What’s a mistake you made by being impulsive?

I just got lucky, a mistake I made had no consequence, but it certainly could have.

I researched a lot of vintage preamps, I needed shallow depth to sit on top of a bookcase. Luxman stood out.

ALL the Vintage Luxman Tube Preamps had pre-out/main-in and/or a tape/processor loop. Then I crossed path with a very good deal on a current Luxman Tube Integrated Amp: SQ-N150. It has both MM and MC stages built in, oh boy!

Only 10 wpc, and the Wharfedale bookshelf speakers are only 87 efficiency: that’s both the lowest power and lowest efficiency speaker I ever tried.

Solution: pre-out to Velodyne self-powered sub, remove the need to amplify low bass. Both the Luxman 10 wpc and bookcase speakers would have a much easier job.

Offer accepted, delivered in 2 days!

Arrived, cables in hand. NO pre-out/main-in. No tape out/in or processor loop, just in/speaker wires out. Oh you dummy, how the hell could you miss this?

Some Luck: Sub allows line in/out OR what I am doing: speaker wires in/out. Amp still amplifies low bass, the bookcase speakers only get a break, the sub does the low bass.

I had the Luxman hooked up downstairs with my very efficient horns and 15" woofers. Very nice, but would never play loud live levels down there.

The REAL LUCK: 10 wpc is enough volume in this small office with no clipping occurring.

Whew! I actually printed the circuit diagram, was considering having Audio Classics add a pre-out/main-in loop. Goodbye 3 Year Warranty!

a lesson for the future, IF I can remember.

A good question for sure. I lusted after a particular brand X amp made by a boutique company until I had the money to purchase one. I also purchased the preamp....then another preamp. I won't disclose the name here but the experience with the quality and performance was poor and the guy who makes the equipment was an arrogant jerk. I ended up losing lots of cash (mind you this is a poor's man's system bought with hard earning money) and I will be much, much more careful in the future. My current system has had no problems, while I see other people buying brand X and still having QC issues. The term still applies "buyer beware" to audio equipment.
BTW I did not immediately regret my decision.... but rather learned that some hyped up brands do not always meet expectations. In the case of poor workmanship, you must determine how much a company will cut corners to sell products.
A good example of this is by Danny Richie at GR research. https://youtu.be/1S-jTJK43t0

Never make mistakes.

No serious regrets really. But listening to the hype begat too many lateral moves.If I only knew then what I know now about component matching,build quality, and acoustics. Never having large amounts of money to throw at this hobby probably saved me.

Like jtcf I have no regrets, but I wish I could go back to my vintage Adcom and Parasound amp days and replace them with something more sublime. Had a pair of Bozak speakers back in my college days and never figured out until they were gone that perhaps more power was required. So I never knew if they just really sucked or would have opened up with a much beefier amp. Never sold a component that I regretted selling which is nice.