Has anyone else auditioned something that really was terrible?

In fact, I sold a GAS Thoebe for the same buddy.  It was really terrible.   Iheard why he upgraded to Bryston, even for his Bose towers, which I could listen to, but I would have to drop some music, and probably add some more.  As GAS designer James Bongoirno said, If six audiophiles choose a Cd or LP to play on each of the six systems, each piece chosen will sound best on his own system.   I like to add:  We choose components to make the music we love sound the best to us, and vice versa.. 

Went for a demo and they played their best system. CD with some sand amps and those weird Gallo speakers. They thought it was awesome. The music had the oddest single purple-grey color. I asked how much and they proudly told me in that smugness reserved for when they think you're trash. I had the satisfaction of telling them what I thought of the sound.

Whoops, pardon the dyslexia.

Another was a tube Concordant phono preamp. Bright and glaring like the sun. Dreadful.

@audioguy85....and therein lies the rub; one persons' delicate wine will strike another as lacquer thinner with tint.

Speakers can get dismissed as being driven by 'meh' gear....conversely, good equipment can only push flawed speakers to a certain point of disappointment.

Even when one has great stuff in a lousy space, it can execute a brilliant Fail.  The flip side of that might pass muster....until you get it home.

There's an enormous trail of items that shouldn't have left the drawing board...or screen, to be more 21st century about it.

...and then, there's US.  With no 2 ears alike, and I'm not even going to discuss the 'wetware' between them.

Yup, danvignua, you're right.  Spoiled rotten.
No reason to feel bad about it, though.
You're in the right space with the right crowd to admit it.

AA....Audioholics Anonymous....;)

(*L*  Now that y'all are having a serious case of 'cabin fever: virus version', stepping on some insteps ought to distract for awhile...)