What gear do you HATE?

Hate is too strong a term, but I am puzzled by the attraction to AR 2ax. I bought a pair that had been reconditioned (new tweeter, so on). I hooked them to a SS amp and 10 minutes later disconnected them, awful. It must be that version of reconditioned (I reasoned) so I bought another pair (more money than brains, is seems) equally as awful.
 
do not hate, but do not quite get the love for a few of the infinity speakers. Got a pair of RSIII and did not really care for them. Then I got a basically mint pair of Kappa 7 and was told how they were going to blow me away - did not do much for me as I thought they lacked in the bass department and the mids and highs were not really better then what I had. I know I was surprised at the weight of the woofer. It weighed less then half then the one in my HPM-150 - seemed really lightweight.
I am sure tho that many would prefer them over what i have....but I have pretty much stopped looking at infinity speakers, except of course would love to try some some of those reference electrostats.....
 
I almost forgot..I have a Yamaha receiver that I hate. Actually I've never heard a good sounding Yammie. Which I suppose means that I hate myself for getting talked into it.

...and...of course.....Bose. :)
 
I just read about half of this thread, and one thing stood out. Half the members that posted are now banned...:para: I don't have enough experience to hate any gear, so I'll just keep my trap shut. :D
 
Dear Yamaha,
I hate the engineer that searched high and low for so many different designs of lousy binding-posts on your amplifiers. One after another of great amps (B-1, B-2, B-2x, M-70...) with binding posts that should have been used on a Yorx all-in-one system. Every GREAT Yammy amp I've owned had binding-posts I HATED, and ended up up replacing!

There. A post no one will disagree with :D
 
only once owned a bad component

Seems like Bose is the whipping post around here. I'm not particulary fond of ANY new audio, and that's including Bose, but my 301s and Series 1 901s are old. I like MY old Bose speakers.

yep. like my older 201s, also. for what they are designed to do...

dont remember the model, but in the 80s I owned a Pioneer cassette deck that just made me feel foolish re the old Sansui deck I gave to my brother!
 
One particular brand I really hated was YORX. It was a pretend to be good brand sold in BARKER's , later K'Mart.

It was an insult if someone called your stereo a YORX. Ha, ha, ha,... your stereo is a YORX... ha, ha,...
 
Also, why we use single ended connectors of the worst kind: RCA.

Of all the good connectors available the audio industry settled on the cheapest junk.
 
Also, why we use single ended connectors of the worst kind: RCA.

Of all the good connectors available the audio industry settled on the cheapest junk.

Yeah, I totally agree.

A connector that makes the ground last and breaks it first....BRILLIANT!!!:twak:
 
Cars are noisy and crappy acoustic spaces. No gear can really overcome those two flaws. Also, people like to steal that stuff.

I don't really see the point in investing a lot in car audio.

Just curious, have you heard an IASCA/USACi/MECA competition-level sound quality setup? :)
 
I am not a fan of the current Paradigm speakers. I heard several models back in the spring; they ranged from bookshelves up to $3000 floorstanders. Bright high end, not as natural/musical as I thought they should be. The guy had nice amplifiers and good speaker cable (Audioquest). For four figures, I need better sound than that.

QUOTE]

Should of tried the Signature line. I own the S8v2's and am thorougly pleased. The Beryllium tweeter is not as harsh as the Gpal one which is one reason why the Gpal was demoted.

Granted, they do cost more, as expected.
 
I said a few pages back that I hate Magnepan. So what did I do? I decided to own a pair and bought a pair of SMGs for pretty cheap...which need repaired! Now I hate Magnepan even more.

Unless my contact cement fix turns out to be easy and they sound like angels singing about fast cars and loose women.
 
I HATE Bose speakers. I just HATE em. In my family room system I wanted a Klispch surround sound system. My wife wanted Bose. We got Bose 701s with surrounds. What a piece of sh*t. What I mean is they really sound BAD, the 'grade/elementary school' of speakers for sure. And now I'm stuck with em in the 'family room' of all places...only 'forever'. Who would want 5.1 surround Klispch speakers anyway??? ME!

Bose is just about the worst. I can't think of much worse. In fact, I can't think of any worse. Unless you didn't have any speakers at all, in which case Bose would be ok, cause you didn't have any speakers. No highs, No lows...it's definately Bose. She also wanted a complete Sony system. UGH

But....the wife is happy. Wonderful choice.


Oh yeah, Sony DVD players. Our's was almost brand new, played maybe 14 DVDs. Then the DVD got stuck inside the unit, it eventually discharged out from of the bottom of the tray and fell on the floor. The DVD was trashed. With friends over, I just patiently and calmly disconnected the DVD player, walked out to the front of my house, and SMASHED IT on the driveway. Then all was fine. The wife went nuts, who cares, enough is enough, I hate Sony DVD players and everything Sony (except for the old vintage stuff).
 
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I HATE Bose speakers. My wife wanted Bose. We got Bose 701s with surrounds. ...the wife is happy. Wonderful choice.

...I just patiently and calmly disconnected the DVD player, walked out to the front of my house, and SMASHED IT on the driveway.

I can tell you've been married awhile. Smart man. You have your priorities set correctly for a long life, miserable as it might be. :D

I haven't liked any Bose speakers I've heard. The 901s look interesting and I'd like to give them a listen, but it's a pretty low priority.

When you smashed the DVD player, did you swing it by the cord? You can get more velocity that way, like in lacrosse or jai alai.
 
When I had my AT-150mlx on a slightly heavier arm (Pioneer PL-570) it was not quiet. A lot of surface noise. I put the same cart on a lighter arm (Systemdek IIX Profile arm) and it was much quieter between tracks. My VPI classic/ Dynavector 10x5 is very quiet between tracks, but if I turn it way way up I can still here the groove. From where I sit, at fairly loud levels, it's silent (on clean, well pressed records).
 
Realistic is terrible in my opinion with THD ratings ranging from .9% to .5% in the late seventies to the mid 80's and costing upwards of $500, while a comparably priced receiver from any real company was able to pull off .1% THD or better at that time.
 
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