Your most disappointing purchase or audition?

"Man has this thread taken a wrong turn!!"

Threads that inquire about bad experiences kinda start down that path from the beginning unfortunately.

When something bad is reported, its hard to just let it slide, and hard to get the most relevant facts relating out as well in a forum like this.

Not to mention that people easily jump to generalized conclusions baed on isolated cases/instances reported, most of which cannot even be verified with certainty.

So either have very thick skin and take many grains of salt or best to just steer clear.

All, the basis of my post was the following premise:

When two people have world views that are completely different almost any interaction is likely to prove a frustration. As I read through the forum, I find people who seemingly think pretty much as I do, and some that I find are on a completely different foundation. I think that is quite evident in this discussion. Many people in this forum have had transactions both as buyers and sellers that were more trouble than they were worth. This is a hobby. I don't need buyers whose expectations are unrealistic or whose first attempt at problem resolution involves character assassination. I don't need sellers who misrepresent their goods or fail to deliver what they have promised. I just simply avoid people I think are going to be a problem. If that is rude and arrogant, so be it. I am guilty. My guess is I am not alone.

Occasionally, when a debate position can't be won on its own merits, a debater attempts to invalidate the credibility of his opponent by citing real or imagined irrelevancies. Most of the folks around here are savvy enough to see through such tactics.

My point is neither validated or invalidated by the size of my estate or whether I paid 200K or $1.98 for my rig. I would suggest my point be discussed on its own merits.

Your honor, I rest my case.

Meanwhile, maybe this will steer us away from our detour to oblivion, and back to the title topic.

One of my more disappointing purchases was the Harbeth Compact 7 ES-2 speaker.

I bought a pair of these used and they came in third place to compared to two other speakers in my room. Thankfully they are loved by many so I sold them without a loss.

Jperry, you were lucky indeed.

The longer I have been doing this, the more I realize that the gear is just a means to an end. Once you have a fairly 'mature' system that is dialed in, and have dealt with the basics, like 'mains' power, room acoustics and set-up, so much is dependent on the quality of the source material. In almost every instance where I have had an issue with a piece of gear, the manufacturer or distributor has stepped up, and helped me resolve it. I have had very few 'bad' experiences, gearwise, since I started doing this hi-fi thing of ours seriously, back in the early 70's. A few dealers were bad, but my negative experience was usually not an isolated one- and typically, a good manufacturer won't tolerate a dealer that fails to provide service or follow-up.
I also find that there is an enormous amount of knowledge and experience on fora like this, and many people are willing to help a fellow audiophile with a technical problem or set-up question, without reservation (or some agenda to encourage you to 'buy' something). There's a certain amount of 'filtering' that you have to do, as in any web forum, but over the long haul, I think most of the long-term contributors here are well-intentioned and well-informed.