Your most disappointing purchase or audition?

Another MF - my kW SACD PLayer. I can understand 'bust' but a manufacturer who says its fixed, sends it back and its the same? They couldnt check it before it went back? MF is so off my list.

Demoed Vandersteen Quatro wood's with Sim Audio/Moon electronics, at a b&m. Presentation was odd w/ very large unnatural images and the tone was completely off and not real sounding at all... Not as bad as sone listed here but the sound as a whole was fake and unnatural. Quit disappointing from what I was expecting to hear.

Musical Fidelity NuVista M3 integrated... gaudy appearance and low fi sound quality. Simaudio W-6 monoblocks.

Purchased a Rogue 66 preamp. The absolutely worse sounding preamp I had ever owned. It was a early unit. Dull sounding and way too laid back for my taste.

During my sophomore year in HS, I purchased a 40wpc integrated amp, the Kenwood KA-305 for full list price,$200. That was a lot of paper route money in 1979!

http://vintageaudio78.blogspot.com/2010/11/kenwood-ka-305-photos.html

It sounded quite good with my dual tt and polk 5 speakers. I had it all through high school and at the end of my sophomore year at college, I sold it for $100 and bought the latest 100wpc Kenwood KA-7x (list price $400).

http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/maya-kenwood-ka-7x/693920

With tremendous anticipation, I hooked up the new model and it absolutely sucked. It had way more features and likely used op amps vs the old discreet model. It was lifeless, had no dynamics, and didn't drive the 4 Ohm Polks worth a crap. I learned the hard way that specs were meaningless and you had to listen to determine if a component sounded better or worse. Two years later, I got a closeout deal on a Denon PMA-737 60wpc integrated (paid $200 for a $300 unit) and it just mopped the floor with the 100wpc $300 Kenwood.