The Worst Speaker you have ever heard.


This should be thought provoking. What is the worst speaker, or the most over-rated, over-priced, over-hyped speaker you have ever heard. Have you ever had speakers that you now wished you had kept?
jec
Infinity Quantum Line Source. Spectacular to look at and lust for, but the worst ear fatigue ever experienced. Even the dealer admitted they sucked.
Classic, beautiful sounding (for '70's) Large Advent speakers raped and degraded by Jensen International.
I found the gallo 3.1's to be overrated for $3k. Other speakers I was use to in that range destroyed them. They werent the worst I ever heard, but it really shows how reviews by websites don't matter. Back in 2006, a lot of people where posting them for sale just a few weeks after buying them.

IMO, $599 Magnepan MMG's were better in every way
I agree with Newfane on the Bose 901 speakers.
The sound comes from the back of the speakers.
Why are we re-hashing an old thread that's blatantly condemning some well respected speaker brands ? C'mon guys and gals.... in the spirit of the holidays, let's remember our parents' advice .... "if you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all."
Peace, health, and happiness to all my fellow Audiogoners !
At least my POLKS were spared, and Wilson got creamed!!!! I have always said Polks were better than the wilsons. :)
Ensemble (made in Switzerland) mini monitors...dreadful. This was back in '94.They had excellent reviews in both TAS and Stereophile. Mid/woofer made out of what looked like a styrofoam cup. It was driven by FM Acoustics amp and preamp, so that wasn't the culprit. Anyway, there was no treble, mids, or bass to be had. It was like listening through wet burlap bags. So, I took 'em back on store credit. I got some Pro Acs which I didn't open and quickly sold to try and get some money back.

The cost of these pieces of crap? $7000 USD.

I called Urs Wagner in Switzerland and told him he is a crook. I still feel that way today. Screw him and his crappy company.
Hey Dave ..... eighteen years later, and still so much anger ??? Get over it man. Didn't you audition the speakers before you bought them ? If not, who's to blame ?
Worst speakers I ever heard are the ones I listen to daily at work. Crappy little boombox with nothing but about 1 watt of the worst midrange you can imagine, no bass, no treble. In order for us to hear it at all, we place it in a metal bowl to amplify what I would consider the worst sounding radio ever. Most overly rated would be bose. All boom hiss! I chuckle inside whenever I tell someone that I've become a stereo geek and then, in a poor attempt to relate, they tell me about some bose system that they recently heard that knocked there socks off. I usually just smile and say "yeah, bose sounds great!!" and walk off shaking my head.
Hi Adam,

Well, if they cost you $7000, which anyway you slice it, isn't chump change, and lost a lot of money on the deal, you would feel the same way.

Anyway, yes I did audition them, but it was very briefly @ CES '93. Yes, I did make a mistake by going by that. But, a lot of people have gotten burned in this hobby. I know I'm not the only one. You live and learn.

Take care.
Okay David ..... I'm sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience. I hope that you are now enjoying the music with your current system. Take it easy, and Happy Holidays !
Hi Adam,

Thanks, I appreciate that. It's times like those that almost make you wanna get out of this hobby.

Yes I am, and thankfully so.

Likewise!
I heard them at different times at shows and they were simply awful. Not saying they are bad products, just that they weren't doing themselves any favors. The Statements were played so loud and were so bass heavy in the room that I started to feel queasy. Who wants that from their system?
Cerwin Vega! but thinking back it might of also had something to do with the amplifier which is still popular and highly controversial around reviewer pages. After a break then returning to audio I thought I could build a quick and easy HIFI after growing inpatient. Instead it turned out to be more of a high-fry system. That story had a happy ending I was able to bundle it off to someone that used to frequent rock concerts and favored sitting so close he probably scared the band members. True story and I bet he has permanent partial hearing loss by now. 

I don’t know which is worse that stereo set up or Donald Trump but both pain my ears to the point I just cannot bear to listen to either one even in very small doses.
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Definitely and most-definitely Donald Trump. When I was angry, drunk and depressed I stabbed his face all the way through TV during his debate speech with Damascus steel dagger. If I had the power of politician, perhaps I'd done it for real.

Aside from DT 2nd to Talon Khorus and Talon Khorus X. It's unique speaker that has absolutely no imaging and sound stage. The sound remains inside the box no matter how good electronics are used. I heard them with top notch TacT preamp and Bryston 7B-ST. The price for used is definitely a big difference vs. new, but my Aerial 10t depreciated even lower for some reason. I 'fly' Aerial 10t MK2 since 2006 and bought them used for $1100 with one blown woofer that was no biggie to replace. Since I'm quite and definitely sure that finding better for upgrade at same price level will take forever, it means they will in my system till my heart's still pumping.

Wouldn't consider them the worst, but, the most DISAPPOINTING speaker I had heard (that I can recall) was the PSB Synchrony One.  Lots of hype and accolades that left me feeling "meh".  They just didn't sound "right" to me.

Cheers,
Warren
Worst speaker has got to be the Hill-array....annoyingly shrill and not at all faithful to the original event.

jvogt is correct, for the money and sound quality, arrrrggghhhhh.....  A friend who runs a high-end shop describes it akin to barbed wire run between the ears back and forth.

This is an evasive answer, at least a little, but a few years back at a local dealer I heard a pair of Wilson Alexandria V2s set up in their flagship room.  I had previously heard in another room some Sophia V2s to great effect being driven by VTL electronics and a good analog front end.  The Alexandrias didn't sound bad, per se, but I was highly disappointed to hear the same small soundstage with mini images and that lean, hyper-detailed sound I hear so often.  In fact, they sounded almost exactly like Watt Puppies.  The surface loudness was all wrong, i.e. pianos sounded like pinpoints as did trumpets, voices, or cymbals.  Initially I thought it was due to a lean-sounding solid state amp, but the amps were VTL Sigfried tube monoblocks and the analog front end was that overbuilt acrylic turntable with the linear tracking tonearm and the massive pendulum, forgot the name.  Anyway, there was no apparent reason for this type of disappointing sound, especially from a $150K pair of speakers, especially being fronted by at least $200K of turntable and electronics.