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What's the most overrated or overpriced piece of equipment you own, have owned or come by?

This hobby of ours is extremely rewarding, but can also be very expensive. I don't mind paying the big bucks (if I can afford it) for better sound. But many companies out there take advantage of us poor bastards and sell us snake oil equipment at exorbitant prices. Well...This is your chance to share with other Audiogonners.

This is your chance to GET EVEN :-)
mozart4040
wwaterman2's avatar
wwaterman2
26 posts
 
I know Bose still is kinda funny but they did make the 901 series speakers! Old school but not bad!

hddg's avatar
hddg
123 posts
 
in my opinion, most very expensive audio stuff are highly overpriced. Cables are the most flagrant of all. The manufacturers play on a psychological level towards very high end customers who can afford it, and on the fact that it is a passion and that with passion you can spend a lot irrationally and without really counting your expenses.
And often the passionate customer thinks all needs to be hyper priced to be very good. It is difficult to reason with passion. I have heard system sounding 10 times better while costing ten times less than other hyped systems.
One other thing is that audio reviews get everyone confused, and are not much help in the end. Everything they review tends to be good or very good. Never seen a review say "this is crap". They go about their little literature, using repetitive audio terms, with some humor, comparisons have no real common base and industry approved way of rating, and they all end up by "recommended" or "highly recommended".
If one is to make up a good system, he better be able to assess for himself and/or hear it first. Hearing and tasting sound is another education, and you can get very high without hyper stuff.
dgarretson
2,588 posts
 

I agree with you about the "passion" thing.  I think of an expensive cable like a $5 cup of coffee: a momentary gratification, an impulse for novelty, an affordable expenditure relative to electronics, and a usually wasted surplus that would be more wisely banked for a more meaningful upgrade. How much do we spend at Starbucks in a year? It adds up.

I’ve been selling piece parts to high end audio OEMs for awhile. I rarely encounter an electronics or speaker designer who cares much about expensive cables. What does this say? Possibly that expensive cable-swapping is mostly a pastime of the non-technical consumer who disguises an urge to tinker as pseudo-science. Of course people are free to spend money to express themselves anyway they like.

bondmanp
1,782 posts
 
So, dgarretson, I am curious.  What cabling do you have in your system, and why?
dgarretson
2,588 posts
 

Bondmanp, Cables are an area where a little research and basic DIY skill, together with the use of first-rate materials and a modest investment of time, produces VG to excellent results at reasonable prices. My current loom is

PCs: shielded 8awg .999 silver or Furutech Alpha 3 bulk cable with Furutech ends.

Speaker cables: shielded and grounded, teflon and silk insulated .999 stacked silver foils with 1.5 lbs. of silver therein.

ICs: shielded, grounded Parts ConneXion Connex/DH Labs BL-Ag balanced silver bulk IC cable with teflon dielectric and Neutric ends. 100+ ft. @ $16/stereo ft.

At the current commodity price for fine silver, the entire investment is perhaps $4K. Over the years I’ve wasted perhaps 5 times that in commercial cables that depreciated, and demoed some in the $10K range that don’t compare to the better DIY.

I try to believe that all purchasing decisions in audio should be considered at the margin of the greatest improvement for the least investment. There has always been something better to buy than expensive cables.

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