View Full Version : Cleanse your soul - 'fess up to your upgrade howlers...
This thread is like an amnesty - your chance to own up and admit when an "upgrade" wasn't actually that - one thing I've noticed is that I have very rarely (if ever) seen anyone post "just got my new amp - what a bag of sh!t" - it is always "greater clarity, sounstage deeper, tighter bass" (add own hifi cliché etc. etc) - I can't believe that no one has made a howler - but then I can't say I have, though some upgrades may have only been different, not necessarily better - which, I think may be the crux of it?
Any thoughts, anyone want to cleanse their soul? :eyebrows:
Naim 32.5/Hicap/Bolt-up 250 to a Linn LK1/LK2
Changing the (by then) LK2-75 to LK280 (the worst amp I've EVER owned!!!!!)
Selling (all but giving away) the Mentor turntable/arm
Changing some lovely 1984 Walnut Isobariks for 1985 vintage Black Isobariks with peaky mid drivers (ugh!)
Getting some Wilson Benesch Act 1's (Tactic drivers) - ghastly sound with my setup
Buying an Armstrong 621 amp which was unstable from new..
That enough for now?
Thou shalt now go to heaven, Dave! Any time you feel the need to give it the "forgive me father for I have sinned" feel free to pop back! ;)
HighFidelityGuy
21-03-2010, 20:33
Great idea for a thread! I've been fairly lucky but I bet some people have made the odd howler.
I once bought an old Marantz CD player off a work colleague for £20 in the hope that it might sound better than the DVD player I was using as my source at the time. At first I thought I'd bagged a bargain as the bass seemed to have more authority but it didn't take long for me to realise that it actually sounded bloated and muddy, so I quickly switched back. That's the only proper mistake I've made so far, so I can't complain really seen as it was only £20. Incidentally, if anyone wants to buy an old Marantz CD player let me know. :lol:
I did also have a brief foray with MiniDisc. I spent all my money from a Christmas job working in a warehouse on a top of the range Sony unit. To be fair I did get a fair bit of use out of it for a couple of years but it's sat on my Hi-Fi graveyard pile ever since as I just don't have a use for stereo recording any more. Perhaps I'll dig it out and see what it sounds like in my current system. It could be interesting.
I should have kept my Dussun V8i, Monitor Audio GR20s and Esound E5 cd player..
Everything since then has been better in some ways but lacking in others.. I miss the drive and 3d imaging of that set up.
I've tried the exact same amp with my Helicon 400s but it was missing something special that it had the Monitor Audios.
Would love to hear the GR20s with my current setup , I reckon it would pretty spot on.
I nearly bought a CD player once.
I had a Dynavector Ruby once - yawn.
Rare Bird
21-03-2010, 20:40
Every piece of shit i bought in the late 80's/90's & on was a waste of money for me
twelvebears
21-03-2010, 20:45
Quite a costly cock-up for me.
'Upgraded' from a Sony SCD777ES (yes, the player I have just come back to a decade later) to a Musical Fidelity 3D CDP almost entirely on tryust because I was so blown-away by the M3 Integrated (which I still own and still love).
Definitely my major screw-up.
Worse still was that when I traded the Sony at less than a year old, I only got £800 for it.....
Ah, that feels better!
I once bought an Arcam A/V amplifier (AVR-300).
I thought that any SS amp correctly built should do the job. Big mistake. It was a sonic disaster to my ears.
Then, I thought I could get used to it. Second mistake : I didn't.
I sold it three months later, and got a Denon instead.
Never speak to me about "hifi" A/V gear : I am definitely vaccinated against it.
Biggest cock up was the following system
Rotell 991 (ok)
Musical Fidelity XP100 Pre bloody awful pre very fruity
Musical Fidelity XA200 mono blocks powerful but messy in the mid
Jamo Concerts 8 trying to gel the concerts 8 with this system was pretty stupid
Even at the time I remember thinking god this is bad.
Spectral Morn
21-03-2010, 21:07
I bought a Pathos Logos amplifier....excellent amplifier, just not in my then system. "Anything approaching a full range speaker, sounds bloated and bass heavy with it"...so said the reviews...what they did not say, was it can be like this with less than full range speakers. More recent version is not like this.
Its baby brother the Classic 1 mk 2 ate it for breakfast. So £2500 down to £1500. A downgrade you might think, but no.
T&A V10. Wonderful looking valve integrated. Fantastic facilities, but veiled sound and a cooling fan that was hardly silent :doh:
I bought a BAT VK300 SE and then swapped it for a Chapter Audio Pre-Power. Nothing but grief with those. Chapter did help me out, and now I have a Signature Pre and Couplet Power...much better sound and so far reliable. I bought the BAT VK300 SE back, by the way...love that integrated.
