanced", and "relaxed" are all buzzwords that describe the M97xE. I've found they're nothing more than a fancy way of saying "boring" and "rolled-off".
The brush was nice, I'll give it that.
Interesting. I had one that worked flawlessly after a good cleaning, and even survived a lightning strike (had to get it repaired, of course, but it took a big hit)
As for the Shure M97xe, I've had three of them, and yes, IGD seems to be a problem, but replace that stylus with an SAS, and the results can be amazing. Also, a stock M95EJ stylus sounds fantastic with this cart (have both, tried it myself).
I considered going the SAS route, or buying an AT140LC stylus. I went with with the AT, since it was cheaper. Eventually I'm sure I'll succumb to the SAS, but it's not really what I should upgrade at this point.
George W
Active Member
JBL L380 with crossover
I purchased this 12 inch subwoofer back in the mid eighties when JBL produced furniture with speakers. This cabinet is heavy and large. The plastic grills quickly became brittle, and the foam surrounds deteriorated. I have paid to have this speaker re-coned twice, and the foam seems to break down regardless of whether the speaker is used a little or not at all. I finally got to the point where I can no longer easily move this cabinet around, and its low frequency performance was surpassed by Klipsch Synergy speakers.
This 1 piece of equipment has had more money spent on its maintenance than anything else I've owned. Purchased at the same time, a pair of Klipsch Heresy which have not needed any maintenance and seem indestructible. I still use them today.
The JBL subwoofer has not been played in 10 years, but I am sure the foam surround is falling apart while I type this. Worst piece of gear I have owned. Wish I could sell the thing, not sure I can lift it anymore.
I purchased this 12 inch subwoofer back in the mid eighties when JBL produced furniture with speakers. This cabinet is heavy and large. The plastic grills quickly became brittle, and the foam surrounds deteriorated. I have paid to have this speaker re-coned twice, and the foam seems to break down regardless of whether the speaker is used a little or not at all. I finally got to the point where I can no longer easily move this cabinet around, and its low frequency performance was surpassed by Klipsch Synergy speakers.
This 1 piece of equipment has had more money spent on its maintenance than anything else I've owned. Purchased at the same time, a pair of Klipsch Heresy which have not needed any maintenance and seem indestructible. I still use them today.
The JBL subwoofer has not been played in 10 years, but I am sure the foam surround is falling apart while I type this. Worst piece of gear I have owned. Wish I could sell the thing, not sure I can lift it anymore.
George W
Active Member
My older sister had one of those suitcase turntables very much like the one you described, but I am Not sure if it was the Zenith brand. My memory wants to say General Electric. It had a suitcase like handle, with a single clasp When you lifted the clasp the turntable would fold down and the speakers could be turned outward on their hinge pins. Cosmetically it was painted black and had plastic silver trim around its edges. The sound wasn't bad, but I was only 9 at the time. Anything with the word hi-fi on it was impressive to me.
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