I’ll be a contrarian here ... the most COST EFFECTIVE thing I’ve done is to have gotten off of the upgrade roller coaster years ago. I now tend to keep equipment for a very long time and have stopped looking for the latest and greatest. It’s worked well for me, and saved me thousands.
What has been your costliest mistake in this hobby?
For example :I recently learned a hard lesson- I accidentally ran voltage thru my $3000 MC cartridge (kiseki purple heart). I have a TT with 5 prong connector and a phono cable with a 5 prong connector. I accidentally swapped where they plugged into and ran electric thru the tonearm into the cartridge. It was a stupid - not thinking- hasty mistake. When I corrected the problem the cartridge was fried. An avalanche of four letter words followed!
So what has been your biggest and/or costliest mistake?
So what has been your biggest and/or costliest mistake?