What is the one hi-fi thing you regret buying?

Yes I kind of knew that would be a contentious point.

Actually the first time I heard the 901ā€™s was in a strip club, maybe the naked women had more to do with my ā€œgood timeā€ than the Bose.

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I nearly sold my NAIT3 but I had a listen to check everything was working and could not part with it after that!

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The good thing was that I had a Naim NAT 03 and kept that back , also have a an early Olive CD player.

The NAT 03 has done sterling service during the Lockdown , however it recently started a loud hum .

I have a UnitQute2 that may replace it.

I donā€™t quite understand what happened here. Did you keep the 82 as pre? What NAP did you have before the 250?

That may have been a lucky escape! I demoed the first Titans at home when I had SL2s and was very disappointed: they had a bit more scale, went lower than the SL2s and had nice sweet tweeters, but there was simply no way they could match the SL2s for detail, texture and dynamics.

Only one real buying regret LSA small speakers - a few months before discovering Linn/Naim dealer who let me hear a Nait driving Mk1 Kans - felt hoodwinked by the previous dealer.

Other regrets - damaged Isobariks I let go too cheaply (they also struggled to fit in my home at that time), giving in to CDā€™s - I stuck with records for years and was anti-CD but eventually gave in as so little music was being released on CD - now enjoy hi-res streaming and finding more music on vinyl; CDā€™s were really a Lemon.

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Was that T88s you heard? I have heard 707s active and really like them. One day I am going to have a dem at home of them, though the recent price rise is rather unwelcome. I understand that Jason from Naim who was running SL2s with a pair of 300s now has Titan 707s

Last time I spoke to Jason a couple of weeks ago he still had SL2s.

Interesting. Hope to catch up with him sometime for a chat then. We got rather sidetracked at the ND555 event he presented as I was about to go active with 2x300s into my SL2s and he was already there

Many years ago I bought a Musical Fidelity set consisting of a pair of MA65 class A mono blocks and matching Pre8 preamp. The MA65s were excellent but severely let down by the pre. It was only when I took the Pre 8 out that I really heard what they were capable of.

Roger

Philips CD160. Circa 1985. Ish.

All the comics raved about it. Nobody could stop praising it. It was one of the first 16X4 machines to land in the UK and the asking price of Ā£160 represented a significant chunk of my savings.

It was bloody awful. I thought my ears were bleeding. The following year, after an unexpected bonus, I got a discounted Marantz CD75. Oh the relief.

That was the last box I bought without some sort of pre purchase audition.

It was the original two-box Titan with natural finish Finnish birch ply. It may have been the 88, but generally speaking you can assume that no sooner have I heard a number, then I will have forgotten it. Frankly, Iā€™m not much good with names either, but it was definitely the original Titan! :grinning:

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Haha. I confess to actually being very fond of the 901s. They were my first proper speaker and I drove them with a Linn amp.

Even after I got a pair of Linn Keilidhs I kept the 901s and got yet another Linn amp. Keilidh system for music. 901 system for home theatre.

To this day, nothing has done sheer scale and weight like the 901s back then. I never sold them. I sold the Keilidhs (which I regret) and ran the 901s into oblivion.

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Yes there was a rumour going around about him having Kudos Titans but heā€™s still running his SL2s with active 300DRs.

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I had a Marantz amp a few years ago that I was reasonably happy with then I bought a Rega BrioR. I did demo it , but at home it sounded so flat in mid and hf. It never improved and I lived with it until I got the Supernait 2. Iā€™m so happy with the Naim.

A pair of Linn PMS Isobariks.

I hadnā€™t appreciated how much larger they were than my SBLs so I couldnā€™t really get them placed and working in my (small) study.

I drove about 300 miles to collect themā€¦ and then when I sold them (fortunately for just about the same price they cost me) I drove another 200 miles to drop them off.

They were just to big to keep on the off-chance I could find a way to use them in the future.
Shame really.

I bought some terrible stuff in the distant past (Sansui speakers with the gorgeous wooden grilles in the late 60s?), but thereā€™s nothing I regret buying. I enjoyed it at the time, and oneā€™s got to learn.

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A variety of tube gear. Noisy, unreliable, hot, short-lived. 20 years ago, I think there was a valid argument on the sonic superiority of good tube equipment. Solid state has gotten so good (IMO), I donā€™t think the argument holds anymore. Tubes now are mostly about nostalgia and cool-ness (kind of like vinyl).

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2 pairs of JBL standmounts, canā€™t remember exact models, entry level stuff. First pair was returned on the first week to the dealer and decided to try a second pair, which lasted for like 3 weeks. Returned this and grabbed a pair of Zensor 3ā€™s, which were cheaper than both JBLā€™s, but way better in every aspect. Been with DALI ever since.

Not a pricey mistake, but helped me further in the journey, so no regrets I guess, just lessons.

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