Bigman80
Grandmaster
AA Founding Member & Bigbottle Audio Creator
Posts: 16,114
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Post by Bigman80 on Apr 8, 2019 18:23:38 GMT
Just wondered what stuff you’ve had that still sticks in the memory far all the wrong reasons. What looked horrible, was poorly built, broke down and left you out of pocket, or just sounded shite?
Here are some of mine.
Heybrook HB1. The closest I’ve come to chalk across a blackboard. Unbearable,
Philips CD840. Totally lacking drive and with audible distortion. Worse than any Marantz, and that’s saying somthing.
Rega RP1. A toy pretending to be a turntable. Fisher Price already did a better job.
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Post by nonuffin on Apr 8, 2019 18:38:15 GMT
I hate slot loading CD players which expire rapidly and unexpectedly. Like playing Russian Roulette when you insert a disc and it may/may not gob it out again  |
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Bigman80
Grandmaster
AA Founding Member & Bigbottle Audio Creator
Posts: 16,114
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Post by Bigman80 on Apr 8, 2019 19:14:15 GMT
I’d never touch one of those. Horrible and cheap.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2019 19:59:30 GMT
Wouldn't go as far as to say hate as it's not a word I like but Arcam Alpha CD players. Had 4 of the buggers and every one failed on me. I haven't had a single other piece of audio kit that has packed in so I'd never buy their stuff again.....
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2019 20:13:43 GMT
I’d never touch one of those. Horrible and cheap. Give over man... Nothing that a good hacksaw couldn't fix. And there's one in every car. This is the best £87 I ever spent on a cd player. And the lights are an extra:  At least I'll never have the problem of the door not opening or closing. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2019 20:26:01 GMT
Royd Sapphire. Can't enjoy anything through those crap boxes. Even music that has good recording quality doesn't really suffice. Same thing with the early Rega Ela MK1, fitted with Royd units.
NVA Cubette. Can't listen to them for more than 20 min. They're like annoying Chihuahuas, snappy and plain nasty.
Any system that irritates me in under 30 min = death sentence.
S.
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Bigman80
Grandmaster
AA Founding Member & Bigbottle Audio Creator
Posts: 16,114
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Post by Bigman80 on Apr 8, 2019 20:38:32 GMT
Royd Sapphire. Can't enjoy anything through those crap boxes. Even music that has good recording quality doesn't really suffice. Same thing with the early Rega Ela MK1, fitted with Royd units. NVA Cubette. Can't listen to them for more than 20 min. They're like annoying Chihuahuas, snappy and plain nasty. Any system that irritates me in under 30 min = death sentence. S. Chihuahuas! Epic!  |
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Post by macca on Apr 9, 2019 7:17:15 GMT
Wharfedale Delta 30 speakers. A WTF favourite at the time. Belonged to one of my brothers. One stopped working so I had the back off to take a look. No crossover just a cap on the tweeter and a bit of BAF wadding the size of a handkerchief folded over. Why bother putting any in at all?
Cheapo drivers - tweeters must have cost them all of ten pence each. Anyway the fault was only that one of the push-on tags had come off the mid/bass driver. Fixed it for him and he carried on using them with a Sherwood amp for about ten more years. The Sherwood amp was also Sh#t, like a biscuit tin, and the whole system was absolutely piss-poor. I'd take a 1970s Sharp music centre in preference.
Also total hyped-up crap - JPW Mini-Monitor. Just shockingly bad in every respect except maybe the cabs were reasonably solid. They used to do one called the Minim which looked similar but were actually quite decent. The mini-monitor was an attempt to cash in on that by making something that looked similar but cost about a quid to build.
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Bigman80
Grandmaster
AA Founding Member & Bigbottle Audio Creator
Posts: 16,114
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Post by Bigman80 on Apr 9, 2019 8:37:00 GMT
Wharfedale Delta 30 speakers. A WTF favourite at the time. Belonged to one of my brothers. One stopped working so I had the back off to take a look. No crossover just a cap on the tweeter and a bit of BAF wadding the size of a handkerchief folded over. Why bother putting any in at all? Cheapo drivers - tweeters must have cost them all of ten pence each. Anyway the fault was only that one of the push-on tags had come off the mid/bass driver. Fixed it for him and he carried on using them with a Sherwood amp for about ten more years. The Sherwood amp was also Sh#t, like a biscuit tin, and the whole system was absolutely piss-poor. I'd take a 1970s Sharp music centre in preference. Also total hyped-up crap - JPW Mini-Monitor. Just shockingly bad in every respect except maybe the cabs were reasonably solid. They used to do one called the Minim which looked similar but were actually quite decent. The mini-monitor was an attempt to cash in on that by making something that looked similar but cost about a quid to build. I remember being skint in the Delta 30 days and considering a par of Delta 30s. Glad I didn’t bother  |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2019 9:38:25 GMT
I generally hate everything I can't afford!  |
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Post by antonio on Apr 9, 2019 11:01:42 GMT
No real hates here, ones man's meat is another man's poison.
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Post by macca on Apr 9, 2019 11:39:28 GMT
That's mostly true but there is some utter tat out there that there us no excuse for owning.
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Post by pauld on Apr 9, 2019 12:25:02 GMT
Rega Kyte, worst speakers ever designed, they sounded all tinny and horrible with virtually no bass response.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2019 12:43:59 GMT
Rega Kyte, worst speakers ever designed, they sounded all tinny and horrible with virtually no bass response. Some people like them. But there again, some people like self flagellation. |
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Post by macca on Apr 9, 2019 13:40:16 GMT
Rega Kyte, worst speakers ever designed, they sounded all tinny and horrible with virtually no bass response. Far to kind, I don't think they had any output at all below 1Khz. They weren't cheap either! |
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Post by sq225917 on Apr 9, 2019 17:47:34 GMT
I think anything is worth a listen. I do sometimes wonder what people are after from their music, that I'm not, when I see some kit choices, but we're all different that's what makes the world go round.
