Share your "disappointed" stories. (1 Viewer)

[EdNichols]

To educate those of us who are still new at this game, would you tell us when you bought something new and it didn't meet your expectations. For example, you went from a low end to a higher end receiver or to separates and didn't notice that much difference or maybe you went to more expensive speakers and didn't notice that much difference. I read threads that say "I went from (insert brand and model here)to something else and WOW what difference!" But surely we don't hit a homerun everytime. What did you go from/to, and were you dissapointed?

 

[John S]

Sort of in reverse...

I bought a Denon 4802, that now seems overkill, I'll bet a Denon 3802/3 would have met my needs, and I could of saved some serious cash.

But, I got headroom to burn well beyond even reference levels, thats for sure.

I must add that the 4802 has exceeded my expectations in every possible way in the two years I have owned it, so more a related post, more than what you were particularly looking for.

 

[John Garcia]

Back in the day, I owned a Sony STR-DE815 receiver. When upgrade time came around, I did a lot of auditioning and found that what I thought was decent, was really below average. I move to Marantz and have been very happy since.

THEN, I was looking for a little system for the bedroom. I found a DE475 receiver very cheap, brand new, and against my own judgement, I bought it. Needless to say, I was completely disappointed again and "pawned" it off on a friend within a few days (he was happy, it was better than no sound). Again I looked to Marantz for the bedroom system, found an open box SR4000 for the same price as the Sony. I was just floored by the difference in power deliver and sound quality overall. Never again will I purchase Sony DE, or recommend them.

 

[Craig Morris]

I was slightly disappointed when I moved from my Marantz SR-18 to the Anthem AVM-20 and PVA-7. But this applies to Stereo listening only (which is where I had hoped to notice the biggest difference).

The biggest changes actually came out in HT listening. The Anthem blew the Marantz away in imaging, clarity, soundstage, steering, etc. But it's also several generations newer.

In stereo I am very pleased with the Anthem, but to be entirely truthful, I expected to hear a bigger difference from the separates. I don't think that this comment is insulting to Anthem, rather I think it praises the quality of the HDAM preamp section in the Marantz SR-18, as well as the quality of it's amplification in two channel listening.

 

[Robert Cowan]

i am mildly disappointed with my denon dvd2200. its a great player for the price, but its not what its being touted as online. its still a entry level higher end player. i will at least replace it with a decent cd transport and dac.

other than that, im happy with all my purchases.

 

[Kam_A]

I would like to share my mild disappointment from my Yamaha RXV1300 reciever. Due to some reasons I did not get the bass and depth of sound I expected from Yamaha recievers I owned. I compared it with Marantz and Elite recievers and ended up with Elite. That was the one and only issue I had with my Yamaha recievers. I bought RXV540 first and was happy with it except the bass issue. I wanted to stick with Yamaha due to its flexibilty and features in there price range. So, I upgraded to rxv1300 and felt the same thing. I ended up selling it to my friend and swiched to Elite.

 

[John Garcia]

i am mildly disappointed with my denon dvd2200

I have the Denon 2200 as well, but I bought it for video only, and in that respect, it does quite well. I didn't buy it for it's audio capability, since I already have an SACD player that is definitely better. DVD-A was a bonus, but not a selling point.

 

[ChuckSolo]

I too was looking for a bedroom system, and purchased a Daewoo DVD/VCR combo and an Apex 27" stereo TV to go with my Sherwood RD6108 A/V receiver. The combo player was my first disappointment as it was really noisy and in zoom mode, it left a graphic grid in the lower right hand corner of the TV screen that drove me and my wife nuts. Also, the TV did not have component inputs and had no memory of which video input it was last left on. The picture was great though. I returned the Daewoo combo player for a Zenith unit costing about 50 bucks more and sold the TV to my nephew for 50 bucks less than I paid for it. I bought a Panasonic 27" stereo TV with component inputs and have been very happy with my bedroom system ever since. I have been very pleased with my Sherwood receiver though. So much so, that I bought another one to replace my 10 year old Sony ProLogic unit that powers the HT in my den.

 

[Ernest Yee]

Well - when I first got into HT - I spent $3,000 in Bose tower speakers. The Circuit City guy claimed that it was the best equipment at the best value. Boy was he wrong! Now I have a full set of KLH speakers with $1,000 in Monster Cable that totally wipes it out!



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j/k - I've never been steered the wrong way with this forum or AVS when I first started this hobby. I think it took me 3-6 months before I even made my first purchase because I was so new into this and didn't want to dive into an immediate pitfall. Bottom Line - this place ROCKS!

 

[Robt_Moore]

The only times I was disapointed were when I didn't do my research and got caught up in the excitement of buying a new toy. And back before the Internet, it was a lot harder to get good information and make comparisons.

For example, I bought a Technics Dolby Surround Receiver back when surround sound first came out (before Pro-Logic even). It cost $475 back in '88, and was a very nice receiver, the front channels with 100 watts of power, the back with FIVE watts of power. Couldn't hear a thing in the back channels.

