2. speakers
  3. 1405651793

Can we talk?

At least a few who have been in this game long enough have made at least one significant impulse purchase. Who can blame you, given the loss of real-world listening opportunities?! What I'd like to hear about are the colossal mistakes: those involving an impulse purchase of a MAJOR BIG-BUCKS component, one that you ultimately regretted and sold. C'mon, were all friends here, unburden yourself! I want the stories behind those near-new Magico Q7's and Wilson Alexandrias that we see on Audiogon and on Ebay from time to time, and any others you think are worth mentioning. What are the specific features of the speaker that failed to satisfy? Thanks for sharing!
psag
larrybou
130 posts
 
Psag - it seems like you might be in the "misery loves company" mode. Go ahead, get the ball rolling..
zd542
5,339 posts
 
Its not the bad component that does the most damage. The real money is spent on trying to get the bad component to sound good. For me, it was a pair of B&W 802 Matrix S3's. I think they were about $4500. When it was all done, I probably spent over $20,000 trying to get those things to sound right. In the end I did, and the fix was only another $4500. Turns out, the problem was the binding posts. I noticed that the 802's sounded best when I didn't use the binding posts on the back of the cabinet. I used the binding posts on the back of my ProAc 2.5's instead.
zd542
5,339 posts
 
"I sold my beloved Mirage M3's back in the late 90's."

Did you have the originals or the si (2nd generation)?
keithtexas
352 posts
 
I bought a pair of the original Legacy Classics back in the day as my first pair of 'real' speakers.

Never could get them to sound right. Lost a little money on the sale but not too much.
chayro
2,986 posts
 
I let a well-known modifier (not Modwright) do a tube amp for me and it was a total bust. First it came back with a hum and I had to ship it back. Then it just came back and sounded like shit. I wouldn't call it a huge mistake, but a mistake nonetheless. Then I bought a mint Esoteric X-05, which I suffered through for 6 months waiting for it to break in. Still sounded flat and non-involving at best. Now I don't buy without audition and I'm very happy with my system.
More to discover