Most overrated audio component you ever heard/seen/witnessed?

Just as the title suggests...

What is the single most OVERRATED audio equipment that you ever laid your ears/eyes/hands on?

This can be a speaker, a preamp, an amp, speaker wire, source (cdp/tt/digital server).... anything audio related. Something that you thought was supposed to be good, but wasn't. Something everyone and their grandma liked, but you didn't.

I'm still thinking about which was my most overrated component, I'll get back soon.

So, what was your most OVERRATED?

A Krell amp back in the early 90's. My wife thought it was "grey, amusical, thin in tonal balance". She made me take it back. We ended up buying a White (now LLano). This was between Rowlands.

Duntech (sp?) speakers. early 90's maybe even mid 80's

Bose?

Is this just sound based? I have a few pricy items that I've seen but was really let down by build quality.

I think I have decided...

Between the Axiom M22, the Von Schweikert VR4jr, and the Rega Apollo...

I have decided that my single most disappointing experience was the Axiom M22. They were by far the most hyped up speaker, most tauted to be "neutral", most well reviewed bookshelf, most acclaimed if you went with the sheer number of positive comments on their site.

For me, it was Burmester gear. I got to demo a full top-of-the-line Burmester setup, incl. their best CD player, Preamp, Amps, and Speakers. (I don't remember the exact models, but was told it was all their best and I'm guessing the whole system was over $100,000 worth of components.) The dealer had just brought all the gear back from Cedia last year and set it up in their large, well-treated listening room. I was expecting great things. What I got was the most uninvolving, lifeless, boring sound I have pretty much ever heard. I don't know if the gear wasn't burned in or if it wasn't set up right or what, but I came away totally unimpressed. And more happy than ever with my Logans!

For me it has to be a highly-rated Benz cartridge (can't remember the model) that the dealer lent me while I was waiting for my Koetsu Rosewood to be delivered. The Benz was uninspiring, while the Koetsu was gorgeous (when it finally arrived). They were both about the same price.

For me, the Dahlquist DQ-10A speakers were highly overrated. ["A" models = mirror-imaged pairs]

I purchased a pair back when they were available new and over several years had several popular cross-over, damping, speaker stand, and wiring improvements made to them. Tried many well-regarded SS & tube amps to make these babies sing; Threshold, ARC, CJ, Van Alstine, Quad. For all of the hype by TAS, Stereophile and other publications, these speakers were not coherent (not with all of those drivers!), they did not image very well, had poor resolution (for such a highly regarded audiophile product), and had no real bass. The coherency and low resolution issues really bothered me.

The scuttlebutt back then was that Jon Dahlquist referenced Quad ESL-57s in designing and voicing these. I later owned Quad 57s and there isn't much of a resemblance in terms of sound IMHO. The DQ-10As did play louder and did not beam treble frequencies, but that's the extent of the positives.

Rick

rhom said:

For me, the Dahlquist DQ-10A speakers

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A buddy of mine has these, spaced far too far apart (no soundstage). The trebble etches my ears till they want to bleed. They look great but I don't like them. His old DCM TimeWindow speakers were better - I even told him so.

I did not think the Rega Planet top load CD player was all the wiz-bang they made it up to be. I mean it was nice, just not that nice for the money.

The tall stacked angular Wilson Speakers are not much of a value in my book.

The biggest foo-doodle beside Bose (the champ) would have to be some of the Polk's I've heard. Not all of them, just the large ones which look like mini refrigerators and sound like cheap cardboard.

You know what else I didn't like?

The Quad 2805.... it was alright, but come on, after bashing ML, the dealer could have put on a better show.

Joey_V said:

You know what else I didn't like?

The Quad 2805.... it was alright, but come on, after bashing ML, the dealer could have put on a better show.

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I agree....I am not impressed with the Quads at all. None. zero. zilch.

rhom said:

For me, the Dahlquist DQ-10A speakers were highly overrated. ["A" models = mirror-imaged pairs]

I purchased a pair back when they were available new and over several years had several popular cross-over, damping, speaker stand, and wiring improvements made to them. Tried many well-regarded SS & tube amps to make these babies sing; Threshold, ARC, CJ, Van Alstine, Quad. For all of the hype by TAS, Stereophile and other publications, these speakers were not coherent (not with all of those drivers!), they did not image very well, had poor resolution (for such a highly regarded audiophile product), and had no real bass. The coherency and low resolution issues really bothered me.