I sold my ET2 arm :doh: I should never have done that:(:steam: The guy I sold it to got it on the basis, of if he ever wanted to sell it..I got first dibs on it. When it came to it he forgot, and someone I don't get on with got it...and then sold it after I had told him I would buy it if he ever was going to sell it....:(:steam::steam::steam::steam::steam::steam: :steam:
So there are my mistakes.
Regards D S D L
chris@panteg
21-03-2010, 21:12
Matching a Cyrus2/psx with Rogers LS7t :doh:
Acoustic Energy AE1 using Audioquest Crystal speaker cable :doh: a sonic disaster .
By far the biggest mistake ' was selling my Voyd .5 :( and thinking rather foolishly i can make do with something cheaper :eek: bugger .
Dave Hewitt
21-03-2010, 22:18
Getting rid of my homemade Hitachi mosfet amp which couldnt be anygood cause it was homemade,for a Sony es700 amp which was crap and not homemade.I was still waiting for it to burn in two years later,but it never did.Also changing all the coupling caps in my valve pre and power amp for obbligato which completlely robbed them of any vitality that they may have had .
Dave.
The very worst: Sony PST1 turntable. Just awful.
Most unreliable: Nytech something or other. Spent more time in repair shop than playing music
Worst speakers: Castle Chesters. Dull dull dull.
mistygreenandblue
22-03-2010, 00:57
Matching a Cyrus2/psx with Rogers LS7t :doh:
Acoustic Energy AE1 using Audioquest Crystal speaker cable :doh: a sonic disaster .
By far the biggest mistake ' was selling my Voyd .5 :( and thinking rather foolishly i can make do with something cheaper :eek: bugger .
I share the shame...or the pain....
I let go my Voyd Reference in rosewood...
Probably my number 1 hifi 'regret'...
The Grand Wazoo
22-03-2010, 01:17
I bought an EL34 power amp many years ago thinking it would be a better bet than my (even then ancient) Radford STA15.
It used the same output valves.
It came from a much vaunted manufacturer of valve amps.
It was new.
It got rave reviews in the hi-fi press.
It had a beautiful shiny stainless steel chassis rather than the 'agricultural toaster chic' of the Radford.
It must be better - right?
WRONG!
I should've put it in a sack with some bricks, tied the top & chucked it in a river. Instead, I kept using it for 6 weeks past the warranty. It went fizz one day & I spent a bomb getting it fixed. It still sounded very, very ordinary.
Luckily, I still had the Radford.
.........I still do!
Most unreliable: Nytech something or other. Spent more time in repair shop than playing music
Good to know it's not just me that got suckered with a bloody Nytech, mine went 'flash bang wallop' in spectacular style and took the speakers out with it on switch on one day, roughly a month or so after the company had gone the same way:rolleyes:.
Fortunately, the dealer gave me a good trade-in/discount against a Naim/Kan set up, so some would say it's been downhill ever since:lol:.
chris@panteg
22-03-2010, 12:12
I share the shame...or the pain....
I let go my Voyd Reference in rosewood...
Probably my number 1 hifi 'regret'...
A Voyd reference in Rosewood ' :eek: OMG , you must have had a very good reason for selling it ? .
For me the .5 should have been my last deck :(
I don't think even to this day ' that there has been a better Record Player ' but i haven't heard eveything for example the Caliburn .
Excellent stuff. Not quite a bad upgrade, but a big mistake I made - when I inherited the Garrard 401 Turntable, it came with what I now know was a Rogers Cadet 3 amplifier, which wasn't working, and to be frank, looked crap to a 19 year old in 1988... There was also an old Rogers tuner, a "flat" Aiwa cassette deck, and some Rogers bookshelf speakers, which looked really crap, in Teak veneer and "tweed" grills... I can still remember the sound of it all landing after I hurled it into the local tip... :doh: :eek: :mental:
The Grand Wazoo
22-03-2010, 12:58
Rogers Cadet 3 amplifier, Rogers tuner, Rogers bookshelf speakers, which looked really crap, in Teak veneer and "tweed" grills... I can still remember the sound of it all landing after I hurled it into the local tip...
OUCH!
What can I say, I was young, dumb and full of the belief that if it wasn't a new black box it must be crap... thank god I saved the Garrard!
Excellent stuff. Not quite a bad upgrade, but a big mistake I made - when I inherited the Garrard 401 Turntable, it came with what I now know was a Rogers Cadet 3 amplifier, which wasn't working, and to be frank, looked crap to a 19 year old in 1988... There was also an old Rogers tuner, a "flat" Aiwa cassette deck, and some Rogers bookshelf speakers, which looked really crap, in Teak veneer and "tweed" grills... I can still remember the sound of it all landing after I hurled it into the local tip... :doh: :eek: :mental:
I admire your honesty Alex. You are being punished enough by having to live with the 'what if ?' for all eternity............! ;)
Regards
Rare Bird
22-03-2010, 13:39
Good to know it's not just me that got suckered with a bloody Nytech, mine went 'flash bang wallop' in spectacular style and took the speakers out with it on switch on one day, roughly a month or so after the company had gone the same way:rolleyes:.
