Top 10 HiFi and Home Theater Purchases I REGRET THE MOST

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

★ *Thanks to Keeps for supporting the channel! For more info: **keeps.com/AndrewRobinson* ★ *QOTD: What are your biggest hifi/AV regrets?* ★ *CLICK 🔝 “SHOW MORE” in the description for answers to many of your questions* ★ *RULES: Please be respectful. NO OUTSIDE LINKS, URLs, email addresses, etc.*

[@zardoz2627]

I regret buying so many streamers with really awful interfaces. So much so I don't think I'll buy another. Use a laptop and a dac only now. Other than that, not much I can think of. I certainly regret selling some of the things I used to own.

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

@@zardoz2627 Oooh what have you sold that you regret?

[@zardoz2627]

@@andrewrobinsonreviews Wow so much. Yamaha M-80 amplifier I bought in 1986 (that sucker is worth A LOT now). Polk Audio SDA 1a speakers I bought in 1986. Polk Audio SDA 1c speakers I bought in 1988. 2 NAD 2200PE amplifiers I bought in 1988. Those are probably the biggies I can remember off the top of my head. A bunch of little things.

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

@@zardoz2627 Those Polk speakers were nice!

[@powerguymark]

I think this is one of the best videos you've ever produced. Nobody likes to share their dirty laundry. Thanks for sharing.

[@pmizz7959]

What I’ve learned on my journey… Buy right, buy once….. Meaning if there is a set of speakers or an amp you want just save up until you can get exactly what you want. Eventually the desire to upgrade will get to you and you will end up buying the more expensive thing anyway. Now you have 2 of whatever and have to deal with the headache of trying to offload what you really didn’t want in the first place at a huge loss.

[@andrewz925]

Buying different components and changing things out is often part of the process of figuring out what you like, which is why it can be helpful if not desirable to stick to good quality entry level gear until you figure out what you like, rather than just spending money on expensive things because they seem better.

[@SeanVedell]

Well said. I’ve done the same thing over the years. It drives my wife nuts because she doesn’t understand the differences but she knows I’ll be a miserable bear if she pushes me to buy the lesser product I don’t really want. We’ve both learned that ends up being the costlier option overall.

[@diebackmischung503]

Im glad that I even found THE speaker I want since there are like millions lol

[@steveclark5206]

Like most things you want to last for a long time, “buy it nice or buy it twice” is definitely a determining factor in any purchase I make.

[@SeanVedell]

@@steveclark5206 Oh, I’m stealing that line. That’s my new motto!!

[@coloradoklutch8005]

I've been into audio since I was in high school back in the 80s. I've been very fortunate. I've never dropped a lot of coin on something useless. I have learned a few things: - If a sales rep is really pushing something expensive, it's overpriced and not worth buying - If a sales rep trashes particular brands, he's trying to sell you something else that's overpriced - If an audio component requires proprietary media or accessories, it's destined to fail and not worth buying. (I remember car stereos that required proprietary memory sticks. I didn't think that would last. Sure enough, it was gone only months later.) - Always consider the laws of physics. When someone tells me uber-expensive, heavy duty speaker wire is going to work so much better than a six foot lamp cord, I remember Ohm's Law doesn't care how expensive the cable is - If I can't hear a difference, it's not worth spending money on it - Before buying a well-respected brand, make sure it hasn't been sold to a Chinese consortium - Never forget to have fun! Home audio shouldn't be about bragging rights or elitism. It should be about pursuing what we like and enjoying the hobby

[@franciscoortiz6980]

DUUUUUDE LOVE THIS VIDEO !!! A giant welcome back to earth video. SOOOO many things to comment here. First of all PROUD OF YOU for admitting mistakes, hope you and OTHERS learn from these mistakes. Astounded your wife did not make you sleep in your HT room while using SACD player as a pillow and keeping yourself warm by wrapping yourself in expensive cables.

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

HAHAHAHA Thanks!

[@tomkershaw4384]

In my humble opinion the best audio accessories are a comfy swivel chair , an ottoman and an end table for coffee and remotes.

[@bryanherr1093]

I would say don’t settle for an entry model of whatever it is when you really want the higher priced model. Wait and save for the thing you really want.

[@KristiWright]

Pretty solid advice especially since most of the time you end up buying the more expensive thing later anyway ultimately costing even more in the long run.

