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Biggest disappointment in equipment sound quality?

Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2013 3:20 pm
by jeffreybehr
My nomination is the VonSchweikert centerchannel speaker I had a few years ago. Just never had much resolution, and it was built of particle board that started shredding the 1st time a driver was removed. (At its VERY high price, one would think VSA could have used T-nuts.) My V'steen VCC-2 sounds LOTS better.

Re: Biggest disappointment in equipment sound quality?

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 1:44 pm
by Good Dog Jocko
Many years ago I bought a subwoofer from DAC, and was appalled by the sound quality and the build quality.

DAC was revealed for what it is, a catalog that sells overpriced junk to yuppies with overblown advertising.

The woofer did not even have a curvalinear cone, being a straight sided paper cone with a very light magnet. A very small and cheap inductor and a trashy NPE capacitor did the crossover duties. The cabinet was thin particle board of about 1/2" thickness, nonbraced, that was very resonant. My little stand mounted monitor speakers sounded better all by themselves, minus the subwoofer.

Never bought anything from DAC again. You can do better at Radio Shack, which is still not saying much.

Re: Biggest disappointment in equipment sound quality?

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2014 1:29 pm
by jeffreybehr
Good Dog Jocko wrote:Many years ago I bought a subwoofer from DAC, and was appalled by the sound quality and the build quality.

DAC was revealed for what it is, a catalog that sells overpriced junk to yuppies with overblown advertising.

The woofer did not even have a curvalinear cone, being a straight sided paper cone with a very light magnet. A very small and cheap inductor and a trashy NPE capacitor did the crossover duties. The cabinet was thin particle board of about 1/2" thickness, nonbraced, that was very resonant. My little stand mounted monitor speakers sounded better all by themselves, minus the subwoofer.

Never bought anything from DAC again. You can do better at Radio Shack, which is still not saying much.
Seems to me I had a SW just like that decades ago. Yuk!

Re: Biggest disappointment in equipment sound quality?

Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2020 9:24 pm
by AnotherJohnson
My biggest disappointment was my discovery that while the Azur line of Cambridge Audio was decent, the rest of their Chinese sourced stuff was disappointing.

I acquired some speakers and a CD player from their lower level when Spearit blew them out at their close out, and none of those pieces lasted a month here.

Re: Biggest disappointment in equipment sound quality?

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2020 4:15 pm
by roberto
Mine was to see the bad quality components that McIntosch use on their products. A reason why their signal to noise ratio was not too good. They belonged to my dad system. I did service them many times, specially the MC2105, and the MC2505. Nice outside, but inside...did not like them at all.
Still have a MC2105 with a noisy transistors.

Happy listening!

Re: Biggest disappointment in equipment sound quality?

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2020 10:36 am
by AnotherJohnson
roberto wrote: Sat Aug 22, 2020 4:15 pm Mine was to see the bad quality components that McIntosch use on their products. A reason why their signal to noise ratio was not too good. They belonged to my dad system. I did service them many times, specially the MC2105, and the MC2505. Nice outside, but inside...did not like them at all.
Still have a MC2105 with a noisy transistors.

Happy listening!
My own experience matches yours. That old McIntosh solid state stuff sounded HORRIBLE to my ears.

Re: Biggest disappointment in equipment sound quality?

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2020 1:17 pm
by roberto
AJ,
I don´t want to say bad words about a very known brand, but the truth is that. Inside are not as good as they look outside. The designers spent a lot of money on the look, watching them with those big power meters, and the green light color is a beauty, but lacks what I was seeking and expecting: sound quality.

Happy listening!

Re: Biggest disappointment in equipment sound quality?

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2020 2:46 pm
by AnotherJohnson
I think it’s the famous autoformer output circuit.
The 450 wpc and up models sound ok to me, but they are so heavy, I will not use them.

When you get right down to it, compared to CJ, nearly everything else is disappointing.

Re: Biggest disappointment in equipment sound quality?

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2020 8:03 pm
by roberto
AJ,
That's the musician ears! They never are wrong. They are the final judges, and they say what it is the truth: you're liking. Catch yourself tapping the floor, or getting goosebumps, is a signal of liking. I never had that with the other brand, and very frequent with CJ. My conclusion is: I do really like CJ!

Happy listening!

Re: Biggest disappointment in equipment sound quality?

Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2020 2:25 pm
by Big Dog RJ
Interesting topic, just came across it today.

I would say in my journey/ experience, there are far too many disappointing components that I've used. However, now or at least since 2016 it's been very positive! Especially with what I've put together so far.

