Given how much digital has advanced in 34 years, it probably sounded like a dialysis machine!
The worst piece of HiFi Equipment you've ever owned?
- Thread starter Inspector_Sw
- Start date
Njoy-Music
Old Time Rock & Roll
I've tried numerous Sony amps and just can't seem to hear what others do. Latest was an integrated that is ready to be passed on to someone else. Better than some but not the musical maestro I was hoping for. Okay I guess but a serious disappointment with anything I paired it with. The more revealing the speaker the more lacking it is. Sad.
I am not a Sony fan; my pile of dead disc players has something to do with it.
I will say this, however. I bought a regular line Sony receiver for office use back in the mid 90s, and it isn't very good. Not too long after, I bought a demo of a Sony ES receiver (GX700), and it outplays the other one easily. I feel there is more to it than the power rating--the regular Sony was 40w/ch, and the ES was 70w/ch. Yet when I play even small bookshelf speakers with the ES, you can feel it through the room. It has a higher current output, I'm guessing.
Yet the only way the ES sounds good is to turn off all of that awful "soundfield" crap and use it in direct mode (which even bypasses the tone controls). Then it can sound excellent. The other one sounds so dull and lifeless that I really don't even want to hand it down in the family. It's that bad. Total mid-fi.
Njoy-Music
Old Time Rock & Roll
Same experience I've had. Shut off all the processing and it's not half bad. Just not what I would expect though from someone's supposedly premium effort at a usually premium price. It's a well built reliable sucker but only good for background duty.
What I found amusing at the time--I was in the Sony outlet and the salesman was trying to push me towards a 100w/ch non-ES receiver. "But it has 100 watts, the GX700ES only has 70." I don't think he had a clue as to decibels, and how little difference it actually was on paper. But the ES is a heavy unit--there is way more going on inside than in the typical Sony receivers. My other Sony doesn't have any of the processing circuitry, but it is still rather lifeless and bland in comparison.
I mentioned I had more than a few Sony disc players die on me. Yet the record store I frequented (Car City Records) had this ancient Sony ES CD player that was running almost nonstop the entire time I shopped there (aside from when they'd occasionally play vinyl). There was definitely something better about the Sony ES line, for the most part. At least in those earlier days.
I mentioned I had more than a few Sony disc players die on me. Yet the record store I frequented (Car City Records) had this ancient Sony ES CD player that was running almost nonstop the entire time I shopped there (aside from when they'd occasionally play vinyl). There was definitely something better about the Sony ES line, for the most part. At least in those earlier days.
Njoy-Music
Old Time Rock & Roll
And that's the thing. I have a Sony DVD player that was an early model, non ES, that was their first foray in to SACD for the masses you might say and does sound amazing then and still does. Just won't stop working like a champ no matter how many times I swap it in and out of different systems. That's what pushed me to try the ES integrated. I do think it'll be around for awhile, be a real workhorse for me in back up systems. Maybe I was just expecting too much.
theres been so much i have blocked out of memory haha. bring things home, hook them up and then have to figure out if i can leave them at savers at 1:00am and run like hell..
ah Im a big zenith collector, but yes there 70s stuff sucked, tho it was well made..
carver i think its the av-130-160 burns resistors, due to them being too small due to design, smell like cat pee when they heat up and cook the board, like millions of cats peed in one receiver, went through 3 of them as i liked the sound, but all of them had this issue..
I love nad stuff, but ive ran into gear from them where the deisigner forgot to add some numbers or something and put a part in not up to the job. some of their 90s av units were like that, I had one that actually launched a capacitor through the top of it, like through the case. it was like something out of a cartoon.
. there new stuff isnt like this though.
bose 501s. super cool looking. sounding like something being played through a wet sock, that was taped by a microcasette recorder by a drunk person. with weird tweeter sounds flying all over ;/ older 201s too. there are some boses i like too so im not one of those bose is evil people.
ah what else... a whole lot of 80s gear. almost assume off the bat when i find it its either going to stop working in a week, sound like crap or both. tho there are some great units from the 80s as well..
nothing is uniform by brand tho. one denon i heard was one of the worst, and my denon pma is one of the best i have.
and some newer teac stuff.. looks fancy but meh sound. thats all i can think of currently..
ah Im a big zenith collector, but yes there 70s stuff sucked, tho it was well made..
carver i think its the av-130-160 burns resistors, due to them being too small due to design, smell like cat pee when they heat up and cook the board, like millions of cats peed in one receiver, went through 3 of them as i liked the sound, but all of them had this issue..
I love nad stuff, but ive ran into gear from them where the deisigner forgot to add some numbers or something and put a part in not up to the job. some of their 90s av units were like that, I had one that actually launched a capacitor through the top of it, like through the case. it was like something out of a cartoon.
. there new stuff isnt like this though.bose 501s. super cool looking. sounding like something being played through a wet sock, that was taped by a microcasette recorder by a drunk person. with weird tweeter sounds flying all over ;/ older 201s too. there are some boses i like too so im not one of those bose is evil people.
ah what else... a whole lot of 80s gear. almost assume off the bat when i find it its either going to stop working in a week, sound like crap or both. tho there are some great units from the 80s as well..
nothing is uniform by brand tho. one denon i heard was one of the worst, and my denon pma is one of the best i have.
and some newer teac stuff.. looks fancy but meh sound. thats all i can think of currently..
i swear these pioneer/sony 5 disc changers are by far the most commonly found item on the used market.. they are everywhere...... they haunt me. lol
hmm, but its only 5 bucks? you lost the cartridge? i have a cartridge, and i totally need another one that doesnt work right..
hmm, but its only 5 bucks? you lost the cartridge? i have a cartridge, and i totally need another one that doesnt work right..
Pioneer PD M59 CD player. Sounded good, but had issues non-stop.
