surprisetech Posted January 24 Posted January 24 Thankfully very few regrets considering how long I've been in the game. Some work colleagues (at Philips), friends and reputable retailers who were generous with their wisdom in the early days certainly helped. I've also been pretty patient and done my research. Auditioning was also possible with so many bricks & mortar hifi stores in the Melbourne suburbs in those days. I do regret selling my first CD player. I deliberately waited until the dust had settled a bit before getting on board with CD. I was familiar with the technology and well aware that many of the early DAC chips were only 14, or even 12bit! Saved up and got a Marantz CD-50 (CDM-4 mechanism & TDA1541A). So, unlike some, my experience with CDs was a positive one right from the outset. While I don't regret the move to a universal disk player in the main system, in the 12 years of using the CD-50 it never disappointed and I'd happily have it in my 2nd system if it was still in my possession. 2
surprisetech Posted January 24 Posted January 24 On 24/01/2025 at 3:04 AM, Spider27 said: Not using tone control but try to find sound that I like by changing amp, dac and speakers etc. Originally thought that tone control is for non-hifi mass consumers only and audio enthusiasts never use it. So much easier to fine tune the sound characteristics by using tone control a bit and ignore what other people say. Expand I always have a chuckle when someone won't use a tone control because it introduces a little group delay but will spend big on a highly capacitive interconnect to achieve the same effect, including adding the group delay. Used sensibly, they can be a godsend. Aside from compensating for things like speaker & room interactions, a bright cartridge, etc., the tonal balance on any recording is subject to all sorts of influences and it's not a bad thing to have the ability to do a little subtle fine tuning. 2
ENIGMA Posted January 24 Posted January 24 On 24/01/2025 at 3:53 AM, surprisetech said: I always have a chuckle when someone won't use a tone control because it introduces a little group delay but will spend big on a highly capacitive interconnect to achieve the same effect, including adding the group delay. Used sensibly, they can be a godsend. Aside from compensating for things like speaker & room interactions, a bright cartridge, etc., the tonal balance on any recording is subject to all sorts of influences and it's not a bad thing to have the ability to do a little subtle fine tuning. Expand Hmmm, no response to you post for 3 hours - must have been a group delay. 1 4
Rockford Posted January 24 Posted January 24 Selling my Yamaha GT750 TT, I went off analog and back to digital only. Now I've come back and I miss it. 1
Kirk100 Posted January 24 Posted January 24 I don't regret the journey I've taken while learning more and more about the hobby. I love to tinker whether it's cars, tech, or hi-fi. But the tinkering with hi-fi has led to a few poor decisions! 1. Being influenced by reviews of "giant killer" equipment. Mostly it has ended up being a mild improvement or a step back. Still has been fun to test some of this stuff out though. 2. Selling equipment I should have held on to. I sold a pair of Krix floorstanders to replace them with bookshelves cause the partner at the time would complain about the bass, well she is gone and so were the Krix (sad face for the speakers) 3. Not just going for the end game when I knew what it was. If you know what you want be patient! I have bought so many "stop gap" pieces only to flip them 6 months later and get what I was actually wanting. 9 1
thimmy118 Posted January 24 Posted January 24 (edited) Regrets: Buying new equipment that I think is supposed to be better than my current equipment and it turned out to be the same or worse; No regrets: Buying new equipment that I think is supposed to be better than my current equipment and it turned out to be better than expected. Wasted significant amount of money on either outcome over the years. Lessons not learned, still spending. Edited January 25 by thimmy118 grammar 6 1
ENIGMA Posted January 24 Posted January 24 I do regret giving away my first amplifier my uncle gave me when i was 13 and not have it here in memory of him and my journey. 2 2
Bisguittin Posted January 24 Posted January 24 On 24/01/2025 at 11:25 AM, ENIGMA said: I do regret giving away my first amplifier my uncle gave me when i was 13 and not have it here in memory of him and my journey. Expand What was the amplifier?
