What’s a mistake you made by being impulsive?

@stereo5 “You are going to laugh, but I bought the new JBL L100 Classics because of the orange grills. ”

I completely get it. When JBL got mentioned before you somewhere... I looked up JBL speakers and immediately was drawn to the orange grills. I started thinking... could I set up another system downstairs somewhere... they just bring back so many great memories!

I spent several years and several thousands of $'s trying to get a pair of Thiel speakers to sound "right".  Now, I am fortunate to live in a major metro area where I can avail myself of many audio product choices.  Most of the dealers in my area allow for in home trials and will give honest advice on system matching.  I have developed a "go to" number of recordings for each time I audition a new component.  Some lessons you lean the hard way.  

Mr “Willgolf” — would you comment on your Lampizator Pacific?   Was it a big step up from your prior DAC?  I have been intrigued by the thought of adding some tubes into my system and the Pacific caught my eye.  Thank you.

You should not change everything at once you will have no basis or comparison and if you do go to a single ended triode amplifier you will have to change around your entire system again especially your speakers but the one thing i can suggest about a better pre amplifier is that it is a very critical component whether you get the dac or not it is the hub o a great system it can make or break it in so many ways.

I bought into the hype of a particular factory-direct brand (probably the same one to which @2psyop was referring). Though my mistake was a pair of speakers.

 They looked great in theory — top shelf Scanspeak drivers and crossovers populated with boutique parts. Cabinets with custom wood veneer assembled in the USA. Unfortunately, the product I actually received was a joke. Drivers were mounted with too small of screws. The crossovers were rattling around in the cabinets because they had only been secured to the foam lining. The veneer was poorly cut and aligned at the edges, and the lacquer covering the veneer had numerous runs and bubbles. In short, the cabinets looked like someone’s high-school shop project, not what one would expect from speakers costing over $4K/pair. 

Though this company claimed a “no-hassle satisfaction guarantee” on its website, returning the speakers was the biggest PITA I’ve experienced in all my time in this hobby. When all was concluded, the mistake left my bank account $400 lighter. The worst part was not the money I lost, rather it was having to deal with the man-child owner of the company.