Have you changed your mind about a brand? Was it you, or them?

I once owned Wilson Watt/Puppy Three's. They did soundstage and dynamics very well, but ultimately they drove me out of the room. Since then I've aged (and so has my hearing) and Wilson has switched to a silk dome tweeter and different voicing. Now I love their seamless, effortless qualities and just bought a pair of Sabrinas.

Schiit Audio. I bought their little headphone amp a couple of years back for my son. So completely unlistenable. I don't know if I got a bad one or what, but it should have never left their grounds. It just really turned me off of that brand.

Schiit Audio. I bought their little headphone amp a couple of years back for my son. So completely unlistenable. I don’t know if I got a bad one or what, but it should have never left their grounds. It just really turned me off of that brand.

Same experience for me.... Unlistenable....It takes 5 seconds....I selll it the day after and never look back to this brand....

I imagine that their newer products were better but i was never tempted to verify, especially after trying another cheap amplifier  that crush them at the same price....

Let me go back a few years....

I had a marantz 8b back in the 70s.   Through my Rogers LS3/5a, I knew I had died and gone to heaven.  Sold the 8b in the mid 80s, Parted with the Rogers around 2000.  I had a chance to listen to both (separately) in the past few years and could not understand what I saw (and heard) in either of them years ago. Hmmm.
Similarly, at that time I could not see what all the fuss about Maggies and electrostats was about.  Now I own Maggies and one of my best listening friends has a couple sets of Martin Logans.  I can’t imagine owning a box speaker again.  But, I still love EL34 tube amps in their modern versions.

and Wilson has switched to a silk dome tweeter and different voicing

Yes, yes they have. 

Is it too late to weigh in? This thread being 3 days silent.

see Erik, you start a thread with the best of intentions and it goes off the side rails...so let’s get back to beers... went on a 2 year Belgian/monk (thinking there must be a Thelonius connection) only to tire of the heaviness of Chimay although Duvel still holds its own.  recently exploring  the Sam Smith offerings.

after my Infinity Studio Reference Monitors, I thought the emit tweeters were overhyped and gave up on the brand. No matter what room or associated equipment, I couldn’t get satisfying sound.  Then last year spent some time with Bill of Miller Sound listening to a mid level Inifinty and couldn’t believe my ears.
awakened me to the possibility of hidden gold in used Infinity’s available “for a song”.
BTW, I agree with previous poster reg LG fridge, constant noises it makes ruins my audio sessions. Barely 14 months and already had a breakdown.

Brother Thelonius is in fact one of the best beers out there. :)

The Infinity floorstanding speakers were really kind of nuts.  The crossovers were designed before we had current simulation tools, so if you have them and can find an upgrade kit that re-thinks the crossover it is well worth doing.

I should also mention Accuton ceramic drivers.

I drooled over the specs and performance, but when it comes to actual speakers with them, I’ve never been more let down.

Probably gonna get slammed for this - but the following is MY experience...

Way back in 1981 - I read up on turntables and scoured the local stores - to be told Rega was "the best" bang for the buck

So I ended up with a Rega Planar 2, with the glass platter and the "S" shaped arm - it did me proud for a few years - then along came CD’s and the TT got moth-balled

Fast forward to around 2007 - I decided to get the Rega out of the box and had it running nicely with some of my new vinyl.

BUT it didn’t really come up to the sound quality of my digital gear.

This was when I started looking on Audiogon - to see if there were any tweaks I could implement

So after 13 years I’ve tweaked my turntable to the point where it now sounds AMAZING

BUT - the only thing left from the original turntable is the plastic cover and the ON/OFF switch.

Over the years I have installed (in chronological order) ...
- a metal subplatter (not Rega)
- a Rega RB240 tone arm
- a Mitchel Techno weight (not Rega)
- a one piece harness in the RB240 (not Rega)
- a ceramic bearing (not Rega)
- a new Rega motor
- an Acrylic Platter (not Rega)
- a custom built plinth (not Rega)
- and finally an Audiomods ToneArm (definitely not Rega)

And let’s not forget about the two Rega Cartridges, which were far from "adequate"

Obviously - I could not expect all of the "refinements" listed above in an entry level turntable, but there have been some developments over the years that I think Rega SHOULD HAVE taken note of and implemented in ALL of their turntables...
- the metal subplatter
- the one piece harness
- the acrylic platter
- the lower center of gravity balance weight that the Mitchel Techno Weight provides

These are pretty basic "developments" that other manufacturers have adopted in their turntables in the last 20 years.

As much as it pains me to say it - because being of British heritage, I am normally proud to promote British products.
- I HAVE changed my mind about Rega products.
- Rega, you a living off past glories
- there are much better alternatives to your products available

I’ve also changed mi mind about NAIM - don’t get me wrong - it is GREAT sounding gear, but I have a problem with the way the NAIM company tries to indoctrinate their customers into thinking that...
- their cables provide the Best performance - Hmmm - NOT EVEN CLOSE !
- replacing power supply Capacitors every 10-12 years is "NORMAL" - REALLY?

NAIM - you are also guilty of living off past glories

BUT - even worse...
- you are guilty of indoctrinating your customers with utter nonsense !

