What’s a mistake you made by being impulsive?

Buying the PS Audio Stellar Phono Pre, caught fire..

many who can count that high dog  

My biggest mistakes were my first dedicated speakers, three way Fishers with 12" woofers, followed by a Crown IC150 preamp for my new Stacked Advents and Phase Linear amp. 

Another big mistake I very much regretted was buying a pair of Von Schweikert VR33 speakers of course without ever hearing them. They were marketed as a $15,000 pair of speakers for only $3750 sold factory direct and covered with a black sock. When I read Greg Weavers review, I decided to buy them. There was a 9 month wait for a new pair but I was too impatient to wait.


I bought a pair here, used for $3500. The guy wouldn’t budge on the price and I really wanted them. With shipping, it cost me more than a new pair. I was so disappointed when I opened the boxes, they looked so underwhelming! The sound was very thin with no mid bass weight at all. The speakers were “ugly looking” (my wife’s words) and again, the sound was anemic.


After futzing with them for 3 months, I spoke with Albert Von Schweikert and he gave me a lot of set up tips but nothing changed. Then, I stopped listening to them for over a year and mainly listened to my office system, upstairs. Eventually, I sold them for a tremendous loss and bought a pair of new GE Triton Ones which I replaced 3 years later with the Triton Reference in July 2017. These are my end game speakers.


My main reason for purchasing the Von Schweikert speakers was because of Greg Weavers review. At the time I didn’t realize he was a big VS fanboy, having praised the 5 different models of their speakers he reviewed and also having bought their Model 55 speakers. I actually wrote him a letter complaining about the speakers but he never answered.


I’m so ashamed😇

The Bob Carver Amazing Line Source Speakers.
I own the Bob Carver 350 mono blocks and they are great! So what better than to buy speakers made by the same company/man?
Wrong! Very disappointed in the speakers. They took way too much power to run and it was mostly a high midrange/ lower treble sound.
I traded them in as soon as I could.

Audition, audition, audition, especially speakers!

ozzy

In a space of 3 years I went up the Oppo ladder from DV-980H to BDP-105D with EVS mods in several steps. I could hear clear improvement with each upgrade which made me hungry for the ultimate upgrade. I knew I couldn't afford my dream Esoteric X-01, but I thought it would be fun to make a spreadsheet comparing the features, MSRPs, date of release, and going price for a used model of all the high-end SACD/Universal disc players that might fit my dream. ABSOLUTELY just for fun and amusement. Then I thought it wouldn't hurt to search for bargains on the used market...just for fun. BIG Mistake!

My spreadsheet kept growing and growing until my head spun. I knew that one feature I loved about the Oppo was the USB input. I can download music onto thumb drives and and scroll through them with ease. In the process of doing my research I came across much praise for the Ayre C-5Xce. So I added it to my spreadsheet. Alas, it lacks the USB port. The Ayre DX-5 has USB. I am not so good at keeping model names and numbers straight in my head.

A month or so goes by and I see a C-5Xce MP on the bay for a good price. I shave a few hundred off and make an offer. It is accepted and I joyfully make the payment. When I get it all set up I will sell the BDP-105 so I really didn't spend too much, anyway. The next day I had a haunting feeling that something was wrong. I went back and consulted my spreadsheet and as you can see, I had bought the wrong Ayre model! It does sound a tad better than the BDP-105; (maybe my hearing is not good enough to fully appreciate the benefits) but it can't replace it because it doesn't  fulfill all the same functions. I can't sell the Oppo or defray the cost of the Ayre, which I seldom use because navigation is a PIA. I can't see the LED screen from my chair. So I definitely wouldn't miss the Ayre if it was gone. Sometimes I think I'll resell it but I never get around to it.

I did in the lower budget realm (i.e. $5-10K) pales in comparison with better rigs. I could consign all of the sub $10K rigs to the unimpressive category.

Do you listen the electronic component quality instead of the Speakers/ROOM ?

Probably....

In my experience there is absolutely no comparison between the sonic quality of a system BEFORE and AFTER vibrations and noise floor controls and especially acoustic control...

