Hi-Fi that disappointed you!

JBL 120Tis.....

....when driven by NAD C375BEE, that is.

Also, B&W DM302 when not driven by sufficiently powerful amp.
 
Oddly enough, I’ve been pretty lucky with my relatively few audio purchases.

The only one where i was expecting way more than what was delivered was my set of Grado RS-1e headphones. It’s not that they’re necessarily bad or anything, in fact they sound quite good. But after the excitement and anticipation when that brand new pair was in transit a few summers ago, they just didn’t quite satisfy like I was expecting. Here is not like up there where you actually have stores that demo stuff before you buy - here, it’s order it, and take a chance.

In this case, if I had known how much they hurt ears after a little while’s use, I would’ve kept looking.

That problem has since been rectified with a set of aftermarket G-cushions, and they’re fine now. But for the price Grado asks for these things, they shouldn’t be a torture device right out of the box.

Edit: corrected spelling
 
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A dbx sound expander, worked as it was supposed to but negatively affected the soundstage, at least it was free so I wasn't out anything, sold it on eBay so made a few bucks.
 
Sx 1250- not really a let down as much a personal revelation that I had absolutely no need for all that power. And I like separates a whole lot better. And I have no need for a tuner.
 
Used 1971 fifty watt Sylvania CR-2743 receiver. Bad everything. Every ounce of it. Not one good thing about it.

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I remember back in the 70s I wanted an SX-750 so bad I could taste it. So I bought one a couple of years ago, and while it sounded nice enough, the Onkyo A5 my dad gave me back in the early 90s walked all over it. I was very disappointed with that Pioneer, but now I can say I owned one once. My grandson has the SX now as part of his first real stereo, and he's thrilled with it.
 
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Definitely my Marantz 2230 it's been chasing a dragon trying to get it properly working. I don't really want to put more into it and frankly I don't really know of any good techs in Dallas. I've pretty much thrown in the towel on it for now. Eventually I'll replace it with a nice tube receiver that's been properly serviced. It's shame it's a really nice sounding receiver when it's actually working.
 
The Realistic STA 2000. I've owned this one twice. Moved both on. The bass reproduction and loudness feature didn't do it for me.
 
Luxman R117.Can't put my finger on it but owned one about ten years and used it maybe two or three months.If I remember it didn't come alive unless you really put the pedal to the metal.At lower volumes it was lackluster.At least that's what I remember.
 
Crown, Altec, Klipsch, JBL, McIntosh (except for 2301), AR-LST, Bozak.

Visited McIntosh factory several years ago while on a business trip in area. Warm, friendly folks with impressive water jet glass cutting capability. Demo room sound quality not so much.
 
i will open a can of worms with this one...could not take the sound of the much loved Elac Uni-Fi 5 stand mounters..ugh! but the Elac Debut B6 is a keeper...i returned the Uni-Fi 5s after a few weeks trying to love them...always sounded very small with my rig...went back to my Dynaco A25s with its 10 inch woofers & was happy & musical again...dont need killer bass or a subwoofer for my ears. in another system i use the Elac Debut B6 & a NAD c316BEE & they sing.
 
I was very happy with my MAC 1700 receiver and my AR2a speakers for many years, but after moving into a new house I replaced the speakers with a pair of AR3a's. As I suspected they were too much for my trusty old MAC to drive so I made the unfortunate mistake of replacing it with a Marantz 2270.

Don't get me wrong, the 2270 is a fine receiver and very well built, it just couldn't handle the load of the AR3a speaker system during bass heavy passages. It worked very well with 8 ohm speakers like the AR2ax and the AR5 but not with the 3a's in my living room. Everything on the Marantz was up to snuff and I even had a second one that I fully rebuilt but with the same results.

