What speakers have you bought and returned, ...

[Goat1]

because you didn't like them. Also,explain what it was about them that bothered you.. I'm curious..

[Goat1]

Really? 73 looks and not 1 post? Cmon!

[callas01]

Originally Posted by Goat1

returned cause you didn't like them. Also,explain what it was about them that bothered you.. I'm curious..

well if you audition them, then you don't have to return them.

[aces high]

Originally Posted by callas01

well if you audition them, then you don't have to return them.

An in-home audition is always better if the return policy allows you to get a full refund IMO.

[callas01]

Originally Posted by aces high

An in-home audition is always better if the return policy allows you to get a full refund IMO.

true, but you should get a good sense of the speakers at an audition.

If the setup is poor, then you should tell the dealer and see if they can place them better so you get a better sense of the speakers. When I auditioned the MF M3i and somthing about the X16s weren't right, so I had them connect the Focus 260, it sounded much better in a different placement. I told my dealer, Im not sure about the M3i and X16s, the setup was terrible and I couldn't get a proper audition. When I first auditioned the Studio 60s and M11s there was something off, esp when the M11s sounded better, so I got up and moved the 60s around until I felt like I was getting the most out of them. Who knows, with a better setup, I could have bought S60s.

[Goat1]

Cmon,no one else?

[Kali157]

Speakers I have returned? Hmml, let us see:

Emptek E5Ci (center channel). Off axis response was not very good... but I think it was just the design of W-T-W. Ended up getting an Aperion 6C with W-T/M-W design.

Paradigm cc390. Bought it for my in-home comparison against the Aperion 6C. Preferred the 6C.

Aperion 5DB (surrounds). Compared it against the Axiom QS8, and the Axiom edged the Aperion out by a small margin.

In my current hunt for my new fronts, I currently have the Aperion Verus Grands at home. I may bring home the Sonus Faber Liutos for a direct comparison. But I have also auditioned the Liutos a number of times (4) and even brought my Emotiva amp in the store once to hear how the SF sounds with my XPA-3. We shall see...

[Reference_head]

Originally Posted by Goat1

Cmon,no one else?

Not that you intended it to be this but posting the speakers you returned could be viewed as a bash on speakers you don’t like thread. Not wanting to hurt anybody’s feelings might be why you’re not getting a lot of responses from people.

[mywhitenoise]

Originally Posted by Goat1

Really? 73 looks and not 1 post? Cmon!

Probably because before spending hundreds, or thousands, we make sure what we're getting into.

[Almadacr]

Originally Posted by mywhitenoise

Probably because before spending hundreds, or thousands, we make sure what we're getting into.

Exactly , and like Callas said the smart choice is ...audition first before you put your money on it . Few are the company's that offer 30 day's free return policy .

[jephdood]

Not everyone can audition everything, and I think the OP's question is somewhat interesting. Sometimes people live in remote areas and can't really audition. Sometimes the draw of a great sale gets people to buy on a whim. Sometimes what one hears in a showroom is not what they hear once they get the speakers home. Sometimes people just have the income and impulsive nature to buy things without much study.

[Johnny Vinyl]

One of the reasons you're not getting many responses is because the thread title is IMO somewhat misleading.

I fixed that for you!

[Blu-Dog]

Originally Posted by Goat1

because you didn't like them. Also,explain what it was about them that bothered you.. I'm curious..

None. It's too big a purchase to do without a thorough checkout first.

[Kali157]

Originally Posted by mywhitenoise

Probably because before spending hundreds, or thousands, we make sure what we're getting into.

Originally Posted by Almadacr

Exactly , and like Callas said the smart choice is ...audition first before you put your money on it . Few are the company's that offer 30 day's free return policy .

Originally Posted by Blu-Dog

None. It's too big a purchase to do without a thorough checkout first.

But how do you know until you bring it home? I do agree that a generous return policy is a must. I even think that free return shipping should be standard for Internet Direct companies since it is nearly impossible to audition them other that a purchase.

But even in audition rooms, I just find too many variables with the room, equipment, settings, placement, etc. to obtain a completely accurate read of a speaker's performance. Also, it is difficult to conduct a direct comparison between two or more speakers if they are not in the same room.

Anyway, this is the reason I try to bring home at least my top choices. Unfortunately, no company has allowed me to take a speaker home without first purchasing them.

[Blu-Dog]

Originally Posted by Kali157

But how do you know until you bring it home? I do agree that a generous return policy is a must. I even think that free return shipping should be standard for Internet Direct companies since it is nearly impossible to audition them other that a purchase.

But even in audition rooms, I just find too many variables with the room, equipment, settings, placement, etc. to obtain a completely accurate read of a speaker's performance. Also, it is difficult to conduct a direct comparison between two or more speakers if they are not in the same room.

