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Post by macca on Mar 11, 2022 10:11:06 GMT
For me it's a toss-up between Lowther Acoustas and JPW Mini-monitor.
I suppose the Lowthers were not for the sort of music I like and my room was not really suitable for them so I would give them a pass.
But the JPW were absolute shite. Okay they were cheap but I've had other cheap speakers that were pretty good within their limits. The mini monitors had no redeeming features. Shut in at low volume, harsh and shouty if you cranked them up.
Actually managed to sell them on too, although I only got twenty quid for them.
After that I started paying more attention to the design and measurements instead of the reviews in WTF and never had a bad pair since.
So what's the worst you have done?
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Bigman80
Grandmaster
AA Founding Member & Bigbottle Audio Creator
Posts: 16,063
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Post by Bigman80 on Mar 11, 2022 10:18:23 GMT
The Naim Ovators were utterly abysmal. I genuinely felt guilty selling them knowing how bad they were. However, the new owner plumbed them in to a full Naim system and messaged me to say his system was wonderful and they were the icing on the cake. I mean, they were very well finished, looked good and the Townshend like leaf bases were a great design....but that resonator panel just didn't work. Measurements were decent. Didn't really get below 4ohm, fairly flat response and the German publications loved them.....but they were shite. I should have known better than to trust an opinion in a mag lol £1500.....Jesus.  |
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Post by lurch on Mar 11, 2022 10:30:44 GMT
From a reliability perspective it has to be my Quad 989s, in the 2 1/4 years I owned them I returned either 1 or both at the same time to OTA 6 times for work on the panels. Sounded with nderful when they were working, but just to delicate.
For SQ then it's a toss up between a pair of Heybrook HB1 S3 & B&W 683 S2,
The B&W basically just honked at you, whilst the HB1s where thin and uninvolving.
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Bigman80
Grandmaster
AA Founding Member & Bigbottle Audio Creator
Posts: 16,063
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Post by Bigman80 on Mar 11, 2022 10:33:58 GMT
From a reliability perspective it has to be my Quad 989s, in the 2 1/4 years I owned them I returned either 1 or both at the same time to OTA 6 times for work on the panels. Sounded with nderful when they were working, but just to delicate. For SQ then it's a toss up between a pair of Heybrook HB1 S3 & B&W 683 S2, The B&W basically just honked at you, whilst the HB1s where thin and uninvolving. Yeah, shame about the reliability. I should have had a punt on them when you were flogging them as I reckon they didn't like you valve amps. I don't think they would have worked here anyway. |
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Post by robbiegong on Mar 11, 2022 10:39:27 GMT
 Has to be these Eltax 400 jobbies. The first speaker I bought, when wife and I bought our home together and my quest to build a proper system began. I only bought them because they were big floor-standers, that looked the part to my eyes at the time, were cheap as chips, looked hifi - sadly I found them to be as hifi as a card board box - woeful sq, even with a nice big Technics SU VX800 integrated, coupled with a Technics SH-8055 equalizer driving them. Didnt help either that the Mrs hated the bleached, anemic aesthetic of them, they were quickly out the door, replaced by my first genuinely good speaker, The Mission 752 Freedoms - matched with the Technics pieces, they were a delight, a real musical pleasure.   |
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Post by macca on Mar 11, 2022 10:49:56 GMT
Lots of junk put out under the Eltax badge back in the 1990s.
When we had a Crack Convertors in the town they always had some Eltax for sale, usually for more than they had cost when new.
I've still got one of their home cinema receivers somewhere.
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Post by misterc on Mar 11, 2022 10:52:45 GMT
Ruark Broadswords, utter boring tripe of the first order, 84dB inefficent so needed .5Kw just to move the drivers, an capacitor as big as my fist. The delivered the ability to put he worse hen party in Basildon to sleep after 5 minutes. Neat Mystique two way small floorstanders, brigther than naim system running a chord dave with qed silver stranded toe rope truly chrome plated treble. The worst par of speakers to date Kef reference (lol) 2003 a speaker that broke the low bar by a considerable margin by having ZERO redeeming features. Never in the field of audio reproduction has been so low little owed to so few by the listening public truly turdgrid whoever signed off on those 'transducers' should have been publically flogged with a loom of Chord Sarum for crimes against music.
