Biggest Audio Regrets - Chapter 1

11tsteve

not having the money for bikerboy's Aleph.

txcoastal1

Not buying F1's hot rodded JD100

Joey_V

Big 4 that I regretted.

1. Magico Mini II for 9500$ - missed that deal by not acting quick enough. Never saw it for that price since then.
2. Rockport Avior for $17000 - the owner was motivated, even offered that he would hold it for me for 6 months while I paid him. Right before I accepted the offer, he got a full price offer on audiogon for $20K. I could've flipped them for money.
3. Walnut SF Guarneri Evolution - the only walnut I saw for sale, even knew the owner. Offered it to me for $11K shipped and I waffled, then someone bought it from under me 2 hours before I sent in my accepted offer on audiogon. Dang it!! Would have matched my wooden floors to a "T".... argh!!! And it would've sounded wonderful.
4. Pass Labs XS150... for sale for half the retail... never saw it for sale again... didn't have it in the budget so I had to watch as someone else bought it. Helpless.

I think I have a way of waffling.. and then I miss out on some good deals.

I guess I get a lot of cold feet.

Otherwise, I think I've put together a pretty good amalgam of gear... stuff sounds pretty good.

WagnerRC

Damn Joey that was fun just looking up those items. Thanks

ken brydson

Joey_V wrote: »

Big 4 that I regretted.

1. Magico Mini II for 9500$ - missed that deal by not acting quick enough. Never saw it for that price since then.
2. Rockport Avior for $17000 - the owner was motivated, even offered that he would hold it for me for 6 months while I paid him. Right before I accepted the offer, he got a full price offer on audiogon for $20K. I could've flipped them for money.
3. Walnut SF Guarneri Evolution - the only walnut I saw for sale, even knew the owner. Offered it to me for $11K shipped and I waffled, then someone bought it from under me 2 hours before I sent in my accepted offer on audiogon. Dang it!! Would have matched my wooden floors to a "T".... argh!!! And it would've sounded wonderful.
4. Pass Labs XS150... for sale for half the retail... never saw it for sale again... didn't have it in the budget so I had to watch as someone else bought it. Helpless.

I think I have a way of waffling.. and then I miss out on some good deals.

I guess I get a lot of cold feet.

Otherwise, I think I've put together a pretty good amalgam of gear... stuff sounds pretty good.

I regret that I can't afford any of that ****...

BlueFox

Somehow drifting away from music in the 1990s, and not get back into it until around 2005.

motorhead43026

BlueFox wrote: »

Somehow drifting away from music in the 1990s, and not get back into it until around 2005.

Same here, except it was not until this year that I got back in.

WLDock

I regret spending so many years deep into car audio. I shied away from home audio because I realized the first time I walked into a high end audio store how large and out of my league rabbit hole of a hobby this is. The flip to that is, I'm sure I've bought, use, sold, etc between $10K-$15K+ in car audio gear over the years dating back to the early 90's. Could have built a nice 2ch rig by now. Now its harder to do with a family an all....plus a theater system.

Also, I've found many craigslist deals on gear. Some I fix, sell, flip or keep. However, I regret not jumping on a $1300 deal from a guy in the same city as I for this setup:
B&W CDM 9NT towers
B&W CDM CNT center
B&W ASW-1000 Sub
Rotel RSP-976 preamp
Rotel RMB-1095 amp
Monster HTS3500 power center

By the time I jumped it was too late....

pitdogg2

Giving away all my first run Kiss albums, which are worth a MINT now when I bought my CD player.

nooshinjohn wrote: »

Parting with the Sansui AU-20000 and TU-9900 tuner I scored for $40.00 near mint from Goodwill.... sometimes parting with something because you need a buck is not the best thing to do.

John I would of kept that Tuner till i was dust....Face meet palm

heiney9

That I didn't embrace tubes sooner. I had a preconceived notion about what tubes sounded like. I was 100% wrong and stubborn about it. Tubes are a great way to enjoy this hobby because rolling makes subtle changes that make it seem like you have a new piece of gear.

If you get bored or the sound goes a bit stale, roll in a different tube and you have something fresh. Similar to what you already had, but different enough to re-enjoy all your favorite music again.

H9

mikeyb128

I regret spending so much money on home theater. Trying way too many receivers with power amps, when I should have just bought a dedicated pre to begin with. My home theater obsession tore me away from music, which was what got me into audio in the first place. I wish I would have spent all that home theater money on one good pair of speakers.

I've been contemplating picking apart the theater and down sizing to pursue my now 2 channel obsession.

chumlie

@BlueFox
Not jumping on that Sony ES Super Audio player you gave away.

PolkieMan

Throwing out my Minty Pioneer Sx1050 because it kept blowing the left speaker I should have got in fixed and more or less giving away my HPM-100's :-(

mantis

1) Not seeking out a Pair of RT16 way back in the day. I settled for a pair of brand new RT1000p's. Which I loved but to this day haunts me that I didn't get the speakers I really wanted and fell in love with back in the 90's.
2) Not Going B&W at some point in my life. B&W speakers to me are the reference standard in the industry. They have a ruler flat response as close as possible at whatever level you are trying to buy.
3) Selling my Dynaudio Audience 82's. These where by far the most musical speakers I ever owned. I had a full Audience Surround package and a Killer Sub500 sub. This combo sound quality wise was the best I ever owned for music.
Reasons I sold them is for Theater I felt they where to laid back. Like the LSI's in ways just not exciting to watch movies with them and I had 330 watts per channel in the Rotel RMB1095 power amp driving them. Maybe I needed even more power to push those speakers to excitement. What didn't make sense is that music was very dynamic and involving. I don't know what it was about movie soundtracks that always seemed to lack. When I got my still Loved Def Tech Mythos speaker package, Theater experience was exactly what I was looking for and I never really felt I lost to much listening to music as these are the best of both worlds. But there are times I wish I still owned at least the 82's.
2nd reason was they where Maple finish which I loved but the right side of my room is a bay window and my wife always opened the blinds and the sun slightly faded the lief sides of the speakers. I hated it as Maple discolors anyway but this sped up the process and they had to go.

kevhed72

I scored a Vintage Pioneer SX 750 (may be wrong model number) with the wood top / sides in great condition and new lighting on the inside....from Goodwill.
I flipped it on Ebay to make a buck.

[Deleted User]

My biggest regret is
expressing my love of all things Emotiva in an
inappropriate way on a forum.
You can't do that on stage anymore.

gudnoyez

I have a hard time getting rid of audio gear but sold my Acoustic Research AR 58'S in order to make room for my 2.3tls, which do best the AR 58's but I still wish I had them, for sentimental reasons.

george daniel

Selling my Audible Illusions L 1 and Belles 350a,,,such great synergy those had!