Anyway, this is the reason I try to bring home at least my top choices. Unfortunately, no company has allowed me to take a speaker home without first purchasing them.

You have good points, and I've been through all this myself (except for on-line purchases, which I never do unless I've heard them in person first.) Here are some simple rules to follow:

1. Listen with KNOWN SOURCE MATERIAL. Don't let them pick what you're listening to - bring stuff you know, on your own CD, DVD, Blu disk, or if you have to, your portable music player (preferably with lossless audio encoding). I've used both burned CD's, and once my Ipod with all lossless material.

2. Vary the source material, with emphasis on music that has clarity as it's emphasis. My test CD includes Neil Young's "Old Man", Chicago's "Does Anybody Know What Time It Is", Emerson Lake and Palmer's "From The Beginning", Yes's "The Clap" (from Yessongs), Marvin Gaye's "Joy" and "Rockin After Midnight" (from Sexual Healing), John Coltrane's "Giant Steps", Blood, Sweat, and Tears "Variations On a Theme From Eric Satie" (from their self-titled album) and a few others. These were all superbly recorded, included difficult to play horns and acoustic material, and require precision reproduction. No metal or blaring rock or fuzzy live material - if the speaker can play this stuff, it can play anything. Perhaps the toughest test is "River Man" by Nick Drake, all acoustic.

3. Listen at different volumes - loud, soft, and in between. This definitely puts tweeters and mids to the test, especially tweeters at low volume. Mids will flap like flags at higher volume, and you can definitely hear this. Trust your ears, you know the source material.

4. Make sure no subwoofers are turned on. They make apologies for sloppy mids, don't fall for that one.

5. Test for directionality. Listen to the speakers at different angles, not dead center in the focal point between them. See what that off-axis sound is like, especially in a small room. You don't want just one seat to get the sound. If you have a big room, it won't matter - you're sitting far enough away for the sound to mix. They might be great speakers, but if you can only hear them in one place, it can be a problem.

6. Try different amps if you can. Most listening rooms in mass-market places use underpowered amps - which can cause you to reject perfectly good speakers. If you can't change amps, regard the seller with care...

7. Never listen to four or six ohm speakers on a weak amp and pass judgement. There are great speakers out there at six ohm that can run just fine on an eight ohm amp, but not a weak one. For example, test Monitor Audio speakers with an amp that delivers over 100 watts - they're six ohms, and an 80 or 100 watt amp runs out of torque fast, no matter what volume.

These simple rules will help you make a good choice. If you're filling a small room, you'll be surprised what excellent sound you can receive from very inexpensive speakers. I've gone overkill, even for large rooms, but it was expensive and an hate to say it, but possibly unnecessary (esthetics were a huge part of the cost). Just give them a careful listen, and if you stick with these rules you can probably avoid lugging back speakers you didn't want.

[Beaner666]

Originally Posted by Blu-Dog

You have good points, and I've been through all this myself (except for on-line purchases, which I never do unless I've heard them in person first.) Here are some simple rules to follow:

1. Listen with KNOWN SOURCE MATERIAL. Don't let them pick what you're listening to - bring stuff you know, on your own CD, DVD, Blu disk, or if you have to, your portable music player (preferably with lossless audio encoding). I've used both burned CD's, and once my Ipod with all lossless material.

2. Vary the source material, with emphasis on music that has clarity as it's emphasis. My test CD includes Neil Young's "Old Man", Chicago's "Does Anybody Know What Time It Is", Emerson Lake and Palmer's "From The Beginning", Yes's "The Clap" (from Yessongs), Marvin Gaye's "Joy" and "Rockin After Midnight" (from Sexual Healing), John Coltrane's "Giant Steps", Blood, Sweat, and Tears "Variations On a Theme From Eric Satie" (from their self-titled album) and a few others. These were all superbly recorded, included difficult to play horns and acoustic material, and require precision reproduction. No metal or blaring rock or fuzzy live material - if the speaker can play this stuff, it can play anything. Perhaps the toughest test is "River Man" by Nick Drake, all acoustic.

3. Listen at different volumes - loud, soft, and in between. This definitely puts tweeters and mids to the test, especially tweeters at low volume. Mids will flap like flags at higher volume, and you can definitely hear this. Trust your ears, you know the source material.

4. Make sure no subwoofers are turned on. They make apologies for sloppy mids, don't fall for that one.

5. Test for directionality. Listen to the speakers at different angles, not dead center in the focal point between them. See what that off-axis sound is like, especially in a small room. You don't want just one seat to get the sound. If you have a big room, it won't matter - you're sitting far enough away for the sound to mix. They might be great speakers, but if you can only hear them in one place, it can be a problem.

6. Try different amps if you can. Most listening rooms in mass-market places use underpowered amps - which can cause you to reject perfectly good speakers. If you can't change amps, regard the seller with care...