Then instead of saying that anything under 10,000 bucks is "uninpressive" perhaps you must think twice and instead of selling to people the illusion of an absolute S.Q. scale with what is "the best in the world" at the top determined by YOU , you must sell the - S.Q. /PRICE RATIO- concept which is more objective, more practical and less deluding ?

But your expertise is in this "without end pursuit" to the moon with you guiding it seems....

After reading you most people must think that they listen to "trash" and must definitively forgot about improving their pile of low "uninpressive " gear...Which is false because all relatively good system can be transformed in a better one.... Even the best in the world can be put to another level with elementary basic science....

Great job you do taking people in the opposite direction......Money talks louder than the brain indeed....

Very useful.... 😁

But for whom?







The truth is simple, when you pass some point of S.Q. /PRICE ratio and when you adress the vibrations problem, electrical noise floor problem, and acoustic, you are in the only important category : those who can enjoy without investing a fortune a great "music" experience; the "best sound in the world" is for a few very rich people....Anyway happily for us sound is not music....Snobs can stay unimpressed....It takes a brain to compute the ratio S.Q./price anyway not only ears....

Very nice thread topic, well stated! You should get a lot of varied feedback. Here's my experience... 

I'm sure there were at least a few dozen times (even though I try to discriminate in regards to what I will/won't view) that I saw movies which were unremarkable. Also, I have eaten many meals during my lifetime that were not culinary delights. I hasten to add that my wife is a terrific cook, and there were only two times, as we were about to leave for vacation, and she scrounged in the fridge to make an unusual meal simply to use up perishables, commenting, "This will not taste good." She was right, but those were the only two times what she made was not delicious. 

I have been through dozens upon dozens of pieces of gear, and in some combinations they weren't impressive. In others, glorious. However, everything I did in the lower budget realm (i.e. $5-10K) pales in comparison with better rigs. I could consign all of the sub $10K rigs to the unimpressive category. 

Is it impulsive to buy to upgrade? Sure, why not. We're all doing that. None of this is needed. Pretty much all of audio is a degree of impulse buying. 

The first few times you don't get a good match it is deflating. After a while, if you keep up with system making, you realize not every combo is golden. No biggie. It's when you think you have to get every dollar maximized, as though you can't make a mismatch, that you are going to suffer. So, suffer. A realistic attitude will realize the plethora of combos WILL yield wildly different sound, and the spectrum of performance is WAY beyond what you think. 

Finally, it takes a lot of work to get some products to sound good, but some never will. Those you can usually screen out due to inherent design/build characteristics, if you know what to look for, and your preferences. Ignorance kills. But, how to get experience? Make mistakes.  LOL I would not take back any of the experiences I have had, for they shaped my development as a System Builder. I learned so much from all the different forms of systems. 

The worst? Determine that you have to find the perfect piece for your system. Think it must sound far better with little effort. Great way to set yourself up for problems. :)

willgolf, good point on impulsivity on selling in order to buy. That is for sure a killer! BTW, read my review of the Legacy i.V4 Ultra Amps at Dagogo.com; class D is VERY different now than several years ago. It is glorious with horns - and everything else! 

In mid April I purchased a Rega Planar 3 w/Ania MC cart to replace my Heybrook TT2/LVX/OC-9ML combo.  
While I was breaking in the Rega I serviced the Heybrook myself in order to sell it.  
After setting everything back to spec I had a listen and guess what?
It sounds considerably better  than the Rega combo which has 30 hours on it.  Guess I should have done that first before I bought the Rega.
The OC-9ML has around 200 hours on it... it's a keeper.
The Planar 3/Ania is for sale.

In my case, you should have asked, "which impulsive purchase did you regret the most" as soon as you bought it and I could answer that question easier.

McIntosh MA252.sold it after 90 days. Very underwhelming. Made some cash though.

Add Monster To the marketing hype companies like Bose has been. (Although Bose finally came up with a nice sounding headphones... although not remotely accurate).

Buying into the hype started with Bose 901s in 1973. Unloaded them
quickly in favor of kit built corner horns.


I have very nearly given up on gear before it was burned in.

I think I have sold more stuff I would like to still own than
actual bad buys. 

Either way it doesn't feel good. 

Patience is rewarded. 

Helomech-
Haha yeah you and I have learned a few lessons about hype from manufacturers.... for sure.

