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
Bsimpson, you have had some terrible luck.
I have only had a couple bad buys here on AudioGon, but in both cases the seller made good. One was an Arcam integrated amp that was almost DOA. The seller took it back immediately. Another was a pair of speakers which received some damage to one speaker. The seller refunded half the price of the sale. That was more than reasonable.
There were a few items I've bought that didn't live up to the hype. But that isn't the seller's fault.
My really bad experiences were on ebay. Things like speakers in a box with zero padding. And the seller said "they were well packed" when I complained.
Listed below are my biggest mistakes but not my only, thank GOD for Audiogon.

I had my Counterpoint SA-20 upgraded to a SA-220 by Counterpoint. It came back veiled and with much less punch.

Selling my first CAL Alpha after they closed the doors. It was something special. I tried multiple DAC's and never recovered, that sound. I purchased another Alpha and it was good but different.

Purchasing my Thiel CS-6's. They caused me upgrade my entire system, twice! Please don't get me wrong, they are outstanding speakers. Yet, they require top notch amps with huge current ratings and a price tag to match. They currently sit in my listing room and are used when the mood strikes.
Easy: a Melody 300b amp: I have rugs that are more listenable. I've had other 300bs...yes, it was the amp., not the tubes.

The Supratek Syrah: However, I did hear one that sounded really good. Mick's QC just sucked. In and out in two days...yes, it was broken in.

Way back when...the MIT "Music Hose" cables. My neighbors couldn't believe what my Wife allowed in the living room: my audio friends couldn't believe what I allowed in my system.
Musical Fidelity NuVista integrated... all bling, but lacked any hint of musicality.

Simaudio W-6 monoblocks. Below average build quality and sound quality was a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10. Even had them paired with Dynaudio C4 speakers... was supposed to be a synergistic combo... resold them within a week.

CJ Premier 140 tube amp. Lacked tube magic... sounded like bad solid state.
Vandersteen 2W sub- sounded great. Seller rated it 7; it was more like a 3. Water stains on cloth (which was an undisclosed replacement), Veener mostly gone, mdf corners totally ragged, top repainted w flat black w wax stains. Luckily, as a sub I could hide it and placed a marble slab on top to look like an end table. Seller gave me a partial refund; no way was I gonna pay to ship it back.

Woo Audio headphone amp- not really a purchase; more like a failed transaction. I was high bidder on a no reserve auction (around $400, IIRC, not chump change). Seller emailed me saying I was nuts if I thought he was going to sell it that cheap, that he had gotten a higher offer elsewheres and I could pound sand. To their credit, A'gon booted him for violating site rules. Then he emailed me several times w obscenity-laced tirades! I wrote a really snarky response, my wife convinced me not to send it. It was REALLY nasty. I never sent it but I felt better.

And as far as failed transactions go, I "sold" a SOTA Nova TT; packed it up in their bullet proof packing, bolted to their wooden "pallet" inside a double box and sent it via BAX, known (before they sold to foreign owner) for quality handling. Unfortunately for me, I shipped it post-sale. They jobbed it out to a nameless sub who delivered it 3 days late and totally trashed. I refunded the buyer and BAX never made good on the claim. They dragged it out and eventually said that they were not notified in a timely manner, even though I had called and emailed, they had "no record" of my claim w/in the time frame. After 19 months of getting nowhere, I decided my mental health was more impt than the $1400 I was out, and just wrote it off to experience. Lesson learned- unless you can totally disassemble a TT into unbreakable parts, NO NOT SHIP unless buyer is willing to take complete responsibility.

Almost all transactions have been more than fine. I guess I've been lucky. Don't get me started about flea-bay!