What's the worst speaker or stereo set-up you've ever seen?


I used to do home delivery and installation work and had access to some pretty high-end homes. I was amazed at how few of these well-heeled owners had nice audio systems, although many had some nice home theaters. One home owner had a basement stereo with small Maggies hinged on a wall like cabinet doors so he could direct the sound and, I guess, tuck them away when not in use. I also saw a pair of Bose 901’s pointed the wrong way. What’s the worse set-up you’ve seen?
aewarren
I read about Fabio’s system being that, almost 20 years ago. All of the components are at least that old, some older. If he was that much of an audiophile to own all that top-line gear back then, he’s absolutely certain to have upgraded (or at least significantly swapped out components) by now. And how did Fabio's system end up in a thread of "worst system you've ever seen", anyway. His system, quite frankly, seems "Fabulous"
My brothers system is pretty bad.  He’s got some nice stuff with horrible set-up.  Kef LS50w’s with a pair of sumiko subs.  On speaker is smashed right into a corner of the room, both are 2 inches from the wall behind them and his entire living room, kitchen and dining area are hardwood.  Huge leather couch.  Nothing to absorb sound and the entire area is incredibly reflective.  He has a water feature that is usually on so the ambient noise is around 30-40 db’s. $7000 couch,  $4000 in audio equipment and too cheap to pay for tidal vs spotify.

Then we go over to our buddies house who has the same speakers, 1 rel t9i and he can’t believe how good “his stereo” sounds in comparison 🤦🏻‍♂️
I've heard the same pair of speakers in the same room with the same gear go from embarrassing to addicting just by getting the placement right. That said remember the first bose 5 channel satellite systems? My tone def buddy must have reversed polarity and forgot to connect the subs, or somehow sourced the highs to the cubes and lows to the satellites because. woof. the sad part was he and his wife were so excited about how great their new system sounded I thought it rude to offer to fix it.