Sooo, I sold them both off and bought a huge super clean low hours Marantz 2330b. It had an exquisite FM tuner, very good phono section and plenty of flexibility in the preamp section but for the life of me I couldn't stand the way it sounded. Maybe it was the pairing with the 3a's but it sounded like a commercial PA system, very loud and "in your face" but kind of grainy and sterile at the same time. I really tried to like it (especially since it was a very expensive purchase) but I just couldn't do it. Again I went through it and everything was just as it should be, it just wasn't for me. Major disappointment.

I sold the 2330b and pretty much got my money back so not a big deal. I ended up going with a Pioneer SX-850 and the difference was like night and day, an excellent match for the 3a's. A few years latter I upped it to an SX-950 (only because a very good deal came up on one) and that's the end of the story. Not looking for anything else, happy as can be and have been for years. I did fully rebuild the SX-850 and the SX-950 (pretty much out of boredom) but it didn't change anything. I really like the Standard Radio built Marantz stuff but those two just didn't work out in this particular case.
 
At one point I briefly tried modern gear, including a Bada DC-222 hybrid integrated amp, AV123 ELT525M speakers and stopped using them almost immediately since they sounded so thin and weak compared to my vintage amps/speakers. I listen to different music these days so they may fare better, would like the opportunity to try again as I'm sure not all modern equipment is like that.
 
Oddly enough, I’ve been pretty lucky with my relatively few audio purchases.

The only one where i was expecting way more than what was delivered was my set of Grado RS-1e headphones. It’s not that they’re necessarily bad or anything, in fact they sound quite good. But after the excitement and anticipation when that brand new pair was in transit a few summers ago, they just didn’t quite satisfy like I was expecting. Here is not like up there where you actually have stores that demo stuff before you buy - here, it’s order it, and take a chance.

In this case, if I had known how much they hurt ears after a little while’s use, I would’ve kept looking.

That problem has since been rectified with a set of aftermarket G-cushions, and they’re fine now. But for the price Grado asks for these things, they shouldn’t be a torture device right out of the box.

Edit: corrected spelling

I've got to agree with you about the stock cushions on Grado's. I replaced mine with some from Ear Zonk.
 
I was very happy with my MAC 1700 receiver and my AR2a speakers for many years, but after moving into a new house I replaced the speakers with a pair of AR3a's. As I suspected they were too much for my trusty old MAC to drive so I made the unfortunate mistake of replacing it with a Marantz 2270.

Don't get me wrong, the 2270 is a fine receiver and very well built, it just couldn't handle the load of the AR3a speaker system during bass heavy passages. It worked very well with 8 ohm speakers like the AR2ax and the AR5 but not with the 3a's in my living room. Everything on the Marantz was up to snuff and I even had a second one that I fully rebuilt but with the same results.

Sooo, I sold them both off and bought a huge super clean low hours Marantz 2330b. It had an exquisite FM tuner, very good phono section and plenty of flexibility in the preamp section but for the life of me I couldn't stand the way it sounded. Maybe it was the pairing with the 3a's but it sounded like a commercial PA system, very loud and "in your face" but kind of grainy and sterile at the same time. I really tried to like it (especially since it was a very expensive purchase) but I just couldn't do it. Again I went through it and everything was just as it should be, it just wasn't for me. Major disappointment.

I sold the 2330b and pretty much got my money back so not a big deal. I ended up going with a Pioneer SX-850 and the difference was like night and day, an excellent match for the 3a's. A few years latter I upped it to an SX-950 (only because a very good deal came up on one) and that's the end of the story. Not looking for anything else, happy as can be and have been for years. I did fully rebuild the SX-850 and the SX-950 (pretty much out of boredom) but it didn't change anything. I really like the Standard Radio built Marantz stuff but those two just didn't work out in this particular case.
I too had a 2330b.It was unrestored and a beautiful unit w/wood case.A real beauty but I found it too be very unremarkable.Sold it off in about a year.Unfortunately it was before the Marantz prices really took off.
Yamaha A-500 I thought it was going to be my last amplifier and it did not deliver for me anyway. (found picture on web)
View attachment 1214225
I'm not surprised.I like Yamaha stuff but I wouldn't have looked at this as a stop here piece.
 
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