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Post by Deleted on Jul 5, 2018 22:09:44 GMT
Thought this might raise a giggle or two.
Tell us what the worst ever Hi-Fi item was that you spent money on.
Mine's easy. When I was young, broke and knew nothing about Hi-Fi, I bought a new Amstrad 8000 Mk.II amplifier. It was the biggest pile of crap under the sun. Absolutely dreadful. Thanks Mr. Sugar!!
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Post by nonuffin on Jul 5, 2018 23:07:57 GMT
I have never been pleased with anything that had a musical fidelity badge on it. Worst of the lot was a Trivista 300 integrated, which had lit up feet which supposedly changed colour to blue when the amp reached optimum operating temperature. It was nothing of the sort as it was just a primitive timer circuit that reset if you switched the amp off when warm and went back to red each time. MF remotes needed to be almost bashed sometimes to get them to work. Wouldn't have one as a gift now.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2018 2:22:33 GMT
Royd Sapphire. What utter horrible ear splitting sounding things! Perhaps they need a full fat sounding vinyl source, to tame the Sh#t treble.
NVA Cubette. Similar like the above. Didn't groove my feet.
Little Dot +1.
Audio Note AZ-Two.
Naim CDX. I'd much rather have a CD5si.
S.
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Jul 6, 2018 5:13:23 GMT
I have never been pleased with anything that had a musical fidelity badge on it. Worst of the lot was a Trivista 300 integrated, which had lit up feet which supposedly changed colour to blue when the amp reached optimum operating temperature. It was nothing of the sort as it was just a primitive timer circuit that reset if you switched the amp off when warm and went back to red each time. MF remotes needed to be almost bashed sometimes to get them to work. Wouldn't have one as a gift now. I loved two of the A1s I owned,. Getting a good one is a lottery, getting a good reliable one is lime winning the lottery  The worst speakers I have ever owned were MF Mc4s. Dull and mulled beyond belief. Preamp, preamp 2 and preamp 3 were all increasingly poor. MVT nothing special. MVX and MX sounded good to me. P170 was just plain ordinary. P270 a bit hifi. I haven’t owned a 370 but a couple of mates have on more than one occasion. Better than a KSA50 as claimed by Alvin Gold? Not a hope in hell. Just no spark for me on any of the occasions I heard it. And as for the switch off antics of these power amps, wants to go through that every time you knock them off? I don’t think I’ve had anything else of theirs. |
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Jul 6, 2018 5:26:09 GMT
Thought this might raise a giggle or two. Tell us what the worst ever Hi-Fi item was that you spent money on. Mine's easy. When I was young, broke and knew nothing about Hi-Fi, I bought a new Amstrad 8000 Mk.II amplifier. It was the biggest pile of crap under the sun. Absolutely dreadful. Thanks Mr. Sugar!! Great idea, Geoff. Mine was the Philips CD840. There was loads of hype over it being “better” than vinyl on the mags. I couldn’t get a proper listen.....only through headphones. I bought one and found it to be lacking any sort of drive. It was laughably bad. Thin, flat, lifeless and also capable of significant audible distortion on some CDs. It was actually money well spent in another way, because it gave me a wake up call to magazine reviews. |
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Post by macca on Jul 6, 2018 6:22:06 GMT
For me it was a Philips belt drive turntable. Sold my previous deck (a totl Kenwood linear tracker) then realised I couldn't afford to replace it with anything decent so bought the Philips brand new. Even the dealer tried to talk me out of it! Just plastic junk, terrible bit of kit. No recollection of what happened to it, must have sold it on to someone though.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2018 6:38:11 GMT
Origin Live Resolution TT.
Piece of crap, horrendous speed drift and nasty build quality.
