Your most disappointing purchase or audition?

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.

Music Hall 25.2 tube headphone amp - tubes are soldered into the board and one went bad after a few months. Music Hall was very prompt about getting me an RMA authorized for repair but it still cost me out of pocket to ship it. Tech fixed everything and upgraded some resistors or something. Sound is OK. Wish i'd just spent more on the outset on a better product.

Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6 - I like the sound and it has tons of inputs. I have a DACMagic Plus in the office and this is comparable in sound. However, interface is woefully antiquated and the Android app is utterly broken. Unless I'm connected via bluetooth or USB, I have to wait for my gf to come home so I can control it with her iphone.

Cambridge Audio Azur 551r A/V receiver - blew up (literally, some caps inside blew up) after a year. Was able to get a warranty repair in town without having to ship it and it actually sounds better than before. Inexplicably they omitted the control bus feature that's present on the other Azur models to allow it to talk to the Stream Magic. Again, wish i'd spent more at the outset.

And yeah, I think tubes108 is unfairly being held to a different standard than the other posters here.