The scuttlebutt back then was that Jon Dahlquist referenced Quad ESL-57s in designing and voicing these. I later owned Quad 57s and there isn't much of a resemblance in terms of sound IMHO. The DQ-10As did play louder and did not beam treble frequencies, but that's the extent of the positives.

Rick

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I must disagree. These were the speakers that turned my on to the high-end.
They were the first speaker that actually presented a believable image of a choir, I was in choirs at that time, and was tonally amazing. There is no accounting for taste I guess.

risabet said:

I must disagree. These were the speakers that turned my on to the high-end.
They were the first speaker that actually presented a believable image of a choir, I was in choirs at that time, and was tonally amazing. There is no accounting for taste I guess.

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Can you tell us anything about the room and supporting equipment?

I'm guessing as with Martin Logans the devil is in the details.

rhom said:

For me, the Dahlquist DQ-10A speakers were highly overrated. ["A" models = mirror-imaged pairs]

I purchased a pair back when they were available new and over several years had several popular cross-over, damping, speaker stand, and wiring improvements made to them. Tried many well-regarded SS & tube amps to make these babies sing; Threshold, ARC, CJ, Van Alstine, Quad. For all of the hype by TAS, Stereophile and other publications, these speakers were not coherent (not with all of those drivers!), they did not image very well, had poor resolution (for such a highly regarded audiophile product), and had no real bass. The coherency and low resolution issues really bothered me.

The scuttlebutt back then was that Jon Dahlquist referenced Quad ESL-57s in designing and voicing these. I later owned Quad 57s and there isn't much of a resemblance in terms of sound IMHO. The DQ-10As did play louder and did not beam treble frequencies, but that's the extent of the positives.

Rick

Click to expand...

The DQ 10as were my second pair of high-end speakers. (My first were a pair of stacked Double Advents.) The 10s were finicky about placement and about the electronics that drove them. I used a kit-built Ampzilla and a modified PAS 3. I also tried a Thoebe (from GAS) and an ARC SP12. I did not have the same experience as you did. I found them coherent and accurate. For many years I was not tempted to change them until I heard a pair of Sequel IIs driven by tube amplification.

Joey_V said:

Just as the title suggests...

What is the single most OVERRATED audio equipment that you ever laid your ears/eyes/hands on?

Click to expand...

Numerous cables and interconnects, but for me the most overrated......... MIT products.

twich54 said:

Numerous cables and interconnects, but for me the most overrated......... MIT products.

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Really?

That's funny because something I remember from our ML demo at the factory was that they were using MIT top-o-da-line speaker wire.... now I can kinda guess at what you were thinking, Dave!

O btw, it's here.

Joey_V said:

O btw, it's here.

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Better get cracking on those questions. No opening until you finished, remember?

Joey_V said:

Really?

That's funny because something I remember from our ML demo at the factory was that they were using MIT top-o-da-line speaker wire.... now I can kinda guess at what you were thinking, Dave!

O btw, it's here.

Click to expand...

well Joey, I guess I should further qualify my position with regards to MIT.....overpriced as the direct corolator to overrated.

Every Quad ESL I've heard.

Also, a complete Linn system from source to speaker. Can't remember the individual components now, (and granted, it wasn't set up too well) but it sounded flat and lifeless. What is it about Linn - everyone thinks anything they make is fantastic!

amey01 said:

Every Quad ESL I've heard.

Also, a complete Linn system from source to speaker. Can't remember the individual components now, (and granted, it wasn't set up too well) but it sounded flat and lifeless. What is it about Linn - everyone thinks anything they make is fantastic!

Click to expand...

Amey,

We have very similar ears.... I found Quad more like, "Ehh... it's ok, but I don't see what it does better than ML at similar pricepoints."

With Linn, well, I gotta tell you. I was just at my local hi-end dealer last friday. The Linn LP-12 sounded good, but it SKIPPED so easily. It was placed on top of what seemed to be a large/hefty wooden cabinet (not a rack, a full cabinet) and it still skipped! Dealer said that's the problem with the LP12, "...you gotta be careful around it."

For $8,000 base price, I better be able to breath around my system without having to worry about the record skipping.

Oh, and I also listened to the Linn Artikulat 350A. Though I wouldn't say they were bad... they were certainly more than OK, but I suppose I expected a little more out of them when the dealer told me their retail. For the price, I thought the 350A sounded just like you said... dead and lifeless.

Pic of the Linn Artikulat 350A (retail $43,000):


I'd rather pick up a pair of Wilson Sophia 2 for a second system, hold onto the Summits.. and spend the rest on a car.