Your most disappointing purchase or audition?

Melbguy1,
Although Charles used a stern tone in the post that you cited, there was no crudeness, and I don't see what he said as an attack. He is usually very much a gentleman in my experience, so yes, in this case, I don't find fault with what he said.
By way of comparison, here is a thread that was addressed to me recently. I wouldn't bother reporting it to the moderators, because a person that writes like this is not hurting me in any way, they are only exposing themselves.
Still, I post it here as an example of a truly crude post.
I have been harsh at times in the past, and because I see that posts that are needlessly unkind ruin the fun we are supposed to be having, I have tried to think before I write now.
John

07-31-14: Avgoround
Plain and simple..THOSE OPINIONS ARE ALL ROXY54's OWN ISSUES!!! Bottom line, PERIOD,..whatever people agree on or negotiate for is WHAT IT IS!! Nothing more! .. THATS IT!
Hey look, I too used to work as a hifi salesman in 4 different ultra hiend audio salons as well as in 2 retail AV chain stores in both the hey days and at the collapse of AV retail, in mid 2000's! And, you know what?..IT MAKES ABSOLUTELY ZERO DIFFERENCE whether some nonbuying, internet searchin, used gear looki-leach walks into ur struggling Retail store, with no intention of letting you know that he ain't buyin! It's up to YOU as a salesperson to qualify the bastard, and find out if he will buy., and then SELL HIM SOMETHING!! And if you think he's wasting your time, you have two choices...you either let him look around and remain friendly to the guy, if he's no harm, OR U CAN BLOW HIM OUT OF UR SHOP N TELL HIM TO GO BUY SOMEWHERE ELSE!! That's your choice! Conversely, if I'm some joeshmoe walk in in off the street, minding my own business, or if I feel like conversing about AV gear and discussing opinions, I DONT NEED TO TELL U , A SALES PERSON, JACK SQUAT, IF I DONT FEEL LIKE! ..NOR AM I OBLIGATED TO HAVE TO BUY NOTHIN! ..and, if u don't like it, either leave me alone, or kick me out, and I'll gladly be on my way!!! - and I'll not lose a nights sleep over it...not my problem..I owe u NOTHIN! Just don't sit here and tell me that the problem is the customer who's not going to buy...CAUSE THE REAL PROBLEM IS CLEARLY YOU, ROXY54!!!
Fix ur own problems n don't cry to us!..CAUSE me or any other tire kicker ain't the problem if we don't open our wallets for YOU! ..then again, if u can't deal with that, maybe u should quit or become a better salesperson???!.....what a total cop-out!
See this way you don't need to look in the mirror and make healthy effective changes in YOUR life..and you can just go on unchanged, blaming non buyers, slow economy, and so forth fer all your problems! Been there ..done that. It's same kinda position people take all the time! -Blame Enron and Fannie Mae for all the money they lost ( they shouldn't have put all their eggs in one basket, PERIOD, lazily and greadily, without doing their homework, in the first place!) , or the economy for causing them to lose their jobs, and now they can't pay their bills (u spent ur wasted hours watching Seinfeld reruns, instead of planning a separate investment bankroll, and actively multiplied by learning to invest, u slacker!!..Yes, own that!)
GET IT FIXED AND STOP BLAMING OTHERS FOR THE WORLD NOT BEING LIKE U FEEL IT SHOULD, SO U CONVENIENTLY DONT HAVE 2 CHANGE UR NEGATIVE OUTLOOK,THERE,MISSY HOTROXX!!!! ..u got bigger problems than time wasters to deal with in ur life. I assure u

Almarg, "If I may ask, what didn't you like about them (Acoustic Zen loudspeakers), and what kinds of speakers do you particularly like? I'm sincerely curious."

If there's one word that epitomizes the AZ speakers, it's "plastic".

In absolute terms, I've nothing against polymer drivers. Aside from my Quad ESL57 which are polyester, one of my reference loudspeakers use polymer drivers. But I will say that the tube renaissance has proven to a lot of us that paper drivers could reside in a bona fide high-end loudspeaker. In fact, it's the naturalness they produce which addressed the fallacy of thinking just because a design/material/though process is newer, it must prove superior. Just that probably no speaker sounds more "plastic" than the Acoustic Zens. In every situation I've encountered them they've proven incapable of making music. Yes, they make sound, but that's an entirely different thing.

To put a finer point on it, the speakers have a haziness and inability to get out of their own way to them that flies in the face of the high-end audio goals of removing veils or seeing through a clearer pane of glass. Now, I'm not a guy who chases resolution, but there's also the other extreme.

While I'm at it, most attempts at producing transmission line loudspeakers over the past several decades, while often worthy of praise in terms of their effort and intent, have yielded worse than mediocre results. For whatever reason, the British designs, and I'll include Bud Fried in that school, are the only ones who've gotten it right. And, when you hear true TL (bass, but even moreso, midrange), it's truly something to behold. The notes simply fly out of the speakers with a sense of ease and life that no sealed or (especially) ported (and I do own some) speaker could dream of.

Tubegroover, you hit the nail on the head when it comes to Legacy speakers, "yawn." What's astonishing is how a speaker advertised with such adjectives power, dynamics, and the like can sound as dull as dishwater. Don't feel bad about not hearing the Whisper, it's probably the worst sounding loudspeaker they've designed. The two huge woofers, at the top and bottom, come off with no cohesion to the rest of the music. What's best is when you hear them in their audio ping-pong. Legacy is the kind of product people used to equate with certain feelings of male inadequacy, and the need for something of awe to compensate for same. As I said, this is the brand that did more for my audio journey than any other. I then learned to stop caring so much about specifications, close my eyes, and open my ears, brain, and heart.

And, for what it's worth, I'm not sure what all the fuss is about Charles1dad's post. Maybe it's me, but I don't see anything wrong with it. Disagreement is fundamental to the meaningful exchange of perspective.

Trejla,
I have never heard a pair of Acoustic Zen speakers, although I know that they are very polarizing with opinions of their performance swinging both ways.
I went to Legacy headquarters once years ago when the Focus was in its 2nd version, having read glowing reviews, and was also very underwhelmed by the mediocre performance.
I owned the same model of TDL Monitor transmission line speakers twice, and agree that they were special. Not perfect by any means, but great in the way the bass could breathe in a naturally, and pressurize a room without overwhelming it.

+1 Shakeydeal. It's an occupation for some seeking to get insulted.

This also speaks volumes for Agon moderator. From my experience, this is the only site censors for the most benign post.

M 2nd Sony XA7ES...my memory of the 1st one I had made me long for another 3 years after I sold it...either the 2nd one had an issue(not obvious) or my memory had one...still not sure which.