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Least Reliable Brands?

Yamaha.

Other than a couple of CD players I have that just won't quit, I've never had any luck with Yamaha.

1. Receiver - possibly a CR-420? Bad Bad Bad Bad tuner.

2. Tuner - CT-1010 Bad Bad Bad Bad Bad tuner

3. Integrated Amp - A-720 Selector switches that needed a weekly cleaning
 
When I was stationed overseas('77-'79) I would always see other GIs carrying Kenwood and Sansui gear back to the PX all the time. It just happened so much it had to be more than just a coincidence.
 
e2e4c7c5 said:
When I was stationed overseas('77-'79) I would always see other GIs carrying Kenwood and Sansui gear back to the PX all the time. It just happened so much it had to be more than just a coincidence.
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I got my Sansui from a BX overseas in 1975. It was in storage for awile but I've yet to replace a bulb or fix anything on it. :banana:
 
:Yorx and panasonic thrusters. Every time I get a nice piece of yorx it has to go see my tech. And every pair of thrusters I bring home need refoaming.
 
The worst I've ever worked on are Harman kardons. 80% don't work and they are very hard to service and have very eccentric poorly designed circuit boards and designs and very difficult to service I don't think I'm going to buy another one of these lemons.
 
I had good luck with both NAD and Sansui bought used. Pioneer and Yamaha were so bad when I was on the vintage treadmill that I quit buying them.
 
sanford12 said:
I had good luck with both NAD and Sansui bought used. Pioneer and Yamaha were so bad when I was on the vintage treadmill that I quit buying them.
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I've never owned Sansui, but I had the legendary 1st edition NAD 3020 some time in the late 80's that was an amazing pice of kit, until it stopped working. apparently, they had power supply issues? at any rate, I've never bought anything else from the brand since then.
 
It depends on which period in history you are talking about. Kenwood, Aiwa, Proton, Tandberg tape decks, harmon Kardon in the 70's were problem prone. You could count on Phase linear and Bose amps to all fail too. When CD players came along in the 80's Yamahas were terrible as were most of the Carousel, stacker, and multiple disc CD players all failed prematurely no matter who made them. Its all so cyclic from moment in time to the next. Speaker manufacturers had the same issues from time to time all of the manufacturers found their speaker designs failing at one time or another. Especially as listeners changed their listening preferences in the 70 thru late 90's placing even more demands on their systems. Plus folks wanted big sound from ever smaller speakers with smaller foot prints.
 
With this resurrected thread (of old), and a lot of time passed, I wonder if some of the newer gear in the interim would be mentioned.

Q
 
I personally have only had bad luck with Yamaha - a tape deck and a powered subwoofer that both died within 5 years. Many of my Air Force buddies bought Carver equipment in the 80's and 90's and it all turned into a wallet draining nightmare for them... I will never own anything that Bob Carver touched.
 
I was very impressed by a Sony ST-5130, that tuner came in the 70s and still working fine, all the caps were in good shape, very good performance

Sony ST-5130

Got lucky and got a mint condition Sony ST-5130 The tuner is from 1972 and it is working fine, very sensitive, for my location selectivity is fine, the Sony was matching the sensitivity of my digital tuner ( DBX-TX-1 same as a NAD 4300), but the DBX was more selective in the narrow mode, not by...
audiokarma.org
 
My friends mid 90's bottom of the line Sony integrated that he brought for £20 more than 10 years ago is still going strong, and sounds pretty good for a 25wpc integrated.
 
When I was still actively collecting gear, I had the worst luck with Rotel, and NAD. Shame too, because I was a fan of Rotel aesthetics. NAD always seemed cheaply built to me.
I do have a nice Rotel rt-1024 tuner that works fine.
I know that owning just a piece or two of a particular brand that gave you issues, doesn't condemn the entire brand. I'm a Yamaha and Sansui fan, and I've had issues with them also. The problems I've had with all brands can be attributed to age related issues.
 
Skinley said:
NAD = Nearly Always Defective
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That observation matches my experience with the brand. I've owned three NAD components over the years -- two 502 CD players and a 7020 receiver -- and all three broke down. The CD players both died early, and I gave up trying to keep them running after the third or fourth repair attempt and put them to the curb on trash day.
 
JVC. Each used AV receiver and regular receiver that I've come across have had issues mainly with the volume control, sometimes with the display. Kenwood BPC-era also seems to have issues with the displays getting fuzzy.

Conversely, all my Soundesign gear - still going strong! :rockon:

And a 17 year dead thread resurrection - outstanding!
 
I have had only a few pieces of equipment fail.
NAD CD player that lasted about 15 years then died, think it was the power supply,

NAD 317 integrated amp ran for 24 yrs with no problems, until this last year when things started failing, I blame some of that on my running 4 ohm speakers the whole time, yes back panel said 4 ohm speakers, but it was never rated for continuous 4 ohm loads. Think it got cooked, it certainly ran hot, the pancake fan probably helped to extend its life.

Still working with no problems:
Proton D540 got new in '85 and is still working perfectly, it ran the same 4 ohm speakers for 15 years, with pancake fan to keep it cool. then when I got the NAD 317 was only used for an electronic piano speaker system, then backup for NAD 317 during down time.

NAD C422 Tuner I got used and only have used this year, it is working fine.

Kenwood KT-7500 tuner from '78 I got used in '85 still works, but not as good reception as NAD C422.

OPPO BDP 103 CD player I got new around 2010 it is still working good with regular use.

EPI A500 speakers got new in '82, still sounding great, though tweeters were stuck in thick ferrofluid for a while. $15 of ferrofluid from Ebay got them back to new, and of course had to replace foam surrounds on woofers 2X and mids 1X. Oh, the original mids were going/rattling after only 8 years, EPI replaced them with an exchange for $50 each in '91 and no problem since except for surrounds.

Just replaced NAD 317 with a Marantz Model 50 in part because it had a continuous 4 ohm rating AND the THD was also given for 4 ohms. Glad to hear Marantz is not problem prone. Have a pancake fan on it, but it does not need it, except maybe in Summertime when temps in house are around 80-84, I feel fine because I run cool!
 
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