[@JS-dr7sm]

but there always comes newer models and you may end up saving til next best thing and not buying at all. 🤷‍♂️

[@bryanherr1093]

@@JS-dr7sm or just buy the one you wanted originally used and save even more

[@JS-dr7sm]

@@bryanherr1093 thats actually true - been there, done that 🤩

[@woodshop-audio]

Being an engineer, I never fell for high end cables (and Kudos for calling them out here) but I have to admit spending over $29K a custom home theatre that ROCKED but that I hardly used. As it aged, it became less and less relevant and fortunately I was able to sell it with the house and now have a nice 4K display with a decent 2.0 stereo system that is used constantly AND sounds great. When I want to upgrade something, its easy and I don't have to tear walls apart!

[@JogieGlenMait16]

The wife's retort is hilarious. "I'm embarrassed for you." LOL

[@richardramorino3319]

The only mod I've discovered that ALWAYS makes my system sound better is weed.

[@KristiWright]

😂

[@Kmahomie]

My guy 😂😂😂🤞🏾

[@JorenzTanada]

Hilarious AF

[@johnrobertpalomo4283]

So true

[@d4dl]

😂🤣

[@McMurdo]

Kristi! 🤣 “I’m embarrassed for you”. Well done. Lol. The video was already a good one, and that was just the perfect cherry on top. Great work again guys! Thank you.

[@daysandwords]

I used to have a good set of speakers that I recently sold for almost as much as I bought them for (because I didn't buy them new), so that was ok, but I've discovered more joy in finding cheap speakers and seeing how they sound. Some sound bad, some sound ok, some even sound good - but all of them are interesting to me and when they DO sound good it is fun because you're always pleasantly surprised.

[@umrryan]

Thanks for another fun discussion in this video! Fortunately, I learned from those around me about overspending on gear. Though I was hooked on building and overclocking PCs early in college, which was as frivolous as chasing HiFi dreams. Eventually I found the quality experiences with people close to you.

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

Thanks for watching!

[@KC-bv9kf]

Yesss, the true scars of a recovering audiophile: any “custom” cable related components. I always got the stares of death when asking about the quality of wires inside high quality speakers that were barely more expensive than the speaker cables or interconnects. This has been cathartic. I’m going to text my therapist to let him know that I won’t need any sessions this month. Oh, and like my middle aged ears with hundreds of hours of heavy metal can tell the difference!?

[@mikegallagher2732]

SAME HERE !!!!🤘🤘

[@tietoliikenne]

This is one of the most helpful audiophile videos ever made on KZbin. Truly made me feel that I'm not alone and learned important, money saving things. I'm 26 years old.

[@paulnicholls6872]

Expensive B&W speakers found them hard to drive, bought into the hype never satisfied with them now I own a set of Lintons Love them I just enjoy the music now.

[@KingLeo-nf3bj]

This video really helped clear my mind about some things I’ve already been wondering about. Mostly FOMO…..fear of missing out. I’m not an audiophile but I love really good sound. I don’t have access to hear different components together so you just never know unless you just take a chance. But you’ve help resolve my FOMO. I’m just going to really rethink some things and be content with simplicity

[@CosmicKnight1]

Wow, this episode certainly establishes some credibility. Man, you’ve been there, done that. I really like the sentiment “allow yourself to be happy.” This, just… yup. Thank you for sharing, your putting it out there is very endearing!

[@Hyper1555]

My good investment tips: -buy, if you can, all your audio gear second hand when you made a decision. Saved me 1500 on the speakers and 400 on the sub (50% off of the speakers and sub) - buy a nicely polished granite slab for downfiring sub and maybe put some rubbers under the slab. Costed about 200 put redirects all of the sound of the sub and got me 10+% more output and way tighter bass. You need something hard underneath those subs!

[@mydogskips2]

Don't worry Andrew Robinson, you are not alone. I remember reading a while back that most home theaters go largely unused. I haven't been to a theater in quite some time, I mean, even before Covid I didn't go very often, what can I say, I'm not the biggest movie fan, but despite all the hassles and other people, a big part of the thrill of going to the theater, is actually GOING TO THE THEATER, GETTING OUT OF YOUR HOUSE, even if you are around others, good or bad, they do change the experience, and it will NEVER be the same if you do it in your house. Honestly, unless you are a hardcore movie buff, a dedicated home theater isn't a great idea, it will mostly go unused, and as you said, most people wouldn't want it in their living space.