To come to think of it, various amplifiers, speakers and gear have come and gone but one type of amplification that not only outlasted them all but just simply surpassed the sonic performance and quality by a far margin, has always been CJ! Whenever I get a new / different component, hook it up and plug it in, there's something missing. Even the wifey notices at once, and always says why didn't I just keep that CJ gear, what a beautiful sound! Oh well, I guess she's right.

Although, I really don't want to place anything negative on any product/ brand for obvious ethical reasons... there's just one type of speakers that caused me a lot of pain, grief, money repairing plus grief on the team trying to fix them!
None other than the Quad ESL 2905's. I've written a fair bit on these stats in other posts but I will say this though, if not for all the hassle and drama experienced, I would have still kept them. They do have a very unique dispersion pattern and one that is very engaging with an enveloping sound. Apart from its many flaws, partnered with CJ amplifiers (especially tubes) it was a marvellous thing! Very hard to surpass the sheer depth in soundstage and brilliance in its 3D holographic affect. It's a darn shame Peter Walker and his crew couldn't hold onto production based in the UK. The moment PW passed away, I told myself, "there will never be another Quad."

Comments made above about Vandersteen speakers; that's another superb combination with CJ, fantastic music at it's best, and one that I would have happily owned if I were to venture towards dynamic driver designs.

As we all know, amongst the best and worst of times we've had with CJ gear, whatever that may be either with tubes or SS, at the end of the day, you simply can't fault any of it. CJ is really worth the investment, after all it does just sound right!

Cheers maties, enjoy those fine tunes!
RJ

Re: Biggest disappointment in equipment sound quality?

Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2020 6:36 pm
by admin
Hi RJ,
The Quads are a special breed. I was really saddened to learn that they moved production to Asia. I think this was a mistake. Yeah, labor is cheaper there but I don't see how quality control can be possibly improved with such a move. As a planar fan, it's one of the main reasons I would never buy Quad. A UK speaker made in China... just doesn't sit well with me.

Re: Biggest disappointment in equipment sound quality?

Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2020 8:09 am
by AnotherJohnson
admin wrote: Mon Aug 31, 2020 6:36 pm Hi RJ,
The Quads are a special breed. I was really saddened to learn that they moved production to Asia. I think this was a mistake. Yeah, labor is cheaper there but I don't see how quality control can be possibly improved with such a move. As a planar fan, it's one of the main reasons I would never buy Quad. A UK speaker made in China... just doesn't sit well with me.
Same for me with Cambridge Audio. There are quite a few “British” brands that have been manufactured in China in recent years. There is something about the willingness on the company’s part to outsource the means of manufacturing and labor to a third world labor market in order to cut costs that makes me wonder in general about decisions made on part quality and manufacturing method.

There is an old sign in my workshop. It reads:

“We can make it fast, we can make it cheap, we can make it good. Pick two.”

Cheap and fast are the choices chosen by the MBAs who export their manufacturing base (and intellectual property) to China.

Re: Biggest disappointment in equipment sound quality?

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2021 8:49 pm
by 4thtimeaudiophile
My most recent recollection of a disappointment would be an Adcom GFP-555II preamp. I bought this from a friend for $100 when I was getting back into audio for the 4th time in my life. I was using it on the bench to switch source material for my DIY 6L6 SE amp. It ruined the class A sound of the tube amp. This preamp's phono stage naturally stinks, even with my modest vinyl setup. It colors, or shall I say flattens the sound of anything going through it. I am certain that I have owned much worse in my 50 years of listening to music. Most of the audio gear that I have owned is quite forgettable, which I have managed to do.

Re: Biggest disappointment in equipment sound quality?

Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2021 10:04 am
by Big Dog RJ
Oh yeah! I remember those Adcoms... made up north, a few units arrived in Spore from Quebec or somewhere up there. So we obtained three units, a preamp, and two power amps. One was very highly reviewed by Anthony H Cordsman, who actually used the Adcom top of line to drive his Apogee studio grands, which were his reference system.

We hooked these up to several speakers at the time, Thiel's, VMPS, Dunlevy's, Maggie's and Apogee's. It drove them but musicality and sonic performance... meh.
The good thing is all three units were sold! So no losses there, phew!

When we took delivery of this new MF 2000 series by CJ, we didn't know what to expect, thinking it would be similar to most SS designs. Again all three in the line up were ordered: MF2100, MF2200 & MF2300. Drove the very same speakers as mentioned above, and after that jaw dropping experience, we called it a day and went out for beers!
And that's all she wrote! No comparison whatsoever!

Cheers, RJ

Re: Biggest disappointment in equipment sound quality?

Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2021 10:54 am
by SteveFord
I can vouch for the Adcom/MF series.
My Adcom has been relegated to subwoofer duty.