What Went Wrong?

[sunbeamgls]

Here's a thread for us to he honest about changes / upgrades that actually made our systems worse. Should run for a while...

I'll start off with my power amps. System was Meridian 508.20 cdp, Meridian 541 pre, Linn Tunebox crossover, Rotel RB850 power amps and active Linn Keilidhs. Whilst decorating the room I searched forums and eBay and gradually built up a collection of 4x Cyrus 8Powers and 4x Cyrus PSX-R power supplies (main speakers and centre channel to power actively). Room finished and hooked it all up. All sounded very much more hifi (more detail, faster transients etc.), but I just didn't want to listen to it. The music had gone. Good job I hadn't sold the Rotels!

sent from a different Galaxy

 

[Sir_Franc]

I also had a power amp mismatch. I tried to use Sugden Masterclass monoblocks with Audio Note E's. Big SS power amps with efficient valve friendly speakers just doesn't work! The amps were barely ticking over when listening at fairly high levels. They only started to sound good when at a volume my neighbours wouldn't like. Such a shame that! I think they'd work a treat with my current speakers.

 

[Fatmarley]

I'm surprised this thread isn't more popular, I mean, people like to moan (or maybe it just me?)

Mine would be going from Kef coda 8 (£180 new) to Dynaudio contour 1.3se (over £1000 new IIRC) - Oh dear, were did the music go?

 

[meninblack]

I sold a naim nait 3 / CD3 combo ... and bought a Linn Classik.

Frying pan.

Fire.

 

[peterbj]

I have a fairly small listening room and was using monitor audio br2s and upgraded to dynaudio dm2/6 sounded great in the demo room got them back home and they boomed really badly , bungs killed the sound imo , I could get them to work away from the back wall only problem they were half way accross the room !!! These had to go and some pmc db1 is took their place and were fine . The dynaudios are good speakers but just did not work in the room so now I always try to test the speakers at home before buying !

 

[sunbeamgls]

Clearly nearly all Wammers have only ever had successful upgrades!

I thought this thread might help others to avoid bad moves.

 

[rockmeister]

It's like 'tell us why you are a nob who has no idea how to make HiFi decisions and/or spend money wisely'

Never was going to be THAT popular a thread.

Hopwever, I did once let a dealer bluff me into a decision I regretted later.

Moral. If you allow a stranger inside an expensive bit of electronics to make 'improvements', make sure you take photos (or at the least have a look inside yourself first) so you can check that they actually do what is claimed.

 

[RobHolt]

Three examples spring to mind.

As a teenager, perfectly happy with my sweet little Heybrook HB2 I bought the spin lock stock and barrel surrounding the then new Celestion SL6 and persuaded (I was good at that...) my Grandfather to buy them for me.

Turned out to be a black hole for music, producing a dull, lifeless and murky version of any performance. They were so bad, and enjoying a good hi-fi was so important to me as a kid that my parents noticed my mood changes and got worried something serious was going on.

Second was buying Mk1 Linn Kans after a demo. Again I must have still been a teenager and bought the whole hard sell tune dem thing.

When I got them home and tried a variety of music, the honking and squarking from those early Kans was just terrible, even though the speed and bass tactility was very attractive.

Last was building up a sweet 4 box Cyrus system into one of 18 boxes, then one day taking it all back down to the base units and finding it sounded no worse, just couldn't play stupidly loud.

Lessons learned:

- Don't trust magazine reviews for subjective comment. They really are a very, very rough guide to pique the interest.

- Always audition loudspeakers with a very wide variety of music and never allow the demonstrator to choose. Never rush a loudspeaker audition.

- More isn't always better, be it boxes, specification quality, power or cost.

I won't mention that I fell for the Peter Belt stuff back in the day...... :zip:

 

[anaitiologikos]

Nice thread When I left uni, I invested my first money in a fine bike (still have it, and has become a bit of a collector's item) and a pair of Mission 761i. Bliss. Fastforward fifteen years and the Missions are developing a bit of a bass problem. Not knowing anything about refoaming at the time, and not wanting to be outdone by a friend who has just bought a shiny pair of Focal 816V's, I replace the trusty Missions with a pair of very impressive looking 826V's... until I put on a Beethoven piano concerto. What a failure, and the beginning of a long journey to find something which did fit my expanding tastes in jazz and classical.