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Post by savvypaul on Jul 6, 2018 8:33:19 GMT
Origin Live Resolution TT. Piece of crap, horrendous speed drift and nasty build quality. I was tempted to try an OL turntable but didn't like the idea that I had to set up a £2k t/t and arm from scratch, myself. I bought a Gyro / Hadcock combo in the end which appeared better value and was set up by the dealer. |
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Post by dsjr on Jul 6, 2018 9:12:25 GMT
Thought this might raise a giggle or two. Tell us what the worst ever Hi-Fi item was that you spent money on. Mine's easy. When I was young, broke and knew nothing about Hi-Fi, I bought a new Amstrad 8000 Mk.II amplifier. It was the biggest pile of crap under the sun. Absolutely dreadful. Thanks Mr. Sugar!! Great idea, Geoff. Mine was the Philips CD840. There was loads of hype over it being “better” than vinyl on the mags. I couldn’t get a proper listen.....only through headphones. I bought one and found it to be lacking any sort of drive. It was laughably bad. Thin, flat, lifeless and also capable of significant audible distortion on some CDs. It was actually money well spent in another way, because it gave me a wake up call to magazine reviews. Now that's interesting. I used the CD840 as a transport and it was superb - nice solid machine. The sound of the basic machine in our situation was smooth and 'bitstream-soft' as I remember it. Maybe the headphone socket wasn't up to much? |
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Post by dsjr on Jul 6, 2018 9:16:49 GMT
Origin Live Resolution TT. Piece of crap, horrendous speed drift and nasty build quality. What is it about Origin Live? The arms - take a basically benign donor that basically needs careful mounting choices and then add a massive midrange 'zing' and this 'sounds better?' The other add-ons used to be badly finished too although this may have improved in recent times. |
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Post by dsjr on Jul 6, 2018 9:18:46 GMT
For me it was a Philips belt drive turntable. Sold my previous deck (a totl Kenwood linear tracker) then realised I couldn't afford to replace it with anything decent so bought the Philips brand new. Even the dealer tried to talk me out of it! Just plastic junk, terrible bit of kit. No recollection of what happened to it, must have sold it on to someone though. Which one Martin? We used to sell the GA212 and touch-lamps apart, they were reliable, actually good sounding if admittedly very frail in build. |
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Jul 6, 2018 9:41:16 GMT
Great idea, Geoff. Mine was the Philips CD840. There was loads of hype over it being “better” than vinyl on the mags. I couldn’t get a proper listen.....only through headphones. I bought one and found it to be lacking any sort of drive. It was laughably bad. Thin, flat, lifeless and also capable of significant audible distortion on some CDs. It was actually money well spent in another way, because it gave me a wake up call to magazine reviews. Now that's interesting. I used the CD840 as a transport and it was superb - nice solid machine. The sound of the basic machine in our situation was smooth and 'bitstream-soft' as I remember it. Maybe the headphone socket wasn't up to much? Sorry I mustn’t have ecplained properly. I used it as normal in my system but was only able to audition through headphones. The shop example via phones sounded fine, but I’m not a headphone listener so I lack experience to be able to judge too much. Maybe mine wasn’t to spec? I guess even giants can turn out poor examples. The only thing that makes me wonder is the build. The 850 (its successor) was nicely built but the 840 was the same as the cheapie, lightweight models like CD 618 and CD 624. Could it have been the 850 you tried? |
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Post by dsjr on Jul 6, 2018 9:51:57 GMT
Did I get the models wrong? So long ago... Apologies.
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Jul 6, 2018 10:00:46 GMT
The 840 caused a real stir and kind of launched the bitstream bandwagon. It didn’t last long though, before being replaced by the 850, so I always wondered if there were reliability or teething issues.
The 850 was much heavier and more sturdily built, but it wasn’t as nicely laid out to my eyes.
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Post by macca on Jul 6, 2018 10:23:07 GMT
For me it was a Philips belt drive turntable. Sold my previous deck (a totl Kenwood linear tracker) then realised I couldn't afford to replace it with anything decent so bought the Philips brand new. Even the dealer tried to talk me out of it! Just plastic junk, terrible bit of kit. No recollection of what happened to it, must have sold it on to someone though. Which one Martin? We used to sell the GA212 and touch-lamps apart, they were reliable, actually good sounding if admittedly very frail in build. Crikey, I can't remember a model number. This was back in about 1993.
From a distance it looked very smart, had a 'smoked glass' effect lid. But I've seen better built turntables on Matsui midi-systems. It was shocking.
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Post by dsjr on Jul 6, 2018 10:31:00 GMT
I'm going back to the mid to late 70's to early 80's. The 212 had a softly sprung sub chassis, solid belt drive with a good DC flywheel assisted motor and dinky touch pads for 33, 45 and stop functions. The bad bits were frail build, steel platter and massier arm than it looks needing careful cartridge choice. The arm was a bit like the AR XB arm too, far better than it had any right to be. The thing actually 'sounds' very good I remember, but I'm drifting way off track...
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Jul 6, 2018 11:10:17 GMT
Coming back to Origin Live, loads of people have criticised the build of the decks. It can’t be coincidence.
The motor kits look cheap and shoddy, although I realise they may work well. I wouldn’t touch a deck that had one fitted because they look like a cheap aftermarket bodge.
The tonearms are good to my ears. I have owned two and seen a couple more in the flesh. No build or finish issues.
The “structural mod” (counterweight and stub for the rest of us) are a complete no brainier to me. They transform an RB250. I’d rather buy a Pete Riggle CCM though as get my hands on his VTAF at the same time as the pair lift Rega arms to another level again.
I have had had other good stuff from them though. The Skyline platform I had was excellent and their Epos stands were the best sounding stands I’ve ever used. Then there’s then OL mat which is just brilliant to my ears. It’s bettered anything else on a number of decks for me.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2018 11:14:34 GMT
those 90's marantz k1 signature cd players..colossal pos the entire range..claimed to be tweaked by some chink just to fleece you of money
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Jul 6, 2018 11:19:58 GMT
those 90's marantz k1 signature cd players..colossal pos the entire range..claimed to be tweaked by some chink just to fleece you of money Whilst we usually have different ears, I have to agree. They were bad enough without Ken’s input. It was the raft of 5 star reviews and best buys that had me wondering how anyone could see merit in them. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2018 11:21:24 GMT
bag o shte andy..again i brought the entire range home to home demo
the 100 quid teac cd player i had then was way better.....same with cyrus 2 amps...utter heapo shyte
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2018 11:23:20 GMT
the worst bit fo kit i ever owned was this..the audio-technica oc9 mk11..and the mags said it was amazing lol..if you like your music screechy with zero bass then buy one
ear splitting cack...flogged it to that jock kenny aka wayne kerr for 50 quid...