[@Evan-tj1te]

I loved that Pontiac Fiero joke 😂. I guess it's my reminder to re-watch that series! Great video Andrew. Good to know I'm not alone on the whole SACD debacle.

[@THEGODDAMNDINOSAUR]

Just wanna say the video and especially, ESPECIALLY the audio production in your videos are a joy to hear, whether on my tower speakers, book shelf or phone; top notch sound quality, love it!

[@bruffyb3796]

The cable lifts had me laughing out loud. Thanks for the honesty.

[@m6j159]

Hi Guys, What a brilliant video👍 I can hear many of your viewers saying 'yes, yes...been there'. Our hobby, our passion can be a nightmare for putting you on the 'good, better, best' road to - at times - nowhere. What really made me smile and feel your pain, was Kristi's priceless opening; 'I feel embarrassed for you'. Oh the shame...and it's one I share, Andrew - you are not alone. Too many vintage turntables in my case - all of them needing work. Why? WHY? Great video - thanks, both...really made me smile👍🙏👍

[@bradmroczek9928]

On the flip side, it would be fun to see a video of you and Kristi's top ten best home theater purchases that you don't regret! Love the channel!

[@geraldslonaker3289]

I am a deliberate thinker by nature (drives my wife of 40 years crazy) and I try hard not to make quick or early (not necessarily the same thing) decisions about important audio and video solutions for the exact reasons you describe in this video. I am in a new home with a bonus room that we bought two years ago with a plan to create a theater room. I bought a very nice TV and have nice speakers in the room and have noticed exactly what you are saying about the fact that we rarely use that room. For that reason, I think I am pretty close to abandoning the idea of upgrading it to an actual Theater Room.

[@TheReinx1]

Now THIS is some quality content. :::::immediately adds to saved videos for repeated wisdom before all hi-fi purchases:::::

[@robertkessler6641]

As a relatively new audiophile convert, videos like this and channels like yours have kept keep me from making any (overly) stupid decisions. I gave up on “home theater” years ago when it was clear that for my budget - there really isn’t such a thing home “theater.” Kick@ss 2-channel stereo? Turns out that I can totally swing! Deal-hunting + Patience + guidance and research = one happy camper. 😁

[@DigitalPhilosophers]

I highly respect Kristis mature perspective. Time in life and health is too precious to worry now about what could be in the future, especially when it comes to objects

[@phani-]

Thanks for this video. We recently moved to a new apartment and had this feeling that we didn’t build home theatre room (mainly because of space limitations) this video helped me understand maybe I m not missing much. I love the living room setup and had always wondered if we will actually go to the dedicated room whenever we want to watch Netflix!

[@jmcc2736]

I can kinda agree with you on the acoustic treatment. I have furniture and so on, curtains, an art panel that is accousticly treated. But I have mobile treatment that I can move in and out the room whenever I need. Honestly it sounds way more lively and fun to my ear when I take the mobile treatment out the room.

[@KristiWright]

👏👏👏👏

[@lindsaywebb1904]

It's hard to generalise but there isn't a listening room or system that won't be improved by proper treatment, especially in the low end. Problem is, it's easy to add treatment that sucks energy out in the upper mids and highs and that's where the sparkle is so you can definitely do more damage than harm of you're not addressing the actual room physics on hand.

[@mohannair]

Great video and thanks for the honesty. I’ve made tons of dumb purchases (sports cars) and decisions in my life and lucked out on some dumb purchases that turned out to be decent investments (watches). With electronics it’s value is always going to zero. The depreciation curve is a monster. Now at my age, I pretty much treat these purchases like vacations or other experiences - there’s no terminal value.

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

I 100% agree on the "value" or resale proposition when it comes to hifi. It's almost 100% in terms of loss, so buy it because YOU want it, not because you're hopeful someone else does.

