No Hurt Feelings - What speakers do you think sound terrible?

[Gnesen]

Kenwood KL-555 and KL-777. Nothing good to say about them at all, plastic grills, muddy bass, terrible midrange, and tweets are nothing special. Thankfully there is a market for these god-awful things. I couldn't flip them fast enough.

I have to agree -- I didn't care for the 777s that I had for a short while.

Another to add to my list: Jensen CS 315. Huge, muddy sounding speakers with single caps serving as crossovers to the mids and tweeters. Nicely wrapped in cheap vinyl veneer. I got them cheap when I was first getting into audio and didn't know any better.

 

[Old-School]

Oh boy.. bad speaker page.

Advent baby, and some other Advents from the same era. 1980's - 1990's I guess that was.
Bose 901. In the right room and location (suspended from the ceiling at a certain angle) they sound ok. But 99% of the time they do not sound that way.
Bose 601. They sound bad no matter where you put them.
Vector Research. They got me by for a little while, but man they were bad.
Audio Pulse. Same as above, but not quite as bad as VR.
NHT. Sorry to all the people that like them, I just cant.
Realistic / Radio Shack. I cant say they were ALL bad.. but they sure made a lot of stinkers. Some of the ones from the 70's were ok. Nova 6, 7, 8.


Some I like that others dont..
Marantz Imperial 7. In a room with plaster walls and hard wood floors they tend to sound better. But thats just me.

 

[teal'c]

The speakers I've bought that I thought I didn't like I fixed by connecting them to NAD or Proton power, even if I liked the other equipment on other speakers. Now all I have are good speakers.

 

[JoeESP9]

Maggie 3.6's ......sorry - these things only sound good when you're perfectly still, in the sweet spot and you can't move an inch to the left or right. Heard them in Jacksonville in a tuned room, with high end gear and a $20k turntable!!!! These things beam!!!!! Anything outside of the very narrow sweet-spot.....is very disappointing.

For some a small sweet spot is not a problem. If you're moving around you're doing things other than just listening. If' I'm moving around I don't expect the sound to be as good as the "sweet spot". However, in the sweet spot the sound is IMO superb.

 

[prerich45]

For some a small sweet spot is not a problem. If you're moving around you're doing things other than just listening. If' I'm moving around I don't expect the sound to be as good as the "sweet spot". However, in the sweet spot the sound is IMO superb.

No doubt that they sound excellent - however if I have friends over for a listen - they have to take turns in the sweet spot..(by the way we did that in Jville) and you must remain perfectly still. With the Maggie's if I shift my head an inch or 2 to the left or right - the amazing image collapses. They sound awesome....in that spot. That's the only reason I put them there as some of the worst because I couldn't listen to them off axis at all. On axis ...in that tiny spot....some of the best speakers.

 

[Metamodern]

Focal Sopra 3's. Even with tubes they feel like having icicles repeatedly stabbing my eardrums.

 

[kirk57]

I had a pair of 'Acoustics Model 500' speakers. They looked nice enough, but didn't sound good at all to my ears.

I thought you said they sounded pretty good after you made some changes? I still use my (modified) pair daily in the kitchen with a Lepai 2020+. Sound really good now, but I agree that stock they are not wonderful. I only bothered because they have nice oak cabinets...

 

[Mike Stehr]

Realistic / Radio Shack. I cant say they were ALL bad.. but they sure made a lot of stinkers. Some of the ones from the 70's were ok. Nova 6, 7, 8.

I bought a pair of Minimus 4, which used a Korean made 5" driver with a whizzer cone. Five bucks for the pair or some such.
Screechy nasty little speakers...

The enclosures seemed okay. So I cut the baffles out, made new ones with 3/4" MDF, and use Altec D405 8H 4" drivers on the baffles, with a bit of polyfil.
It makes for a decent sounding cheap PC media system, with a DBX 6X6 subwoofer box, and DBX XB 150 sub amp.

 

[JoeESP9]

No doubt that they sound excellent - however if I have friends over for a listen - they have to take turns in the sweet spot..(by the way we did that in Jville) and you must remain perfectly still. With the Maggie's if I shift my head an inch or 2 to the left or right - the amazing image collapses. They sound awesome....in that spot. That's the only reason I put them there as some of the worst because I couldn't listen to them off axis at all. On axis ...in that tiny spot....some of the best speakers.

So, are you saying there are two choices, mediocre but the same everywhere or superb in one spot when you're actually listening and not multitasking?

IME only true omnidirectional speakers such as Ohm F's and MBL Radialstrahlers don't have an actual sweet spot. Even that may be room dependent. Most of my listening is done alone. When a buddy is over I don't mind giving up the sweet spot. They do the same when I visit them.

Given the choice between a small superb sweet spot and a wider lower quality one I know what I'd choose. YMMV.