dafloro6601 Posted January 25 Posted January 25 Buying a bunch of expensive records without listening to the entire album first. 5
nzdans Posted January 25 Posted January 25 On 23/01/2025 at 9:50 PM, maximus said: Spending $6850 on a pair of Pioneer TAD SX-1 floor standing speakers. 83kg's of absolute tripe, they just screamed at me. Thought I was getting a raven bargain, but oh! they sounded terrible. I had years and years of owning lemons, you only have to look under my avatar in the classifieds. Too many regrets to mention. Expand I recall you still raving about those Pioneers to me
frankn Posted January 25 Posted January 25 My biggest regret(s) are likely not purchasing the unit I would have liked 1st, rather trying to work out the perceived best cost/benefit, purchasing that, then at a later date upgrading. Sometimes of course this approach can work in your favour as a new model arrives or your purchase allows you to concentrate on the properties you really like and subsequently your next purchase is more focused. But it is a journey as they say, so not too many regrets.
maximus Posted January 25 Posted January 25 Haven't seen that avatar for yonks Dan, how could one forget. I remember selling you an RCA cable outside my gymnasium the week I bought the Pioneers. I did make that assumption on all reports from overseas articles, it was very exciting at the time as their RRP was around 16k. They arrived 2 weeks later, a horrid sound, so hard and unmusical. I ended up selling them to a collector from Sydney, make good firewood. I tampered with so many generic affordable brands with little success until I discovered Proac/PMC, haven't looked back since. Still, the memory of money wasted and mediocrity still linger. Hope the audio world has been kinder to you Dan 1
surprisetech Posted January 28 Posted January 28 On 23/01/2025 at 7:12 AM, billy170468 said: Selling my Pioneer A-400 Expand If you want to revisit the experience but are put off by the prices being asked for A-400s, keep an eye out for an A-447. An A-447 with the 'Direct' button turned on is an A-400!
billy170468 Posted January 28 Posted January 28 On 28/01/2025 at 6:30 AM, surprisetech said: If you want to revisit the experience but are put off by the prices being asked for A-400s, keep an eye out for an A-447. An A-447 with the 'Direct' button turned on is an A-400! Expand Hey, Thank you for your reply. Just curious, what are they asking for 400s? Cheers Andy
nzdans Posted January 28 Posted January 28 On 23/01/2025 at 7:12 AM, billy170468 said: Selling my Pioneer A-400 Expand Not sure if I regret selling mine, I sold all my HiFi to move to Aus, didn't build another system until 5 years later. Trevor Lees is struggling to sell a "mint", bias adjusted A400 for $340 on FB marketplace at the moment.
Ooogh Posted January 28 Posted January 28 On 19/01/2025 at 10:15 AM, Grizzly said: Selling a pair of Energy Veritas 2.8. At the time I needed the cash and space, but they were absolutely sublime and I doubt I'll ever even so much as see another pair, let alone a pair for sale.... Expand Dead right Ant, almost unknown speakers that sounded absolutely superb. I had heard a few of their cheaper siblings that were all good speakers , but not stop you in your tracks and reach for your wallet amazing. Those big girls were just brilliantly voiced and balanced. Such a pity you didn’t stumble upon them later in your journey.
surprisetech Posted January 28 Posted January 28 On 28/01/2025 at 6:43 AM, billy170468 said: Hey, Thank you for your reply. Just curious, what are they asking for 400s? Cheers Andy Expand I haven’t looked recently, but the cult status usually jacks up the price. However nzdans reply may indicate that the hype is wearing off a bit!
blakey72 Posted January 28 Posted January 28 My biggest regret was selling my Exposure 2010S2 amp and PMC Tb2S+ standmounts. My greatest victory was buying them back off those buyers Now my greatest regret is having gear that I'm quite satisfied with but not having much time to listen 2
David A Posted January 28 Posted January 28 On 28/01/2025 at 12:02 PM, blakey72 said: My biggest regret was selling my Exposure 2010S2 amp and PMC Tb2S+ standmounts. My greatest victory was buying them back off those buyers Now my greatest regret is having gear that I'm quite satisfied with but not having much time to listen Expand 1
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