[@andrewr.786]

Isolation devices always get a laugh out of me since the only things in my experience they effect are turntables, thanks to a ton of floor vibration I had, and our lab equipment(SPM-IR)

[@quikspecv4d]

Yeah. I totally agree with most of this. I started building my own speaker wires for way less money. Just got the correct gauge of ofc wire, braided wire sleeving, wire pants, shrink tube, and screw on banana plugs. The finished product looks pro and sound just as good as any retail cable. Not only that, I can make them the exact length needed per speaker.

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

I just buy bulk OFC CL-rated wire nowadays and use screw on terminals. I should try and make something a little more high-end to see if I like it over bulk wire. Maybe a good video idea? Thanks for sharing!

[@nicklaplaca8438]

I am so glad you tackled this subject. Sure to cause lots of discussion. I hope everyone replying is civil.

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

So far everyone has been alright, but it's early.

[@andrewgorenc9160]

Another great Sunday video Andrew and Kristi! No purchase regrets for me; if anything your channel is preventing me from doing so!

[@mikealanlee]

Laserdisc! But they were awesome. My first was Bram Stokers Dracula. Don't regret it except for the discontinuation.

[@stephenstevens6573]

I LOVED laserdisc! My ex wife did not...lol...i.loved it so much, I even have entertained buying another!

[@KristiWright]

Such a great movie!

[@stephenbrockway5899]

@@stephenstevens6573 the laserdisc was analog at its finest. It was basically a record player for video.

[@stephenstevens6573]

@@stephenbrockway5899 my favorite Laserdisc by far, was AC/DC live at Donnington castle

[@stephenbrockway5899]

@@stephenstevens6573 Never had the pleasure of owning one. Did get to see them elsewhere. Almost bought a used one. Saw lots of titles going for next to nothing in local resale shops.

[@mtkreger]

👏👏👏for calling out the expensive cable BS!

[@steveurbach3093]

$60 Audiophile power cords (and outlets). Still fed via ROMEX thru a crummy circuit breaker panel. Not saying you shouldn't get rid of those outlets that had those quick, pushin leads (some had no screws at all). Pro grade Back wire (has screws that clamp the wire) are a couple of $ each in contractors 10PKS

[@jeffberg8015]

This is a good video, and I think serves your channel well. Having admitted to trying snake oil and eventually rejecting it implies that your reviews are going to deal with demonstrable differences in products rather than wishful thinking. I've been pretty immune to the snake oil salespeople, because for me my purchases usually come down to a cost/benefit analysis and snake oil usually immediately fails that test.

[@davidjudd951]

You Very well put. It's human nature to justify a purchase, even bad ones.

[@tbonet859]

I have used the Auralex Gamma Isolation Risers, for my Ampeg and Aguilar bass cabinets. In our band's rehearsal room, and in small to medium sized venues; for live performances. They are very effective in decoupling my bass cabs from the floor. Which addresses the long bass waves reverberations, and bass overhang. Tightens up the bass, allows for better tone control/adjustments on the amp and bass. And my band mates definitely appreciated it. Bass overhang messes up the whole band's sound. As for home stereo systems. They work the same. But I have used cheap neoprene mouse pads, different type of rubber pucks/ footers for disc players and turntables to reduce shelf or footfall vibrations. Decoupling bass heavy floorstanders from the floor, and addressing room acoustics makes a difference. But as Andrew mentioned: you you don't have to spend a ton of money. Get creative with rubber or neoprene products, for isolation.

[@burner8959]

My only foray into Blu-ray? A PS3. At the time it was the cheapest way to get a Blu-ray player, and you were able to play games on it. Still have it. Still works. All original chonky version. No blue screen of death. Thanks for this Andrew and Kristi. I think we can all admit hi-fi mistakes....I'm looking at an early CD transport from Audio Alchemy that doesn't turn on...bad auction purchase. SAD-FACE.

[@CJL36]

Same for me. I found myself completely baffled listening to Andrew talk about Blu-Ray players.

[@Roof_Pizza]

My PS3 is still going strong.

[@luluyouidiot]

I swear this guy has given me so much advice via a video he feels like family Definitely keep this up man

[@PP-nh1lv]

I can't believe you mentioned cables and isolation products are BS, and that room treatments can be over bought along with Audiogon, all in the same video. Those guys over at AG are probably going out of their mind!!! And no, I did not post your video there, I care about your health and well-being! LOL Did I mention, that this is the best video you've ever done? Absolutely awesome!

