What Were Some Of The Worst Speakers You Have Owned ?

[audiobiker]

i surprisingly dont have any :scratch2:

 

[Zonker92]

I have some really nice, clean JBL Aquarii, but the components are aftermarket. Man, do they sound awful. They're sitting in my garage until I can figure how to get rid of them.

 

[Pio1980]

I have some really nice, clean JBL Aquarii, but the components are aftermarket. Man, do they sound awful. They're sitting in my garage until I can figure how to get rid of them.

See the EconoWaveguide thread in this forum, Sows ear>silk purse.

 

[Zonker92]

EWaving Aquarii? I've eWaved some Viscounts, but never heard of doing it to Aquarii. Hard to imagine how, but thanks; I'll look into it.

 

[juniorJBL]

Maybe with the 6X6.

 

[Pio1980]

I did Advent-2 with the 6x6, originally a turd speaker with a good mid-woofer & box now a gem.

 

[Zonker92]

But the Aquarii that I have, have no forward-facing baffle openings or drivers: Their woofers fire upward (omnidirectional) and tweeters face backwards and reflect off a lens. So I'd really have to hack them up to get the drivers to face the listener, or stick with the current weird layout.

I suppose I could stick small WGs in the tweeter openings and rotate the heads to face forward, but the woofer would still be firing upwards.

 

[Pio1980]

Forgot the wierd config, damned near useless without a very wide range upper end driver and doubtful then in the midbass-midrange transition.
Nice plantstands?

 

[Zonker92]

Agree. I mean, if I did it really cleanly, I could put a WG in the tweeter opening, turn that side to face forward, and cut a round opening in the front of the lower section and put a mid-bass driver in there, facing forward, just under the head. With a floating round grill cover that might look cool, but quite different from the original.

But that would be a pretty big job. Worth thinking about, though.

 

[canuckaudiog]

Hmm the worst speakers I've ever owned..

Let's see. Probably my Logitech computer speakers? And they aren't half bad.

 

[Pio1980]

Some Fishers in the early 70s. I got them from my father. They were truly awful.

Were they XP-55C by chance? Worst I recall, really awful.

 

[taineasy]

Hey, we have all made "mistakes" ?
My audio mentor used to say "there are no mistakes in life, only learning experiences"!

Here are some of my 'learning experiences" YMMV

Watkins WE 1 - bought based on Stereophile review, dull, no image, bland

Martin Logan Original Monoliths - spent over 10 grand on electronics, never worked out

Klipschorns - woody coloration in lower mids, no matter what

Belle Klipsch - Same woody sound, even worse

JBL L7 - Sounded like 4 separate drivers, no imaging, screechy titanium tweeter, hands cupped around the mouth coloration.

Athena FS 2 - ragged tweeter with excessive sibilance

B&W CDM 1 NT - Brightness unchained, as harsh as lifetime alimony

Kef 104 - I think that's the model ? small box with UNI Q and bass eq.
Very dull, almost muted sounding

Eminent Technology LFT 8a's - ungodly inefficient and dynamically limited, no bass impact, woofer constantly bottomed out, and zingy sounding with rolled off top end.
It did have some good moments though, and design has some promise.

Infinity Interlude 60's - Very dull, unmusical bland sound, so so imaging, absolutely tremendous bass though.

I have had some other "disappointments" that I cant remember right now.
Let's hear about your "learning experiences" ??

Hey, we have all made "mistakes" ?
My audio mentor used to say "there are no mistakes in life, only learning experiences"!

Here are some of my 'learning experiences" YMMV

Watkins WE 1 - bought based on Stereophile review, dull, no image, bland

Martin Logan Original Monoliths - spent over 10 grand on electronics, never worked out

Klipschorns - woody coloration in lower mids, no matter what

Belle Klipsch - Same woody sound, even worse

JBL L7 - Sounded like 4 separate drivers, no imaging, screechy titanium tweeter, hands cupped around the mouth coloration.

Athena FS 2 - ragged tweeter with excessive sibilance

B&W CDM 1 NT - Brightness unchained, as harsh as lifetime alimony

Kef 104 - I think that's the model ? small box with UNI Q and bass eq.
Very dull, almost muted sounding

Eminent Technology LFT 8a's - ungodly inefficient and dynamically limited, no bass impact, woofer constantly bottomed out, and zingy sounding with rolled off top end.
It did have some good moments though, and design has some promise.

Infinity Interlude 60's - Very dull, unmusical bland sound, so so imaging, absolutely tremendous bass though.

I have had some other "disappointments" that I cant remember right now.
Let's hear about your "learning experiences" ??

 

[taineasy]

Pretty much everything I have heard with the name Klipcsh or Bose logos on them. Either too bright or just plain dull. They almost never seem to capture music or voices as they should be and are rarely balanced. Best I've heard are: Expensive - Infinity model IRS-V Under $5000 - Free Air Acoustics - model Rendition.