Hourable Mentions pretty much any naim speaker ever made although special mention gies to the SL2's, Allaes and the grim Ovators
Fortunately I have avoid the usual pitfalls, but I am sure they are afew more I can think of later.
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Post by macca on Mar 11, 2022 11:00:22 GMT
Ruark Broadswords, utter boring tripe of the first order, 84dB inefficent so needed .5Kw just to move the drivers, an capacitor as big as my fist. The delivered the ability to put he worse hen party in Basildon to sleep after 5 minutes. Neat Mystique two way small floorstanders, brigther than naim system running a chord dave with qed silver stranded toe rope truly chrome plated treble. The worst par of speakers to date Kef reference (lol) 2003 a speaker that broke the low bar by a considerable margin by having ZERO redeeming features. Never in the field of audio reproduction has been so low little owed to so few by the listening public truly turdgrid whoever signed off on those 'transducers' should have been publically flogged with a loom of Chord Sarum for crimes against music. Hourable Mentions pretty much any naim speaker ever made although special mention gies to the SL2's, Allaes and the grim Ovators Fortunately I have avoid the usual pitfalls, but I am sure they are afew more I can think of later. yes Reference 203 were lousy. Two bass drivers each with its own port - the first indication that they were going to sound a bit strange. |
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Post by iceman16 on Mar 11, 2022 14:01:02 GMT
B&W 703 mk1. I need to put a tissue paper on top of the tweeters to make them listenable 🤣🤣.
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Post by sq225917 on Mar 11, 2022 15:47:10 GMT
Acoustic evergy AE100, a stop gap student speaker, quacky horrible things, still have them they are my sacrificial first power up speakers.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2022 16:44:55 GMT
Probably the Jamo Compact 120, but value for money was hard to beat, as they were free.
Either those, or my Kef Coda 7, which I still have in use in the AV system.
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Post by jandl100 on Mar 11, 2022 16:47:03 GMT
Well, I managed to avoid actually owning any Tannoys cos I heard them first.  Same goes for Lowthers, my gawd, those whizzer cones. Ditto for pretty much any with "full range" drivers - they just weren't invited in. I've had quite a few bland and lifeless pairs make a very brief stay. I can't actually recall an owned pair being truly atrocious, but Amphion Xenons seemed a pointless waste of materials and construction effort, as did ATC SCM10, and I felt no love at all for KEF R500 in my 2nd system. The rest of the many usually had some redeeming features even if they didn't stay long. |
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Post by jimbo on Mar 11, 2022 18:03:01 GMT
Scandyna SP30 ( I think this was the model) bookshelf speakers I had in 1979.
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Post by antonio on Mar 12, 2022 7:15:43 GMT
I honestly don't think I've owned a pair of speakers that I haven't enjoyed, although I have heard too many at shows to mention. My brother owned active Linn Kabers, they were utterly lifeless, these were replaced by JM Labs Mezzo Utopia's and powered by one of his Linn Klouts (3 were used with his active Kabers), the difference was staggering.
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Post by macca on Mar 12, 2022 9:36:37 GMT
I always wanted to have a listen to Linn Kabers after reading a rave review when they came out. Still not got round to it. I'm guessing nowadays I wouldn't be that keen on them. Never heard a Linn speaker that I've rated.
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Post by nonuffin on Mar 13, 2022 17:05:15 GMT
Without any doubt the worst pair of speakers I ever bought were B & W 603 S2s.
I was just like a United Nations banquet, where there were many people in a room but they could not communicate at all in the same language.
Three speaker drivers in the same cabinet, but none of them worked in harmony with each other. I can still remember my word regarding the sound and it was "Disjointed".
Arrived by courier on Saturday morning around 11.00am and were on ebay by 12.30. Glad to get shot of them.
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Bigman80
Grandmaster
AA Founding Member & Bigbottle Audio Creator
Posts: 16,063
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Post by Bigman80 on Mar 13, 2022 22:18:28 GMT
Without any doubt the worst pair of speakers I ever bought were B & W 603 S2s.