goldring 1042 aswell another bag o shyte
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Jul 6, 2018 11:28:17 GMT
the worst bit fo kit i ever owned was this..the audio-technica oc9 mk11 ear splitting cack...flogged it to that jock kenny aka wayne kerr for 50 quid... goldring 1042 aswell another bag o shyte People love those Goldrings, yet I can’t hear anything special about them, good or bad. We used to sell them over other carts because they was more profit. That was when the 1040 was not much more than £100. It’s way more now. I liked my two OC9s but I do like a brighter sound. Even stil, I liked several others more. Linn Asaka and Karma were more musical, as was Denon DL103R and the AT32e was a much sweeter take on the AT approach. Carts are very personal though, I reckon. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2018 11:29:51 GMT
in fact imho very little kit i have ever heard or home demoed has been any good...
onkyo av amps are brilliant..imho better than most 2 channel amps...i got 8 amps here and only use the onkyo.
another over hyped pos are valve amps...got one here...utter junk imho..
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2018 11:32:21 GMT
i love these bose acoustimas 5 speakers..got a set here..so damn smooth and fatigue free..I DONT CARE that folk say they are cack...imho they are not...you see i cannot and will not have anything bright in my music..
smooth is my bag
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Jul 6, 2018 11:34:47 GMT
It’s all about getting what you like. As long as it sounds right for you. There’s also a bit of snobbery when it comes to Bose. It’s only a name badge at the end of the day.
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Post by dsjr on Jul 6, 2018 12:12:51 GMT
the worst bit fo kit i ever owned was this..the audio-technica oc9 mk11 ear splitting cack...flogged it to that jock kenny aka wayne kerr for 50 quid... goldring 1042 aswell another bag o shyte People love those Goldrings, yet I can’t hear anything special about them, good or bad. We used to sell them over other carts because they was more profit. That was when the 1040 was not much more than £100. It’s way more now. I liked my two OC9s but I do like a brighter sound. Even stil, I liked several others more. Linn Asaka and Karma were more musical, as was Denon DL103R and the AT32e was a much sweeter take on the AT approach. Carts are very personal though, I reckon. OC9 and family just give you the vinyl as it's cut - with reduced bass quite often. Maybe the AT33 models are slightly beefier as the old OC30 was.
The 1042 we sold well with Planar 3/RB300's. I tried one at home in a different deck and hated it! A pal bought unbeknownst to me a Audio-Note 'version' with a couple of claimed tweaks and it nearly took his fillings out! takes many tens/hundreds of hours to run in as well. I think he took it back...
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Post by dsjr on Jul 6, 2018 12:22:58 GMT
those 90's marantz k1 signature cd players..colossal pos the entire range..claimed to be tweaked by some chink just to fleece you of money I was told once that Ken Ishiwata was merely an enigmatic figurehead for their top-line special edition products. I'm not absolutely sure he was even a design engineer, let alone a repair technician, but I could be doing the man a huge disservice here. It's almost as if he was wheeled out on show whenever a 'KI Signature' product came along and his off-beat enigmatic appearance and quiet manner kind of generated some form of 'aura' that bled into the products. |
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Post by dsjr on Jul 6, 2018 12:25:21 GMT
i love these bose acoustimas 5 speakers..got a set here..so damn smooth and fatigue free..I DONT CARE that folk say they are cack...imho they are not...you see i cannot and will not have anything bright in my music.. smooth is my bag I SOLD Bose twenty years ago and know the Acoustimass 5 very well indeed in both passive and powered form. Best not say more, sorry, but the powered ones were rather better than the passive. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2018 12:27:58 GMT
hard to find fatigue free kit dsjr imho..one of the reasons i like them..maybe it's an age thing..probably is tbh..as a youngster i liked me music much more in ya face
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Post by savvypaul on Jul 6, 2018 12:40:24 GMT
the worst bit fo kit i ever owned was this..the audio-technica oc9 mk11 ear splitting cack...flogged it to that jock kenny aka wayne kerr for 50 quid... goldring 1042 aswell another bag o shyte People love those Goldrings, yet I can’t hear anything special about them, good or bad. We used to sell them over other carts because they was more profit. That was when the 1040 was not much more than £100. It’s way more now. I liked my two OC9s but I do like a brighter sound. Even stil, I liked several others more. Linn Asaka and Karma were more musical, as was Denon DL103R and the AT32e was a much sweeter take on the AT approach. Carts are very personal though, I reckon. I ran a Karma in an Ittok and remember it fondly when used with speakers with very little bass - BLQ1 and Rega Ela. When I got bigger speakers - Epos14 - I got an OC9 for more (apparent) detail. I later ran a Reson Reca (modified Goldring 1042) in a modded RB250 and thought it was very good. |
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