Other downgrades carried out along this journey: replacing a Denon receiver with Cambridge Audio 640Av2 amplification; replacing a Cyrus 2/PSX combo with Densen B110 amplification; replacing Sugden A21a with Sonneteer Alabaster amplification; having my first pair of Proac Response 2 refoamed with rubber (oh God why???).

 

[yoda900]

Tact Pre-power with room correction. Who turned the Music off :minikev:

 

[killie99]

lusted after an AVI lab series integrated for a number of years to replace my meridian 502/557 and get back to a 1 box solution. My ears didn't stop bleeding for a week.

 

[Tel]

Haven't made a wrong turn since I joined the Wam.

Started going to lots of bake offs and listening to lots of different kit,

Started talking to wammers who seemed to like the same presentation as I did

Went to lots more bake offs and listened to a lot more kit.

Then started upgrading.

Since that time I have bought a TT and cart

Upgraded cart and SUT twice

Upgraded pre-amp twice

Upgraded power amps twice

Upgraded speakers twice

Each change was a genuine upgrade that fitted in with the rest of the system

 

[RobHolt]

Haven't made a wrong turn since I joined the Wam.Started going to lots of bake offs and listening to lots of different kit,

Started talking to wammers who seemed to like the same presentation as I did

Went to lots more bake offs and listened to a lot more kit.

That's the way to do it.

Plenty of direct experience of actually trying and listening to stuff.

 

[SergeAuckland]

Buying a Linn LP12 as an 'upgrade' to a Connoisseur BD1. Waste of money, and ended up with something my wife hated as the bouncy-bouncy suspension frightened her.

S

 

[It Cost How Much!?!]

Rega RB300 on a Sondek, not good. The LV/V was better.

Sugden A21 with almost anything I had at the time, just wrong on so many levels.

Selling my Krell KSA200b and buying a Musical Fidelity A370, where has the musical power gone?

Heybrook Quartet, possibly the worst speakers I have owned, horrible ear splitting tweeter and no bass. I swapped from a pair of Snell K's.

Selling my wonderful Heybrook HB2's and buying some B&W 805S, noooo, the HB2's walked all over them.

Selling a Micromega Duo Pro and buying a Musical Fidelity A3CD player on spec, what a pile of crap the A3CD is. Sold it a week later.

Selling a Townshend Rock Reference and buying a CJ Walker CJ55, it was like suddenly viewing the world through a couple of long tubes, you knew there was more, but you could never get to hear it.

 

[SMEagol]

Pathos Classic One (Mk1) trounced by a fooey Sony 13" portable telly I had at the time. Italian designed turd of great aesthetic beauty. Understand the MK2 and 3 reflect the lessons learned.

Bob would argue my Lowther based Hedlund Horns, and Horning Agathons were a really bad move but I like whipping myself with birch twigs, and rather enjoyed them.

Worst mistake was selling the GRAAF kit, Posselt Albatross Speakers, and my Jean Francois Le tallec Turntable. (I'm a total twat)

 

[rabski]

Not too much really. A few 'sidegrades', but whether going up or down the ladder, I've tried to get to hear as much as possible and figure out what works together and what doesn't.

Errors of judgement along the long and winding road...

PMC GB1s. Bought new on the strength of various comments and reviews. Possibly bad pairing, but they had the remarkable ability to portray nothing of the music, or the soundstage. Quite a feat really.

Conrad Johnson power amp. Sorry to the seller (you know who you are!), but I never got anything musical out of it at all. Brash, loud, uncultured and as flat as a pancake.

Passive pre-amps. Two so far. One cheap, one anything but. Both had identical traits in being completely horrible.

Other mistakes mainly revolve around selling things then wishing I hadn't. Most are replaceable, but in a fit of insanity I sold my Transfiguration Phoenix and I damned-well wish I hadn't. The L300 was a sorrow to lose, but the funds were needed. Ditto the SJS, though in retrospect I'd probably have sold something else unwanted (a kidney or two) if I'd have thought about it.

 

[It Cost How Much!?!]

Oh yes the crappy Horning Agathons, how I hated those speakers when I owned a pair. Big, make that very big, no bass and no image. Played only one track really well, Motorhead - Tear ya down, all else was shite. I had a pair of very nice pair of PMC AB2's before.

 

[john.stone]

Event Opals.

Not good, not even close. But as we all know, some folk swear by them......