Fortunately, the dealer gave me a good trade-in/discount against a Naim/Kan set up, so some would say it's been downhill ever since:lol:.
The later Nytech were fine..Early ones :steam:
Ali Tait
22-03-2010, 14:53
Aye,but they wouldn't have been worth much at the time.Different story nowadays though.
Getting my 'fruitbox' upgraded (I use the term loosely) by a local hifi dealer with the OL DC motor and an OL arm. It was nowhere near as musical (coloured, yes, but still enjoyable) and never, ever sounded right. Sold it a few years later. Sold the Ittok arm I had too - another dealer tell me the bearings were shot, (hence the OL arm) but then yet another one said they were fine, but by then it was too late, I'd comitted to sell - I'd've loved to have put it on the Tecchy to see how it sounded.
Oh yea, buying a Grado cart on the strength of a dealers say-so too. Shite tracking and hummed.
Jason
The Vinyl Adventure
22-03-2010, 19:00
I have never bought a cd player that I havnt fallen out with eventually
naim cd5 was perhaps my biggest mistake crap crap crap
Good to know it's not just me that got suckered with a bloody Nytech, mine went 'flash bang wallop' in spectacular style and took the speakers out with it on switch on one day, roughly a month or so after the company had gone the same way:rolleyes:.
I eventually gave mine away to a friend (I would have felt guilty selling it knowing what i did). A few months later, it went 'flash bang wallop'!
Selling my Copland 289 CDP, prob best CD player I ever owned.
Selling my Joplin 2A3 push-pull for a song on eBay... the buyer forcing the 2A3 tubes in backwards destroying it :(
In some ways I miss my mint American Cherry Monitor Audio Studio 20SE's, back when MA made great speakers. They did some things better than my electrostatics.
Selling my Rega TT for a Marantz CD63SE which was later humiliated by a Friends Rotel TT. I eventually sold the CDP and bought a pink Triangle TT.
What can I say! I purchased my Focal speaker after hrs of auditioning at home. I then changed my CDP from my old CD850MKII which was very warm sounding to a CD63. I started modding straight away. Lets just say that the very clicnical sound of a mildly modded CD63 coupled with bright speakers is a bit of a disaster!!!!
My TDA1541a cured things for a while but more and more mods have pulled about as much details as I could ever expect from the player and the speakers sound bright again! Awesome speakers for the money but they need to be paired with the right kit! I think its time for some extra xover components to attenuate the bright treble!!!!!
The king of cock ups is here tho! Having spent much blood sweat and tears on my Chrome QuadII's. I sold them in a moment of madness becuase I wasn't using them! I'd just sold my house at the time so I didn't even need the £
http://www.hifisounds.co.uk/quad/Pairglow.jpg
:doh::doh::doh::doh::doh:
Ok.... No one will beat this
Stacked ESL 57's to Musical Fidelity MC4's
That's all you need to know, I don't want to talk about it....
Ok.... No one will beat this
Stacked ESL 57's to Musical Fidelity MC4's
That's all you need to know, I don't want to talk about it....
:doh::doh::doh:
:eek::eek::eek:
:wah::wah::wah:!!!!!!!!!!!!
I assume you didn't have room for the stacked '57s.
The Grand Wazoo
23-03-2010, 00:45
Well, the MC4's were reasonably good speakers. Especially the early ones with the transparent bass drivers. But to get there from Quads was a bit silly!!
My biggest recent mistake did make me money in the end.
My el84 amp dose 20 watts a side in triode,Mission 762i speakers 92
db. to
Soundlab Quantum electrostats and even UL at 40 watts per side just seemed to little power and I had to drive the amp alot harder in triode where I like it.
I was able to trade them for a compleate brand new high end sound system for my wifes car including hands free phone ,HD radio, Audison,Hertz,Kenwood componets professionaly installed.So I came out way ahead on the deal.
But sometimes wish I'd saved the money and bought a pair of used Audio Note E's that I missed out on after getting the sound labs.
twelvebears
23-03-2010, 06:42
Ok.... No one will beat this
Stacked ESL 57's to Musical Fidelity MC4's
That's all you need to know, I don't want to talk about it....
Good grief! I believe you may be holding the title at the moment....
chris@panteg
23-03-2010, 07:41
:eek: there really is not much you can say ' so we have all done some momentary lapses of reason then !
:doh::doh::doh:
:eek::eek::eek:
:wah::wah::wah:!!!!!!!!!!!!
I assume you didn't have room for the stacked '57s.
In mitigation M'Lud, they were a bit long in the tooth and suffered from some panel arcing, so expensive overhaul needed....I was driving them with a tranny amp (Crimson electric 1704), so not hearing them at their best driven sympathetically. And the MC4's, yes, they were the ones with the transparent bass driver - but they weren't THAT good.
But the only space issue, in retrospect, was the all too large amount of it between my ears...
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