BTW I had to inquire and ask questions from a now popular speaker company about "who" makes their drivers. These questions were never answered and I felt wiser than before when I made all the wrong choices in buying from audio brand X. Brand X guy never answered the phone and always made excuses. If companies are honest and I see others getting good communication from the smaller boutique audio manufacturers I can feel confident with a purchase. I feel that when a company asks outrageous prices for the gear they sell.... one should be skeptical that you might not get an equitable amount of performance for the price. That was proved by Danny in the video I posted in my previous post. But the same holds true for audio companies that claim they have the best bargain prices for "high end" stuff. I have often found those companies cut corners to offer that "high end" stuff at the price they do. That sometimes means their el-cheapo capacitors fail much more often or the transformers they buy from china are junk and buzz. (Not knocking all Chinese gear, I have a Chinese amp that is very nice and has given great customer service). I am saying I think in those cases of el-cheapo capacitors and transformers, you really do get what you pay for because the manufacturer is just putting a sale above all else.
But hey man I am happy now, hope you are doing well with your system too.

I bought into the hype of a particular factory-direct brand (probably the same one to which @2psyop was referring). Though my mistake was a pair of speakers.

 They looked great in theory — top shelf Scanspeak drivers and crossovers populated with boutique parts. Cabinets with custom wood veneer assembled in the USA. Unfortunately, the product I actually received was a joke. Drivers were mounted with too small of screws. The crossovers were rattling around in the cabinets because they had only been secured to the foam lining. The veneer was poorly cut and aligned at the edges, and the lacquer covering the veneer had numerous runs and bubbles. In short, the cabinets looked like someone’s high-school shop project, not what one would expect from speakers costing over $4K/pair. 

Though this company claimed a “no-hassle satisfaction guarantee” on its website, returning the speakers was the biggest PITA I’ve experienced in all my time in this hobby. When all was concluded, the mistake left my bank account $400 lighter. The worst part was not the money I lost, rather it was having to deal with the man-child owner of the company. 

You should not change everything at once you will have no basis or comparison and if you do go to a single ended triode amplifier you will have to change around your entire system again especially your speakers but the one thing i can suggest about a better pre amplifier is that it is a very critical component whether you get the dac or not it is the hub o a great system it can make or break it in so many ways.

Mr “Willgolf” — would you comment on your Lampizator Pacific?   Was it a big step up from your prior DAC?  I have been intrigued by the thought of adding some tubes into my system and the Pacific caught my eye.  Thank you.

I spent several years and several thousands of $'s trying to get a pair of Thiel speakers to sound "right".  Now, I am fortunate to live in a major metro area where I can avail myself of many audio product choices.  Most of the dealers in my area allow for in home trials and will give honest advice on system matching.  I have developed a "go to" number of recordings for each time I audition a new component.  Some lessons you lean the hard way.  

@stereo5 “You are going to laugh, but I bought the new JBL L100 Classics because of the orange grills. ”

I completely get it. When JBL got mentioned before you somewhere... I looked up JBL speakers and immediately was drawn to the orange grills. I started thinking... could I set up another system downstairs somewhere... they just bring back so many great memories!

I’ve impulsively bought 3 pairs of otherwise well regarded/reviewed new speakers in the last few years (not counting a 4th pair I kept) that I sent back or sold off. All without hearing them first (except the ones I kept). Oh well...lesson (maybe) learned.

I love the excitement of he chase and when inspiration strikes, I often make a fast move, especially if there’s a ‘deal’ to be had. I got hyped on boutique SET amps without knowing anything about them too soon in my audio journey and impulsively bought a $6k demo 211 amp, followed by a $4k matching pre to power my ill-advised klipsch forte iiis (bad match for my room).  I had crappy digital sources then (chromecast, then raspberry pi) and sold the 211 and pre for big loss a year ago before really bringing the system up to their level.  Still curious how good they really were/are.

My recent impulse buys have worked out better (wells audio cipher dac, graham audio ls5/5s), thankfully, because I know more now about my tastes and synergy.  But I like to jump on a deal and probably always will.

@philbarone
I don’t believe you are extracting most of the benefit that the D.I.’s have to offer.
I’m fairly familiar with them having owned them for about 3 1/2 years.
They are not perfect, but they have the ability to perform pretty darn good overall, and are exceptional in certain areas. At their price point they are a great value.
I wonder what’s the likelihood that something is amiss with your pair.

