How hard is it to admit you bought bad gear?

solution: try before you buy.

if you don't, you are sure to get a dud now and then and you'll have noone to blame but yourself. i'm constantly amazed by people who buy stuff site-unseen based on the reviews or the brand name.

I think I bought some snake oil cables. Other than that, I've been pretty lucky (or so I think, maybe it's what you're talking about). I think my HT processor is pretty good, but I have found better stuff for the same price since. That's not exactly the same thing, but it kinda burns actually.

Oh God no, avguygeorge and others, I have made plenty of them
and yes, more than I care to admit. Whats hard is thinking of which is the worse. I do think it might be as benefical though, especially to some of the newbies, and I guess really to some of us older timers, that we admit our boners.
Always easy to talk about the good deals, but I have to admit there have been one or two amp mods( I seem to fall for mods) I fell for that I wish I hadn't.
On the same note, but in a far better light, just got off the phone for the 1st time
with Stan Warren(I think I am going to have him mod my DV 09
Elite for me, any thoughts on that?)what a class individual. Everything I am reading about him must be true.
And as far as reviews go, I think we all know WE let them carry too much weight in what WE buy, or at least look at. Yes, part of it is the only 2 real dealers in this area can only carry maybe 1/100 of the gear available out there, so I have to depend some on others, and since they do it for a living we(or just I) think they should be right. How many times have I considered something or look to see if something is on the Stereophile or used to the TAS recommended list. And in the case of TAS, who among us could sort out what they really thought about a product? And I loved the mag, but damn it could be confusing until you learned to trust your own ears.
And yes, how many good products are out there that died in infancy because they couldn't get anywhere withe the mags? That must be an incredible pile of equipment

One thing to keep in mind about AR is that the reviewed component is usually an upgrade from a lesser model and sounds better to the user. This may give it a 5 star rating. A 5 star rating does not mean it is the best of the bunch.

I do like AR as a reference.

I don't trust AR as a source as to whether a product is good or not. I posted a review that was initially accepted but a few days later it was taken off. There was another review which was also taken off. Both our reviews were 3 stars on the product, but since this is presently one of the hot items in the Audio community... (product has 37 reviews all 5 stars)