Every make a purchase you truly regret?

Jrd, you have my sympathy. I've just sold a pair of Gryphon Ref. Monos and I had to collect every trace of willpower to schlepp them around and box them up. Thankfully they are gone now. These are wonderful amps, easily putting some great SS names to shame in all the parameters we audiophiles deem necessary, but they just wouldn't shine with stators. So I suppose, good as they were, they also belong to this list of regretted purchases.

Yes, once upon a time I was resurrecting my Dual 1219 turntable after a period of inactivity. So it seemed like time for a new cartridge. Up to that point I'd had a Shure M91E, a parade of Stanton 681EEE's, an occasional Grado, and an Ortofon TM20U. I'd previously found the Ortofon at an appliance store and it was probably the best of the bunch. But by this time the appliance store had gone under. So I hoped to repeat my good experience with a trip to Circuit City. There I found an Audio Technica cartridge that spec'd nicely and cost over $100. Alas, after installing it the sound was thin, dry and void of bass. Although it wasn't a major purchase, I was shaken. So much for experiments!

Shortly thereafter fate smiled on my misfortune. I found a slide-mounted Dual 1215 at a garage sale for $3. One of its on/off switch contacts was misaligned so it wasn't working. It was an easy fix. Best of all, it contained a Shure M91ED that appears to have been protected from wear by the malfunctioning table. I slapped it into the 1219 and the full bodied sound returned! I've lived happily ever after :^)

A second from the top of the line Micromega transport/DAC combo. Nothing wrong with the performance but a residual value of 10% after six years...ouch! No more cutting edge
CD players for me.

Greetings Crazy4,

First, GREAT Topic! :-)

Feels like a great day to unburden my conscience. Oh, but wait, you are wanting to hear JUST about the audio gear. No matter, I have plenty of goofs there too.

Fair disclosure = we are a dealer of many brands.

I hope you all get some good laughs because when I foul up it tends to be a magnitude of 5 times the average because I tend to order inventory of this stuff not just one piece.

Shall we start with tweaks:
Aurios, all sizes - not a bad little product but the surface one puts them on MUST be perfectly level or the piece will slide to the lowest corner every time. And with our luck nothing is ever level, or stays level, in our world.

FIM gold cables - these are a real hoot! So G*& D@#$ stiff every woman in the world is envious! By the time you go four rounds of wrestling with them you might be able to finally plug them in. Aha, but this certainly doesn't guaranty they will stay in!! Sneaky little devils, especially the power cords. They tend to jiggle their way out just enough to start shorting out the power connection on the component sending arking spikes of current through ones components as they work their way loose. They actually lit a solid state preamp on fire right in front of my eyes. I mean over the years I have seen many a tube piece go up in smoke but solid state with flames?

FIM cables round 2 - you want to talk about stiff, eh? Every piece of gear you own better be at least 50 pounds!! Because if it ain't it's going to be floating above the shelf it's supposed to be on!! Who needs isolation stuff when I can have power cords that lift the whole piece right off the shelf? Anyway, I had $25,000 dealer cost (50K retail) of inventory - talk about sweating bullets!!! Thank God for the audio press raving about this stuff as I was lucky to unload them and save my tail. And quality wise they are a credible sounding stuff we just went through an extensive disclaimer with every potential buyer of these to make sure they unerstood the risks.

Ensemble - Swiss right? Means great quality and great engineering right? Picked up a load of the Ensemble power stuff, those little boxes with one plug on them. This was really great! We plugged them into the FIM power cords and WA-LAH! little boxes floating in the air all over the place - what a sight! Then as we tried to pin them down, the little boxes the single plug plate they have on them began popping out all over the place, that's right the entire piece, still plugged onto the power cord mind you. Now I have floating little boxes dangling from two small connecting wires hanging out. Wow, this was a total loss, can't remember how many I had to deal with, but I wouldn't sell these to anyone regardless of the audiophile press.

I suppose I could go on for days, but enjoy the above and thanks for letting me unburden my conscience a little this morning.

In answer to your base question, I still have never really gotten to a solid equilibrium point with a system to where I had it setup the way I am satisfied enough to experience regret when taking a piece out. But hope springs eternal in our quest!! :-)

Best Wishes to All in our Adventures, Paul

Biggest mistake I ever made was not the purchase of a piece of equipment, but an 'upgrade' to an already existing piece. I had a Proceed PAV, and trying to upgrade to DD,DTS on the cheap, I went for the MSB Technology 5.1 'upgrade', instead of selling the PAV and buying an AVP. Long story short, MSB ruined the unit and refused to repair it or refund my money. I'm out of high end pre/pro's now, using a Denon receiver for my HT needs. It will be a long time before I have any equipment 'modified' again, especially by someone who isn't the manufacturer.