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Your most disappointing purchase or audition?

I've had a few.

bought a Naim Nait 3. Loved it in the store. Returned it within a week- way forward at home

Brought home some CJ preamp to audition perhaps 22 years ago. Noisy as anything and a turn off transient destroyed a tweeter (though years later i bought a CJ 17LS2 which I thought was the finest preamp I ever heard in my home)

Auditioned a VPI table (HW19) in a store- the store just could not get the belt to stay on. Bought a Rega instead. This was in perhaps 1990.

Fortunately, I never really experienced buyers remorse say 6 months or more after settling on a piece of gear.

Finally, there have been too many speakers that got stellar write ups which I just didn't care for.
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ebm
9,311 posts
 
Will let you know soon.
whart's avatar
whart
2,977 posts
 
Isn't there a difference between equipment that fails to perform, blows up, requires constant repair, etc. and gear that in someone's estimation, simply sounds 'bad' (or 'less good' than all the hype surrounding it?) I have a fair amount of respect for Syntax's opinion on many things audio (though he is outspoken) , but there seem to be many satisfied owners of Magico (Wilson or fill in the blank). So much of the outcome of these types of "sounds bad" assessments seems to result from listening bias, set up and associated gear.
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,236 posts
 
Hi Whart,
That's has and will always be the case. This is why so many choices are available in the "small" community of High End audio. I don't expect consensus on any brand or particular model. I know exactly what Syntax means with his comment but again, it just happens to be our personal impression. Mapman thinks the Magico is fine and I can totally understand and respect his opinion. Simply different individual taste.
Charles,
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,888 posts
 
I will qualify that my longest Magico audition was for Minis that went for about an hour or so. Again this was behind >$100,000 worth of tube gear and SOTA DCS source. So how bad could this sound? It sounded very good. FWIW, other similar "quality" setups I heard at the same dealer were well off the mark and I know for a fact not everything in that case was in good working order. That's not acceptable for a dealer that pitches the best stuff to those who can afford it. It also just so happens that well known NYC dealer went under a few years back.
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unoear
141 posts
 
Melbguy1

You made an astute observation about Syntax...on one hand, he is a nice guy, friendly, and giving of his opinions; on the other hand, he works as a business, marketing front, for a Bavarian of dubious history.

Melbguy1, you are right; Syntax, he is a marketing guy. However, what is wrong with marketing guys, they are all over this forum :).

Cheers!
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