When DVD players first broke the $300 mark, I decided to get one and a new TV. After I got the DVD and TV, I stopped at Circuit City to buy a special $30 video cable since this was my first "high definition" video source. The old tv just had an RF input; didn't even think to check to see if the TV had an S-Video input (it didn't, just composite).

Now I force myself to calm down when I have a few bucks, and thoroughly think my purchases through. (That is until I see some shiny lights, and LEDs flashing, and fancy remote controls......)

 

[Ken Custodio]

One thing I noticed, is that for me atleast, it is difficult to remember how my system sounded before I upgraded, and that makes it hard to hear the improvement. But going back to the old equipment and using the new equipment for a while is really easy.

I went over to my friends house who I sold a lot of my old equipment to, like toshiba DVD and JBL speakers and sub. I can really hear how much better my new equipment sounds

 

[Diallo B]

Ernest,

your post was hilarious! i was reading it like wtf! then i came to the j/k part. i'm still laughin'.

 

[Kenneth Harden]

I would say my Sony STR-DE675.

In retrospect, I could have gotten (I don't think thats a word) a Onkyo, Pioneer, etc. for $300.

Sony is king when it comes to ergonomics, but when I play with a upper-end Denon receiver, IT is king

 

[DonnyD]

I think ALL my disappointments in audio has been in the speaker department....... Due to reviews here and elsewhere online, over the years I've purchased several top of the line speakers and when A-B'ed against my old JBL L100, all have fallen short. While, some of the "short" may very well be that I've been listening to the old L's for 25 years and prefer that forward sound, all purchases I've made have fallen short, some miserably..........

 

[Jonty Rees]

The Onkyo 575 I bought a few years ago is a bit of a disappointment, although not too much since I only paid $299 for it refurbished. It's definitely better than the Technics "DD Ready" receiver I had before that which was pretty awful - all kinds of noise, humms, buzzes, no decent surround performance, etc - but is still underwhelming. It just doesn't put out much sound. Before I got a powered sub, it was really disappointing, but even with one, I find myself expecting more.

I thought the problem may lie with the "veteran" speakers I'm using in front - 1980-ish 3-way Infinitys w/12" woofer - but when I put those on the 1988 mid-level Harmon Kardon stereo separates system I have in another room for music, they're great. I think the amp sections of today's receivers are weak compared to older gear, with the money going into bells and whistles and new formats. I'm sure if you go to a higher class of reciver, you still get good sound, which makes sense when you think about it. The lower end stuff has most if not all the features of the better models, so the difference must be in amps/power supplies, etc.

 

[ChrisHeflen]

I started out with a JVC 803 reciever that I loved. Then in '94, I "upgraded" to a Pio. Elite vsx97x reciever. The sound was not that different, but the features of the Pio were amazing. Pre-out main ins, conversion to s-video, a compressor/expander, tone controls for front, center, rears, etc... Not too bad for a 1994 porduct. Then I bought a Pio. Elite, DD decoder and used it as a pre-amp using the amps from the reciever. Then I got a free Phase Linear Lab. Standard amp. That's when I noticed a difference. Then I "upgraded" to an ATI 1505. I loved my system with it that way. Then we were gonna have a baby and so I wanted one last upgrade before all of our money went to diapers so I bought an Anthem AVM20. I was pretty dissapointed. I didn't think it sounded as good as it should have for the money I spent. My system went from warm and round to lean and tight. By now I've gotten used to it and really like it. But maybe I should have just gotten a nice receiver and upgraded my cheap ass Paradigm Monitor 7's. My 9 mo. old uses the system more than I do, watching her "baby einstien" videos.
I'm not knocking any of those pieces I just think that I probably have an imbalanced system and should have waited til I could do it all the right way. And then be able to use it.

 

[Tim Streagle]

I upgraded from a Mitsubishi preamp and Carver M-400 cube amp to a Sony STR-D something or other. The Carver was making a slight buzzing sound and the new Sony had a remote. What a mistake! After a few months I couldn't stand it. I just made sure to play the Cube louder than the buzz! Looking back, I'm sure it was headroom and clarity that suffered with the Sony.

 

[Chu Gai]

What do you think of the newer JBL's Donny? In terms of technology and research, they've come a long way.

 

[DonnyD]

What do you think of the newer JBL's Donny? In terms of technology and research, they've come a long way.

I tried some of the JBL S-38 when they first introduced and while they were pretty good, still they were nothing like the old "rock monster" L100...... not as forward in the midrange and an overall lack of "precise" sound all around.......The old L's do have a narrow sweet spot but are simply amazing... drive with small wattage and really love the big amps too.

I am trying to convince myself that the Pro series or the Tik series are worth a listen....

I will tell you, I have spent a lot of money on speakers the past few years and tried some highly touted and well reviewed brands and those old L's kicked the shi* outta all of them......

A friend has two pair of 4311 from 1978 (he bought them after hearing my L's back then) and they are also an awesome setup.........

 

[JackLonn]

I'm really disappointed with the quaility of picture I get from Dish TV. My C-band dish blew it away and NEVER went out in a storm.

Of course, I always had to wait for it to change sats., couldn't watch in more than one room at a time, didn't have a cool guide system... Hmmm, maybe I'm not all that disappointed.

Nope, the picture still sucks.