Lesterbest
Super Member
The AR amp. Took 3 tries to find one that worked & that only after a Roy Allison intervention.
woofmytweets
Super Member
seems like the place to complain about my Kenwood car stereo - spent a whole lot of time installing it into my car to find out it can not index more than 5000 songs....in fact, it doesn't really index them at all, i can't play by artist, genre, etc. choices are in order, random mix of all 5000 songs, or by folder. also no FLAC support....the newer models have this, i've read. aside from the inconvenience, it does sound really good, and the built in crossovers are very useful. I would change it immediately if it was a simple matter to "pop" in and out of the car, but i have to disassemble the entire centre console.
Natasha Bell
Super Member
A pair of Bose 201 speakers. I was intending to use them in my bedroom while I was still living at home going to college. I bought them used together with a Pioneer receiver. My uncle gave me an Fisher CD player (with the infamous "studio standard" inscription... ) The receiver was actually pretty good and I kept it for a while. The CD player still exists to this day. It is boxed in my closet and will go into the garage with my husband's "entertainment system" once we buy our own house (hopefully later on this year). The speakers... they were so awful - total barf-o-mags!! They gave new meaning to the axiom: No highs, No lows, it must be Bose.
) The receiver was actually pretty good and I kept it for a while. The CD player still exists to this day. It is boxed in my closet and will go into the garage with my husband's "entertainment system" once we buy our own house (hopefully later on this year). The speakers... they were so awful - total barf-o-mags!! They gave new meaning to the axiom: No highs, No lows, it must be Bose.
dcreek
Well-Known Member
For me it was a sony av receiver 'thing'.
It had 56 buttons on its front!!! Seriously.
Just trying to adjust the bass was hell. (And it always sounded shallow and tinny. )
Tossed it into the recycle depot and picked up a pioneer sx 650. Went vintage and never regretted it.
It had 56 buttons on its front!!! Seriously.
Just trying to adjust the bass was hell. (And it always sounded shallow and tinny. )
Tossed it into the recycle depot and picked up a pioneer sx 650. Went vintage and never regretted it.
Hak Foo
Active Member
Probably the Sony STR-DH550 I acquired recently.
I was sort of in a "my current unit died and I need something now" mentality, and the local shop was selling them for USD150, which was basically as cheap as it got for something with a warranty.
* The automatic calibration sounded disappointing. Maybe it was supposed to be accurate to some standard, but that standard was flat.
* Half the functionality isn't available through the front panel. It's remote only, menus ON THE HDMI OUTPUT only. This includes such modest things as "tuning a non-preset radio station". I ended up having to scrounge a HDMI-to-VGA adaptor and connect it to my secondary PC monitor. Now, perhaps I'm a corner case, not doing anything with video, but surely I'm not the only one without a TV next to his stereo?
* Only one speaker connection set. Frustrating, as I sort of wanted to audition a new set side by side against its predecessor.
* Terrible, terrible front panel display screen. Plenty of older Sonys had an excellent pixel-character display which is actually legible; this has that 17-segment style which looks awfu at the best of times,l but in a blue tint with a dot effect that makes it very hard to read, especially when it tries to tell you stuff like the bitrate and channels of digital streams.
I bought a Harman/Kardon 385i as a hobby project, figured cleaning and restoring a cheap "throwaway-calibre" unit would be good practice for when I finally broke down and bought the better vintage unit I really want... and was chagrined to discover that, wow, I can actually get serious bass out of the subwoofer.
I was sort of in a "my current unit died and I need something now" mentality, and the local shop was selling them for USD150, which was basically as cheap as it got for something with a warranty.
* The automatic calibration sounded disappointing. Maybe it was supposed to be accurate to some standard, but that standard was flat.
* Half the functionality isn't available through the front panel. It's remote only, menus ON THE HDMI OUTPUT only. This includes such modest things as "tuning a non-preset radio station". I ended up having to scrounge a HDMI-to-VGA adaptor and connect it to my secondary PC monitor. Now, perhaps I'm a corner case, not doing anything with video, but surely I'm not the only one without a TV next to his stereo?
* Only one speaker connection set. Frustrating, as I sort of wanted to audition a new set side by side against its predecessor.
* Terrible, terrible front panel display screen. Plenty of older Sonys had an excellent pixel-character display which is actually legible; this has that 17-segment style which looks awfu at the best of times,l but in a blue tint with a dot effect that makes it very hard to read, especially when it tries to tell you stuff like the bitrate and channels of digital streams.
I bought a Harman/Kardon 385i as a hobby project, figured cleaning and restoring a cheap "throwaway-calibre" unit would be good practice for when I finally broke down and bought the better vintage unit I really want... and was chagrined to discover that, wow, I can actually get serious bass out of the subwoofer.
willyrover
Super Member
Klipsch RB600
Absolutely amazing sound and clarity - for about 5 minutes. Start fiddling with the equalizer (source was music in iTunes). Sounds better - until the next song.
Absolutely amazing sound and clarity - for about 5 minutes. Start fiddling with the equalizer (source was music in iTunes). Sounds better - until the next song.
Snoober
Dysthymic
Conrad Johnson ET3 preamp. Ate 6922 tubes for breakfast, sounded artificial, and had a tipped up upper midrange with limited bass. It had a great soundstage, though. I struggled with the sound and tubes, more or less due to the huge amount it cost. Then it had those obnoxiously loud and clicky relays that activated every time the volume was changed! That, and I had to occasionally reboot it when the logic board would go bonkers (which it was apt to do every couple of weeks). Got rid of that $3000 piece of junk, and oh so relieved.
starting to think its my Yamaha CR 2020, went up in a cloud of smoke the first week i had it, got that fixed then the right channel started dropping out now the left went too
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