 

[Gnesen]

I thought you said they sounded pretty good after you made some changes? I still use my (modified) pair daily in the kitchen with a Lepai 2020+. Sound really good now, but I agree that stock they are not wonderful. I only bothered because they have nice oak cabinets...

Good point. I should have qualified or expanded on my statement. They did sound pretty decent after putting in a proper crossover and porting the enclosure. The only reason I didn't give up on mine was due to the nice solid oak cabinets.

 

[chip18sw]

Well most likely my best ... worst "universally agreed" speakers would have been a pair of Panasonic (I think) Thrusters! There was/is a pair of them at my local thrift store! Actual book shelves.

I was so tempted, but they wanted 15 bucks!! Now in the big picture that's pretty cheap! But you know ... I looked them over and LOL ... I couldn't do it! My little Kinter MA 170, T amp (I think it is with a lesser chip) that I bought cuz it was ... 5.99!! Has thus far impressed me! And not only because it was not , DOA on arrival. So now I expect more for under $20 bucks!

Now all that aside it's kinda interesting, that a lot of at least "Brands" showing up would also be found on a list .. of "most favorite speakers!" But hey I won't give names.

 

[kirk57]

Well most likely my best ... worst "universally agreed" speakers would have been a pair of Panasonic Thrusters

How is this possible?

 

[prerich45]

So, are you saying there are two choices, mediocre but the same everywhere or superb in one spot when you're actually listening and not multitasking?

IME only true omnidirectional speakers such as Ohm F's and MBL Radialstrahlers don't have an actual sweet spot. Even that may be room dependent. Most of my listening is done alone. When a buddy is over I don't mind giving up the sweet spot. They do the same when I visit them.

Given the choice between a small superb sweet spot and a wider lower quality one I know what I'd choose. YMMV.

Not really .........I'm saying its feast or famine. That sound wasn't just mediocre when you consider the cost of the Maggies..it was just bad, unmoving, but on axis wonderful. I've heard the MBL's and I actually wasn't impressed by them either (they were very good don't get me wrong) however, I heard the MBL's after hearing Tidal Contriva Diacera speakers (beautiful...just beautiful) and then going into the Scanea room - those speakers did the disappearing act and I could sit far left or right, and still have a perfect image....that was just crazy (but the speakers were over $115k in that configuration). The Scaneas when set up properly are possibly the best speakers I've had the pleasure of listening to.....period.

 

[prerich45]

I wouldn't mind owning Maggies in a single person listening situation.... I'm in no means saying Maggie puts out a bad speaker, they don't - they put out very good speakers. I was just expecting to be overwelmed and just came out as ....whelmed.

 

[chip18sw]

How is this possible?

I do't know as I just couldn't buy them. I expect at the bare minimum, quality construction and some kinda weight to them.

The "Thurster's" were twice as wide and twice as tall as my LX 5's and they weighted less and felt cheap?? I was gonna pair them up with a 5.99 chip amp from Parts Express but that would have been a downgrade for the "Amp."

I just wanted to see ...how bad could they be??? Cuz you know ... I do stuff, no "deeper meaning" than that.

 

[JoeESP9]

I wouldn't mind owning Maggies in a single person listening situation.... I'm in no means saying Maggie puts out a bad speaker, they don't - they put out very good speakers. I was just expecting to be overwelmed and just came out as ....whelmed.

I think being "whelmed" rather than over or underwhelmed is preferable. A speaker that does what it's supposed to without calling attention to itself is my ideal. The less a speaker stands out the longer I can listen before experiencing listener fatigue.

 

[lab]

Fairfax wall of sound. Reasonably good quality parts- absolutely horrible design. Whoever designed them knew nothing about audio.

 

[jcamero]

Well, I'll add my dislikes. ADS, (had 2 pair). Very harsh to my ears, quite fatiguing. JBL L16 Decade, again, to harsh, and could not dial it out. Polk 5jr.

 

[FluxT]

>Bose 501: Like running a sub full range with a mid as a tweeter. Horrid placement rules. Power hungry. Ugly.

>Pioneer CS77: Boxy, dull, beamy, and unpleasant.

>Klipsch R14: Thin, uninteresting, gaping hole in the middle.

>Pioneer HPM40: These go back and forth between the best and worst speakers I’ve ever owned. Very v-tuned, bit of a hole in the middle. Definitely a rock speaker and not much else. Sounds best with the tweeter control almost all the way down. Most of their value is because they have those 3 magic letters.

>Pioneer HPM100: All I have to do is take one look at that frequency response chart to know that these sound like ass.

 

[mirtif]

The 23's like all KLH's have to have new caps. If the original caps were in there unlikely the tweets were tweeting! I tried Dayton's first. Sounded good. Switched the Daytons out for Solen's. Way better. IMO the 23's when working properly are one of the best 2 ways of its era.

I would like to say that your emoji is astounding. I Love It!