What's the most overrated/disappointing gear you bought?

[JAW]

I thought this topic might bring up some interesting kit and maybe a little friendly controversy. I think my most disappointing purchase was an early B&W Zeppelin. I'd been given an iPod and it seemed a logical step to get a Zeppelin for a room filling sound at the time. It worked well, the iPod died after a couple of years, so I bought a new one, not realising that Apple had changed the connection at the bottom of the iPod, so I had to buy an adapter for it. That worked for a while, and then the Zeppelin began switching itself off after a few seconds. A quick Google revealed that this is a common fault with the early Zeppelins caused by a faulty capacitor. At this stage the unit was out of warranty and the repair by B&W would cost somewhere around £150.
I left the Zeppelin in the attic for a few years until I moved house and it made it's final journey to Ballyogan Recycling Centre.
In fairness, when it worked, it did sound good, and it could connect through Apple Airplay, but the connection was dodgy and would drop out occasionally. The reviews that I read before I bought it were positive, so I was confident that I was getting something better than I did.
I did buy a pair of B&W MM1's not long after the Zeppelin and they're still giving great service on the desk with this computer.

[hudo]

Ha, B&W MM1 were one of my shortest ownership, sold it on Adverts very fast, and then went back to Audioengine A2:)
Don't think i had any very disappointing gear, worse case was more like "meh". For example, RME ADI-2 DAC was meh, specially for the price and as a DAC only, goes into overrated group.

[Brutus1968]

I had a disappointing experience with a second hand Manley Shrimp tube preamp: After year of good music it became mute (transformer gone) and I discovered it was a known defect and Manley was offering a free of charge repair kit (good policy I admit). The upgrade was technically easy, so I asked for the kit to be shipped to Italy and it was installed by a very good expert technician. Unfortunately after the modification there were a lot of vibrations induced by the new transformer that eventually affected the thin cabinet. I don't know if the problem was due to the different mains in Europe vs USA, but I decided that after the mod the Shrimp was not as appealing as before and I sold it.
I had another recent frustrating experience with another tube preamp (Rose RV23S) bought used on Adverts. It had problems from day 1 but I was sure they could be solved easily (its layout is apparently quite simple). It came out the issues were a lot and finding original parts was a task. After a long time under "surgery" it came back with the same issues, so I gave up and sold it as defective.
This is why I recently bought a new, solid state preamp...

Best

[Ivor]

Anything with B&W on it... I did pick up a pair of floor standers S/H which were fine as fronts in a cinema setup but a B&W centre in the same system would cut your ears off.

Years before that I tried a pair of System audio floor standers in a system but they were a bit anaemic. Oddly enough the B&W centre mentioned above was replaced with a System Audio centre.

LINN speakers. Left me looking out the window.

[Adrian]

I’ve had a fair bit gear come and go. I changed for changed sake, but tbh all the gear I’ve had was good quality and had some interesting surprises.

Some of the changes were a more sideways move as distinct from an advance. Some gear was so so, like a Onkyo amp I once had, good features with a surprise, the internal phono stage (which was just a small card) was surprisingly good.

But I’ve only one home and I can’t be hoarding gear no matter how good, even though I let some gear go I still lust after.

As long as the stuff goes to a good home where it will provide many hours of happiness to the owner then that’s all that matters tbh.

So ultimately I’ve been lucky / chosen wisely….no major disappointments. But synergy between components is very important, otherwise no matter how good / expensive the gear is….it’s not gonna work!

[DaveF]

I've had plenty of gear come and go over the years but one stands out for me as the most disappointing - the Airtight ATM2. A highly regarded amp and brand but I could just never get this sounding right and believe me not one stone was left unturned. I tried different speakers, cables, amps, sources, even completely different rooms and the same sonic traits followed every time - thin, bright and lacking in mid-range presence. I detested this amp and was never so glad to see an amp move on. Bitterly disappointed as several other Airtight models that I've heard over the years from folks here always sounded glorious.
Honorable mention goes to a pair of modified Kharmas 3.2fe's.

[Ivor]

I've had plenty of gear come and go over the years but one stands out for me as the most disappointing - the Airtight ATM2. A highly regarded amp and brand but I could just never get this sounding right and believe me not one stone was left unturned.

There was something about the ATM2 that never appealed to me either. I don't know why it was made (after the atm1) ir seem more convoluted and less versatile than others.

[Fran]

My one whinge about the airtights is the two volume knobs. They have excellent build quality etc, but that would drive me mad.

In terms of disappointments - not too many in fairness. I remember having an entry level turntable from Project and feeling it was nothing special, and a Rega P3 as well. Just totally uninvolving. Rest of my system was very much entry level at the time as well so maybe I'm being unfair.

[Cyndale]

My one whinge about the airtights is the two volume knobs. They have excellent build quality etc, but that would drive me mad.

In terms of disappointments - not too many in fairness. I remember having an entry level turntable from Project and feeling it was nothing special, and a Rega P3 as well. Just totally uninvolving. Rest of my system was very much entry level at the time as well so maybe I'm being unfair.

Horses for courses I suppose, my Croft Super Micro A valve preamplifier has dual volume controls and it doesn't bother me in the slightest.

[Ivor]

My one whinge about the airtights is the two volume knobs. They have excellent build quality etc, but that would drive me mad.

You're right of course and 1 input on the front and 1 on the back!
Leave the 2 volimes knobs at max and use a preamp. With only two inputs a preamp allowed an additional cd, turner or dac. Assuming a turntable was the first addition!