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Post by pauld on Apr 10, 2019 7:55:25 GMT
Rega Kyte, worst speakers ever designed, they sounded all tinny and horrible with virtually no bass response. Far to kind, I don't think they had any output at all below 1Khz. They weren't cheap either! I think they were about £200. I went back to some Wharfedale Diamond speakers which were around £100 and they were far, far better in every way. |
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Post by pauld on Apr 10, 2019 7:56:07 GMT
Rega Kyte, worst speakers ever designed, they sounded all tinny and horrible with virtually no bass response. Some people like them. But there again, some people like self flagellation. LOL |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2019 9:27:33 GMT
Royd Sapphire. Can't enjoy anything through those crap boxes. Even music that has good recording quality doesn't really suffice. Same thing with the early Rega Ela MK1, fitted with Royd units. NVA Cubette. Can't listen to them for more than 20 min. They're like annoying Chihuahuas, snappy and plain nasty. Any system that irritates me in under 30 min = death sentence. S. They take days to open up and very dependent on cables (NVA obviously best). I persevered and they were good but I think best in a small listening space. Mid and highs become transparent with a veil lifted compare to many conventional designs. However swapping them out for the much larger Cube 2 is a revelation. The benefits of The Cube design in a largish room can then be appreciated. As far as unlistenable is concerned - I have never purchased anything that would fall into that description. Certainly listened to a lot of Magazine favourites that disappointed with a harsh sound in dealer dems (flat earth era). Heybrook HB1 and Linn Kan as well as most Ruark designs. Arcam amps lacked any get up and go while Naim mostly nasty treble while remaining obviously bandwidth limited. Most unreliable would be TEAC VRDS players. Fragile transports (draw jamming). Have 2 dead examples that are repairable if parts can be obtained. |
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Post by macca on Apr 10, 2019 12:03:32 GMT
I've heard the Cubettes and whilst I'm not much for omni/semi-omni speakers or small speakers in general for that matter, they were in no way 'nasty' sounding.
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Post by macca on Apr 18, 2019 8:49:02 GMT
Here's a hate of mine - manufacturers writing unnecessary bullshit on their products. Don't know about you but I do not want a load of pointless crap written on the back of my speakers thanks very much.  Just embarrassing. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2019 8:51:58 GMT
I detest bullshit of any kind in anything.
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Post by macca on Apr 18, 2019 8:53:38 GMT
Aside from that, the LS3/5a was not a studio monitor and the LS50 don't really sound anything like them in any case. And loads of manufacturers have sold domestic versions of their studio monitors since the 1970s so the LS50 wouldn't be ground breaking even if it was a studio monitor. Which it isn't. It's a 'The wife won't let me have proper speakers' monitor.
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Post by macca on Apr 18, 2019 8:56:27 GMT
I detest bullshit of any kind in anything. The funny thing is, you can ask anyone and they will say exactly that. Yet the modern world is drowning in it. What's that all about? |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2019 9:04:28 GMT
I detest bullshit of any kind in anything. The funny thing is, you can ask anyone and they will say exactly that. Yet the modern world is drowning in it. What's that all about? Because some take it at face value and believe it. It's aimed at the shallow minded minority who don't know better. The one's who buy stuff advertised on TV 'cos they think it's bound to be wonderful (could do with a 'roll eyes' emoticon here). |
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Post by macca on Apr 18, 2019 9:17:22 GMT
The funny thing is, you can ask anyone and they will say exactly that. Yet the modern world is drowning in it. What's that all about? Because some take it at face value and believe it. It's aimed at the shallow minded minority who don't know better. The one's who buy stuff advertised on TV 'cos they think it's bound to be wonderful (could do with a 'roll eyes' emoticon here). I don't know about the shallow minded minority. As far as hi-fi is concerned the gullibility of many punters is amazing and yet it is a hobby that seems to appeal to mostly professional, educated middle-aged men who should really know better. But there seems to be a situation whereby hi-fi is considered different to all other consumer goods and hi-fi manufacturers and salesmen are always truthful in everything they say. I find such blind faith from people who should know better very disturbing. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2019 17:18:48 GMT
1. Metal Dome Tweeters
2. Amps with No Tone Controls
3. Anything the has the slightest hint on Flat Erf
4. Over rated Junk
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2019 5:02:54 GMT
spot on karns,
all lp12's ffs..utter junk
every monitor audio speaker i home demoed.ear splitting shite
quad 11 speakers..fancy box with 10 quid drivers.
b&w speakers...tripe
in fact i could sit here all day lol..most stuff over the years i have owned has been shite...only a handful of kit i would ever recomend.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2019 8:18:04 GMT
What do people do when they buy a tone control less amp & it dont sound right? cos 9/10 it wont, they are stuck, what do they do, they fart about spending more money on different interconnects, cartridges etc in hope it will cure it, but ofc it wont & before you know it the amp is being sold. I see it all the time. This is why people are constantly pissing about Box swapping.
I can put money on it the reason people still bid on the classic Audiolab 8000a is cos its a British Modern looking amp with Tone Controls.. Headaches over eh.
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Post by macca on Apr 21, 2019 9:09:34 GMT
I've not had an amp with tone controls since the 1990s. Even when I did I never used them. I've got a 12 band Sansui equalizer, much better than tone controls so could always slot that in if I ever needed to but I don't.
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