Don't believe me? - take a read of their forum - some of the content is laughable !

Other than my mongrel of a turntable
- the rest of my system is Canadian made
- Bryston, Bluesound and Gershman Acoustics

And so far - I am extremely happy with it’s performance

Regards - Steve

I never had much of an impression of Rega, and when I tried a headphone amp I was severely disappointed. The Project I ended up with was nearly an identical circuit, but with a far better power supply filtration. One cost $90, the other $300.

Steve - give the NAIM Atom a listen :-)

@tomic601 - I have no doubt the Atom sounds good - most NAIM gear sounds great. Dynamic, detailed, neutral etc...

But due to their design "direction" with their amps
- i.e. having to replace the power supply capacitors after 10-12 years
- I’ll never buy another Naim product ever again - it left a BAD Taste.

BTW - 10-12 years is not just a "recommendation" as in...
- "it will keep working but might not sound as good" type of recommendation - noooooo
- My NAIT 5i stopped working completely - KAPUT !

So after 10 years I was left with a couple of options
- a boat anchor (but I don’t have a boat)
- or pay the $430 CDN to have it fixed

So after I had it fixed, I sold it for $650 CDN - that’s a whole $220 back on my original investment of $1700 after 10 years. What a BARGAIN - I THINK NOT

BTW - Naim also tells you to leave the gear powered on 24/7
- well I did that - look how well that turned out.:-(

I would recommend all NAIM owners TURN OFF your Naim gear after every session. You might just get 12 years out of your NAIM gear.

AND what's with the NAIM power-on thump? - almost every other amp out there has "soft start" circuitry which DOES NOT impair performance. Naim are just too lazy to include it - it's part of their "brand identifiers" - a very bad part.

There is no longer any reason to get hooked on NAIM
- it used to be one of the most dynamic amps out there
- but things change and there are always new companies snapping at your heals in the hifi game.

There is a huge selection of gear than can compete with NAIM these days.
e.g. Bryston
- sounds better than my NAIM and comes with a 20 year warranty
- yes, that's a 20 year WARRANTY, not a "recommendation"
- and they live by it and will fix it if it should fail.

As said above - NAIM is living on past glories - they really should wake up and smell the coffee !

BTW - I’m not bitter - but I am a whole lot wiser (and poorer)  :-)

Regards - Steve

Steve - yowsa, your experience would have me in same place. I have a lore hate relationship with my Unitiserve and so far ( 3 years ) a love relationship with the Atom. Best wishes to you kind sir!

I was reading some of the other posts and just remembered my foray into Tube Gear...

I frequented a store that actively promoted Raysonic - and I "admired" a very nice SP120.

At the time, I was using a Yamaha 5.1 receiver in my audio system, so the Raysonic was a welcome upgrade in tonal quality and LOOKS!.

Ah - the warm glow of those tubes was hard to resist and the polished silver/gold case - it looked the part as well.

Fast forward 6 months and I purchased the first set of replacement tubes.

After SIX MONTHS ? is that all I get out of a set of $400 tubes ?

So I google'd Raysonic - to keep a long story short - I had to have the entire thing reconditioned, to take care of a shortcomings in the transformer and some key design flaws in the circuit design
- ca-ching $300
- AND another set of tubes -$400

Needless to say Raysonic is now OFF my Christmas list

So I went back to solid state.

But - I have come to realize not all tube gear is created equal. :-)

Cheers 

IPA, golden loggers or Mexican brews in the Summer; amber ales or dark loggers when it cools down; Montana brewed Kettle House "Cold Smoke" Scottish Ale, any time.

I agree with mijostyn regarding Krell. Their early model KSAs and KSTs had a problem with caps failing from heat. I had an early model KST that failed after just a few years. When I called customer service to see if I could send it in to get upgraded and repaired (I explained that I wasn't expecting for free, that I just needed it fixed) they said that they were no longer supporting repairs on that model and would not suggest anyplace I could send it for repairs. They did offer to sell me a new one, at full price of course. Done with Krell.

I had a ten year old Bryston power amp, that I sent in to have the switch repaired. It came back a couple of weeks later, with a new switch, a list of upgraded parts, re-biased, cleaned and looking and sounding like new - no charge. 

Loved my mid 80s, British made, Quad ESL 63s. They served me flawlessly for nearly 25 years and I only sold them when work opportunities meant moving into a much smaller living space. When I moved back into a larger home, I considered the new Quads, but stories of their unreliable performance after moving to China, led me away from the Quads and am now most happy to have gone with the Maggies.....Jim 

@ ecpninja

Just discovered this thread/your post re: YBA - a few comments to clarify:

● All YBA products are designed by the founder, Yves-Bernard André, in France
● Yves-Bernard André is Chief Designer
● Yves-Bernard André remains a part of the ownership team
● All production is under YBA's supervision & training
● Depending on series, most/all of the parts are French sourced to Yves-Bernard's specs
● All Signature production is Quality checked/tested by Yves-Bernard André
● Any required servicing by our US Authorized technicians in Austin,TX

Hope that helps...
Jim Ricketts/tmhaudio

Yes no maybe.