 

[Hanleyster]

Those big Infinity SM15s.

 

[Mike Stehr]

OP got LaScalas...LOL

 

[PappyODaniel]

I bought a set used at the flea market a few years back, 201's as I recall. I hated them. Sounded like the AM radio in my 67 Ford F-100. My house is now a "No Bose Zone" so, as a result, if it says "Bose" I'm out, I've auditioned them in the store, ( they said they had them set up correctly, the jury is still out on that ) and my neighbor also had a set of four. No offense to any Bose fans out there, but they just aren't worth the money IMHO.

 

[FluxT]

Bose stuff is extremely variable. Had 2 pairs of 501’s and 301’s, and each time, one pair sounded like ass and the other pair was quite pleasant. As I’ve said elsewhere I’m sure, I tore into them, and found that they had different crossovers-turns out Bose dickered with them behind the scenes. I’ve got one pair of 301’s in my stable that sound great, and I’m extremely hesitant to let them go because it could be a real needle in a haystack trying to find another pair that sounds as good as these do.

Did have a pair of Bose 2.2’s pass through that sounded exactly like cheap AM radio speakers. Probably a dumbed down version of the 201, if I had to guess. Things didn’t even “reflect” like a proper Bose, they were just angled bookshelf speakers. However, they sounded pretty neat when stacked on top of another speaker.

Other dishonorable mentions:

Pioneer CS77: Oops, all midrange!

Klipsch R14: What if everything just sounded wrong?

KLH 17: Weak, thin, and frankly harsh in the upper mids. However, they were the victims of a botched restoration job by a previous owner, who replaced all the caps in the crossover with one 2uF Clarity Cap, and didn’t seal the surrounds properly. Honestly wouldn’t mind finding a second pair to restore myself, and give them a second chance.

Sharp CF2500: Desperate times called for desperate measures. There was a time when this was all I had for music.

Sansui SP2500: Honestly? Best or the worst I ever had. Really punchy, and amazing imaging, but they needed more room to sing than I could give them. Horn tweeters were beamy as shit, though. The true sweet spot must have been about an inch wide, tops.

 

[drums4reed]

Ok I'm just gonna say it I'm at home recovering from covid ,just a note to all never felt so bad in my life but have heard of others say walk in park no prob do I've had lots of time and most of the speakers mention in this post and I have had some really bad speakers surprise me with very little effort the problem I see here is no one talked about changing their amp there is no one amp that can work with all speakers many adverse recivers are quite a surprise with different speakers you don't need to spend big money to get great sound proper set up clean connections speaker placement and to high expectiond of the 200 you inverted in a used system some things just work better together that's it buy old speakers 60s 70s klh17 cheap great quality use a 30 40 watt Sony 6065 that has many opts for very affordable set up and listen to a few different types of music music if you like rock try some country or whatever change it up a bit you'll here sounds you've never new you were missing and truly injoy music just saying

 

[musichal]

Pioneer HPM-60 bought when brand new. Loved 'em for almost a year, then hated. Crappy, soft, one-note bass; poorly tuned port. Gag,

 

[7whales7]

I had a nice pair of big, heavy quality vintage speakers on loan to a friend. i got them, and they went straight to the loft- spent a total of a few minutes with me. A nice, heavy big vintage model, either EPIs, KEFs, KLHs, cannot recall- got into a car accident , was layed up for months and months, then therapy, and never got to listen to 'em or see them again. I just recalled how nice and heavy they were, and was told how they filled this massive loft with sounds like angels singing.

My friend brought them back to me recently. Somehow they transformed into Fishers, the kind with built-in cord. I was able to lift 'em each with my pinky finger. Guess how bad they sounded? Seems my friend's roomate made a swap. That rotten SOB, he knew me, knew I was in an accident, and peddled some thrift-find Fishers in to replace my loaners.They sounded even worse knowing the roomate burned me intentionally, really kicked me when I was down.

The guy makes mucho bucks- a bachelor with a large 6-figure salary and wealthy family.

I don't normally like to wish anyone ill will, but in this case, may he develop ear hemmorhoids, and may his condoms turn to 80-grit sandpaper- rough side in.

LOL....I remember being a kid and going to a thrift store and seeing a set of Giant Fishers, the 3 or 4 foot tall 15" woofers 3 or 4 ways, probably made by Sanyo or someone SVT 430 maybe "Studio Standard"..and thinking wow 20 dollars...this is great...these are gonna rock!!! 15" woofers! Take the stuff off the shelves!...Talk about disappointed...LOL...I know the feeling.Giant speakers that maybe weighted 15 lbs a piece....LOL. I gave them to someone just to get rid of them. These have to be close to the top of people's list's!