I was just like a United Nations banquet, where there were many people in a room but they could not communicate at all in the same language.
Three speaker drivers in the same cabinet, but none of them worked in harmony with each other. I can still remember my word regarding the sound and it was "Disjointed".
Arrived by courier on Saturday morning around 11.00am and were on ebay by 12.30. Glad to get shot of them.
How strange! I have a pair of S1's on duty in the garage, and for a while they sat in my main system while I was between speakers. In the garage they are in a lot of space and were being powered by a very good NEC integrated amplifier. I think they sound perfectly ok, considering the environment they are in. In the main system on my 686, yes, possibly a little boxy, maybe a bit 2D, but again, I didn't have any issue with cohesion or anything like that. Made a good fist of things, but were completely outclassed by the MS880s and the Q Acoustic 500s. Not many folk have a lot of time for B&W, but actually, I don't think they are as bad as some of the stuff that gets lauded. |
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Post by nonuffin on Mar 14, 2022 14:56:52 GMT
Following on from the worst to the second worst . . . . . . I bought a pair of Art Skibo floorstanders and they were not quite as bad as the B & Ws. Yhe bass was acceptable but the treble had a total lack of definition and extension. Even the crappy old stereo in the car sounded much better  |
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Post by misterc on Mar 14, 2022 17:30:10 GMT
Indeed any Art speakers pretty grim at best
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Post by misterc on Mar 14, 2022 18:37:27 GMT
Really sorry for this post, BUT I have been 'educated' to death in the last 45 minutes by a lovely gent who insisted that my musical apreciation was not compete without a daily 2 hour session of musical wanking by fine musicains, HELPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
The gent is a really genuine chap but man is he obsessed with JAZZ, I would rather listen to Tom Waites through a Nait 3 and Kan's that that amount of Jazz sorry, my cerebral cortex has been melted I really need a lie down now 
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Post by firebottle on Mar 14, 2022 18:47:19 GMT
 My sympathies.
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Post by macca on Mar 14, 2022 18:49:21 GMT
no sorry I would take any amount of jazz, even Dixieland rather then listen to the Waits/Naim/Kan combo.
Rather have Waits than Leonard Cohen though. I sort of understand why some like Waits even though I don't but Cohen's appeal has always been a mystery.
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Post by misterc on Mar 14, 2022 19:17:59 GMT
no sorry I would take any amount of jazz, even Dixieland rather then listen to the Waits/Naim/Kan combo. Rather have Waits than Leonard Cohen though. I sort of understand why some like Waits even though I don't but Cohen's appeal has always been a mystery. Always said you were odd Martin |
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Post by stevew on Mar 14, 2022 19:27:49 GMT
no sorry I would take any amount of jazz, even Dixieland rather then listen to the Waits/Naim/Kan combo. Rather have Waits than Leonard Cohen though. I sort of understand why some like Waits even though I don't but Cohen's appeal has always been a mystery. Steady … |
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Post by antonio on Mar 15, 2022 6:03:35 GMT
Really sorry for this post, BUT I have been 'educated' to death in the last 45 minutes by a lovely gent who insisted that my musical apreciation was not compete without a daily 2 hour session of musical wanking by fine musicains, HELPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
The gent is a really genuine chap but man is he obsessed with JAZZ, I would rather listen to Tom Waites through a Nait 3 and Kan's that that amount of Jazz sorry, my cerebral cortex has been melted I really need a lie down now
You must be as daft as me Tony, really loved the Fast Show. |
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Post by stevew on Mar 15, 2022 8:20:48 GMT
Me with Leonard 23 years ago in Bombay. How bizarre. no sorry I would take any amount of jazz, even Dixieland rather then listen to the Waits/Naim/Kan combo. Rather have Waits than Leonard Cohen though. I sort of understand why some like Waits even though I don't but Cohen's appeal has always been a mystery. Steady … |
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Post by hifinutt on Mar 15, 2022 18:33:15 GMT
Can't think of any speakers I didn't like .Some took a bit of taming like the bass on the proac 125 .
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