I made many mistakes 7 years ago trying to create my audio system...

I read reviews and was deceived with many low cost products and 7 pairs of headphones i used no more......

Finally i take matter in my hand with listening experiments...3 years ago

To say a story short, i am no more gullible consumer and know that to create imaging, depth , soundstage, listener envelopment, natural timbre, any "relatively good pieces of gear" well chosen MAY do, IF after decreasing the electrical noise floor, and controlling vibrations/resonance, you STUDY acoustic with your ears and made simple experiments...

But people think that it takes a costly tube amplifier for example to create depth imaging....This is how superstitious consumers are....Price is for them a guarantee ...

And acoustic for them is a few costly panels you glue to the walls...a secondary addition to their branded name costly gear....

The worst mistake people could do is ignore acoustic ...

Who will believe that with 1/2 inch in less on a 6 inches straw added to an Helmholtz tubes with an aperture of less than 2 centimeters one can collapse the soundstage dramatically in a room? Or the opposite?

i know i did it....

Dont make any mistake study acoustic and psychoacoustic not the catalog of acoustic panels sellers....Quit upgrading and think....

I bought into the hype and bought Tekton Double Impacts.  

Maybe by taking too many steps to get to where I already knew that I'd end up. But even those 'mistakes' revealed more about the hobby and increased my depth of knowledge - even if it sometimes drained my bank account!

Ehh, the way I see it, if one can afford it and make it work within one's budget, then it's no big deal; it'll probably bring some new joy into one's life. 

On the other hand, if it causes you to eat ramen noodles for half a year, or it prevents you from making badly needed repairs to one's car used mainly for work, then yeah, it was a mistake!  Hah!  

You are going to laugh, but I bought the new JBL L100 Classics because of the orange grills. I wanted them when they were out in the 70’s so when the new ones came out with those grills, I bought them. So, I disconnected my GE Triton Ones and set up the JBL speakers on their stands. Bass was aenemic and I was surprised, especially since the JBL's had 12 inch woofers.

After a month, I tried a Bellini and Schiit 4 band EQ. Well, I liked the Schiit, but the extreme low frequency was at 20 hz while the Bellini wa @60hz, so I kept the Bellini and boosted the bass 3db at 60hz and decreased the 2K frequency by 2db. It was much better, so then I bought a SVS PB2000Pro 12 inch sub. That necessitated a long pair of interconnects which I had to buy (Blue Jeans Mogami) and after 5 months, the sound is as good as the GE Triton Ones were that I sold to pay for the sub and EQ.

There was nothing wrong with the GE, if only JBL didn’t come with orange grills, I wouldn’t have bothered. I bought orange fabric (pretty much see through) to change the SVS sub grill to orange. If anyone has hints on doing that, hit me up!  So that is my sad story, all for orange grills.

HD-DVD player. 

@nmmusicman My thoughts exactly about Krell amps in general, which was a bit of a surprise the first time I heard a Krell amp given all of the positive press that they get. I guess how each of us listen is different.

The Krell KSA 400 integrated amp. Took it home for a weekend and it was the most amusical device I’ve ever heard. Had the famed Krell bass slam but everything was garbage. 

I would say impulsively buying and flipping cables for a few years, I eventually made myself stop and very happy with the loom I have now.

I bought a high end surround sound preamp, big mistake. Mixing analog and digital on one chassis, simply a bad idea. OP you need a subwoofer and isolation platform, forget the panels.

Nothing egregious, but I've bought sets of NOS tubes after a few drinks.  I've since learned to stay away from any good tube site after imbibing.  I really don't need anymore 12au7s or ax7s!

I am impulsive by nature, but the high cost of and desire to alway purchase far above what I can afford has pushed me to research the living daylights out of every purchase... so can’t say I have had a significant bad one.

Never make mistakes.

Overconfidence: the perfect example of the über mistake, right there. 