7. Never listen to four or six ohm speakers on a weak amp and pass judgement. There are great speakers out there at six ohm that can run just fine on an eight ohm amp, but not a weak one. For example, test Monitor Audio speakers with an amp that delivers over 100 watts - they're six ohms, and an 80 or 100 watt amp runs out of torque fast, no matter what volume.

These simple rules will help you make a good choice. If you're filling a small room, you'll be surprised what excellent sound you can receive from very inexpensive speakers. I've gone overkill, even for large rooms, but it was expensive and an hate to say it, but possibly unnecessary (esthetics were a huge part of the cost). Just give them a careful listen, and if you stick with these rules you can probably avoid lugging back speakers you didn't want.

All very good points, but unfortunately brick & mortar stores are on the decline so many are left without these choices. To make things worse the few remaining b&m stores are usually of the “big box” variety and usually don’t have proper showrooms and/or won’t allow you to run through a full battery of tests such as you described.

[-DLS-]

Out of everything that I've bought for my audio system since I got into this hobby, the Paradigm Monitor System and Studio 100 & CC-690 were the only ones that had a "no return" policy. Everything else past and present gear (Polk Monitors, Onkyo 705, Yamaha HTR-6190, Emotiva XPA-3, Marantz SR8002, Paradigm Studio 40's, Energy RC-R's, oppo BDP-83, Salk speakers, Hsu VTF-15H's, Velodyne SMS-1.. even my StraightWire speaker cables all had at least a 30 day return policy.

So as you can see the in-home trial is very important to me and also the best way to see how much change each component would make in my system. Out of that whole list the only things that I returned are both from Energy (RC-LCR x 3 and Verita V.6.3's). I took full advantage of the 30 day return policy each time.

With the RC-LCR's I thought I would get a nice blend having 3 of the same speakers up front but the mid's were a little to weak for me comparing them to Monitor 11's and CC-390 at the time. They sounded good for music but I needed a bigger sound for HT. The V6.3's were compared side by side to my Studio 100's and they had more similarities than differences but again the midrange voice is where the Energy's were lacking. Not much weight to female vocals but wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't switching immediately from the 100's. I think some stuff would be hard to pick out without instant switching.

I planned on returning my speaker cables but kept them just for the looks lol. They didn't do anything for my Studio 100's. I was trying to hear a difference but I think I was fooling myself. I also bought the Marantz SR8002 to compare to the Yamaha. Had them play a week at a time for a month and just preferred the Marantz in the end. And with the Hsu's I bought one and instead of returning it I ended up buying a second one . My scariest purchase was the Salk's since it would have cost me over $400 to ship back but they exceeded my expectations. It won't always work out that way though and sometimes you have to eat up that return shipping cost but I think it's worth the cost if it's something you plan to keep for a long time. If you can return something locally or if shipping is free both ways like Aperion offers you can't do any better. I think in store auditions give you an idea but there's too many things that can affect what you hear. I went to a place a couple of years ago that was selling Onkyo receivers the salesman switched on one of the lower model receivers and cranked up the volume on some KEF speakers. Started talking about how clean the sound was and that the Onkyo was a good match for the KEF's. If I didn't see the hidden separate amp hiding in the corner he wouldn't have told me there was 200w pushing those speakers vs the 100w Onkyo. The amp was not even sold at the store and belonged to one of the sales reps. I wonder how many Onkyo receivers they've sold fooling people. If you are also one of those people that believe every component makes a difference in how your speakers sound - then that store you audition at will own your business since they will probably tell you what gear is best matched to each speaker and try to make a good sale. If you take it home you just know if it sounds good or not

[Goat1]

We need to resurrect this thread. It wasn't intended to bash any speakers or manufacturers. I just wanted to know what people Bought and sent back and why.. Also,what they decided to keep and why? I've since bought Martin Logan electromotion ESL's and the EM C2 matching center..

[wonginit]

This really applies to : 'I bought these years ago and I should have returned..'

My room is a small: 15' x 13'
I have a 7.1 surround powered now by my onkyo tx-nr609. My sony crapped out.
I bought B0$e Acoustimass in 2006. Speakers are beginning to crap out.

Pro's : mid levels are clear, generically good sound
Cons: The bass isn't deep, and there is a strange overpowering crossover low-mid frequency. High peaks sound muffled. So if you are watching tv like Mythbusters, the explosions sound pretty good, but the narrator sounds far away. It's annoying if you are watching a documentary at low levels.

[Goat1]

Ironically,I traded in the ML's for some Monitor audio RX8's. The ML's reflection of the film in the speaker. Some of the high's were too bright. Honestly,they just kind of wore me down. The Monitors are gorgeous! Piano black,smooth sound,bigger sweet spot,just a quality speaker. Very happy with these.