Your single most significant purchase mistake?

NHT 3.3's. I bought them after Corey Greenberg's rave review. I could never get them to sound good in my house. I moved on to Vandersteen 3's.

Mid to late 80’ s, my Harmon Kardon 730 blew a channel. It was 10 years old, so I bought a Luxman R115 receiver. Specs were great. I even heard it in the store. However,when I got it home a set it up, my first listen was a giant letdown. The bass line consisted of the bass drum only. Speakers were original large Advent. I sold it within the year and got the HK 730 fixed and enjoyed it for another ten years. I still cringe when someone recommends  Luxman.

This was a great lesson. It was the only piece of gear that I made such a mistake. And I had listened to it. Since then, I have put together what I believe is a reference quality system without hearing anything except the speakers.

My mistake was in not buying something- two 10B tuners- $1,200; that was for the pair- 

VAC PA 100/100. Sounded horrible. Took it over to a friend's house. Horrible there too. One week from opening the box to packing the box.

Sonic Frontiers Power 2. Very sterile sounding with a midbass bump that was very annoying. Kept this one for a couple of months thinking I had a room/speaker issue. As soon as I replaced it, the problem went away.

My first wife.