So, a couple mistakes as I built my system up from nothing. 
1. Bought speakers which were too hard to drive and then had to figure out how to get a powerful enough amp. Way more than I wanted to spend on amps, so I needed a more sensitive speaker; luckily, the maker was willing to upgrade me before the end of the build cycle. 
2. Didn't start measuring room with REW and microphone unit later and then dealt with room issues, last. The smart thing would have been to buy the $100 microphone and measure the room, and then consider equipment which might be able to work in that room. For example, my room probably would benefit from multiple subs, but I could only know that after I already purchased a single good sub.

Like jtcf I have no regrets, but I wish I could go back to my vintage Adcom and Parasound amp days and replace them with something more sublime. Had a pair of Bozak speakers back in my college days and never figured out until they were gone that perhaps more power was required. So I never knew if they just really sucked or would have opened up with a much beefier amp. Never sold a component that I regretted selling which is nice.

No serious regrets really. But listening to the hype begat too many lateral moves.If I only knew then what I know now about component matching,build quality, and acoustics. Never having large amounts of money to throw at this hobby probably saved me.

Never make mistakes.

A good question for sure. I lusted after a particular brand X amp made by a boutique company until I had the money to purchase one. I also purchased the preamp....then another preamp. I won't disclose the name here but the experience with the quality and performance was poor and the guy who makes the equipment was an arrogant jerk. I ended up losing lots of cash (mind you this is a poor's man's system bought with hard earning money) and I will be much, much more careful in the future. My current system has had no problems, while I see other people buying brand X and still having QC issues. The term still applies "buyer beware" to audio equipment.
BTW I did not immediately regret my decision.... but rather learned that some hyped up brands do not always meet expectations. In the case of poor workmanship, you must determine how much a company will cut corners to sell products.
A good example of this is by Danny Richie at GR research. https://youtu.be/1S-jTJK43t0

I just got lucky, a mistake I made had no consequence, but it certainly could have.

I researched a lot of vintage preamps, I needed shallow depth to sit on top of a bookcase. Luxman stood out.

ALL the Vintage Luxman Tube Preamps had pre-out/main-in and/or a tape/processor loop. Then I crossed path with a very good deal on a current Luxman Tube Integrated Amp: SQ-N150. It has both MM and MC stages built in, oh boy!

Only 10 wpc, and the Wharfedale bookshelf speakers are only 87 efficiency: that’s both the lowest power and lowest efficiency speaker I ever tried.

Solution: pre-out to Velodyne self-powered sub, remove the need to amplify low bass. Both the Luxman 10 wpc and bookcase speakers would have a much easier job.

Offer accepted, delivered in 2 days!

Arrived, cables in hand. NO pre-out/main-in. No tape out/in or processor loop, just in/speaker wires out. Oh you dummy, how the hell could you miss this?

Some Luck: Sub allows line in/out OR what I am doing: speaker wires in/out. Amp still amplifies low bass, the bookcase speakers only get a break, the sub does the low bass.

I had the Luxman hooked up downstairs with my very efficient horns and 15" woofers. Very nice, but would never play loud live levels down there.

The REAL LUCK: 10 wpc is enough volume in this small office with no clipping occurring.

Whew! I actually printed the circuit diagram, was considering having Audio Classics add a pre-out/main-in loop. Goodbye 3 Year Warranty!

a lesson for the future, IF I can remember.

Cat ---I just went through that last year. I sold my house and they bought my two channel system.  The good news is that I was going to get a whole new system   The bad news is I bought it in the wrong order.  After having a high end tube amp, I was talked into Class D Mola Mola Amps.  I bought them and never heard them play.  I then went on a journey to find speakers.  Unfortunately, I ended up having a pair of Viking Acoustic Grande Voix Dual Horn speakers made.  Well Class D and Horns do not go together.  I tried to sell the the amps that I never played.  I got impatient after trying for 4 months and no takers.  I panicked.  I ended up trading them to a dealer who cut me a deal on higher end mono tube amps.  BTW he sold the Mola Mola in a day.  To be honest I still do not have the proper match for my speakers but I do have tube amps.  Then I decided to replace my Lumin X-1 which I absolutely loved.  I bought a Lampizator Pacific,  I sold the X-1 but did not get my price.

So the moral of my story is....if I would have taken my time and purchased the speakers first, I then could have matched an amp to them.  But I impulsively bought those damn Class D amps and that was spiraled into many actions I did not need to take.