[@johnT5]

I think this is my favorite audiophile vid ever. So many truths. Also lived the HT Room drama on selling my second home. High-end cables??? LMAO. Sorry for learning the hard way, but all of this is so 100% accurate. Many thanks for some smiles today.

[@t3dewys]

Kristis thoughts are great!!! I don’t regret a single thing I’ve purchased. I guess I do wish I’d save a bit longer and buy bigger the first time, instead up upgrading slowly.

[@t3dewys]

I also think it has a lot to do with contentment. Not even necessarily with AV items. Just in general.

[@damonjackson7690]

Don't have many regrets. I'm with christi on this I'm a tech person and have been for 35 years so i early adopt sometimes and end up giving things away. I have a dedicated home theater room (came with the house) and DIYed the whole thing for about 15 grand. I also have a dedicated listening room (gameroom) with some pretty good gear. Listening to people like you and Christi helps a lot. I'm a researcher so I don't buy anything without checking out several reviews. Thanks for the channel.

[@gorillapancake]

The biggest trap for audiophiles is the belief that spending more will lead to satisfaction. Instead, it leads to higher expectations that are never met, which results in frustration and disappointment. One needs to close the wallet, take a deep breath and focus on enjoying music again, instead of obsessing over the equipment.

[@KristiWright]

This makes entirely too much sense for any KZbin comments section.

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

Biggest trap for a lot of hobbies is the belief that spending more gets you more.

[@gorillapancake]

@@KristiWright Thanks Kristi. I really enjoy your perspective and contribution to the channel.

[@KristiWright]

@@gorillapancake Thank you for watching to the end!!

[@twenty4seven368]

Sold my Hegel h160 last week and now using a second hand $40 Yamaha avr receiver to power my 3k speakers. The Yamaha is warmer sounding and sounds better on my bright speakers. It’s about matching. The denafrips ares II DAC helps the Yamaha avr receiver to sound pretty good.

[@WireHedd]

As a teenager I worked part time at a stereo store and part time at a local electric motor company and learned a fair bit about wires and power transmission. My first job at the motor company once I'd done a while as a helper was to wind a coil motor with 2.8km of copper wire. There was a very comprehensive electrical toolset there and I used those tools to test some speaker cables I'd picked up and they were WAY higher impedance (~17ohms) than they said and when put to higher power levels they actually warmed up. The sales rep told me they were meant for tube systems only when I called to complain so they offered me a refund minus a 25% restock fee. I lost $180 after shipping a pair of cables back to England and this was in 1983. It also took about 6 months to get the refund cheque. Never pay for super expensive speaker cables. They don't even include dinner or lube.

[@Barry101er]

“Audiophile logic” 🤩. Thanks for the honesty.

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

It's real.

[@rodrogers7553]

Thanks Andrew. Your candid opinions are most refreshing.

[@peanutbutterjellyjam2179]

Over the course of around 16 years, I built up a collection of 10,000 (that's not a typo,) DVDs, some HD DVDs, and a whole lot of Blu-rays. Yep, they are sitting in boxes. As for two-channel listening, recently, I put away my two subs, and my two towers, after I was pleasantly surprised how well my bookshelves sound while sitting on their respective stands. As I got older, I began to simplify, and that turned out to be what I was missing.

[@liquicitizendirk2147]

I'm in my mid 20's and feel the same. So much stuff that doesn't get used or used very little and by now all the clutter is annoying me and I actively try to get rid of it. It feels good to have some select stuff that I really like and use, brings so much more enjoyment than lots of stuff that brings nearly none.

[@anthonysaturno8265]

Hey Andrew loved this video! I too was on the side of HD DVD! Still have my Toshiba and the discs.

[@benryals7475]

The only audio equipment that I regret buying was when I was about 19, financing a stereo at a furniture store for $1100 then finding that same stereo at Sam’s with additional surroundsound speakers for $400.

[@bassman9544]

are you foocking dumb ? XDDD

[@josephvanalstyne4049]

bought a sony sacd player in 2008 for 200.00 dollars. was good really cool at time. stop use for about 10 years. wanted to hook up again year ago. it stopped playing sacd's. played regular cd but not sacd. found out it had to be recalibrated. got it done. the dac inside sounds like an r to r like the denefrips aries 2. could not believe the difference between this all analog rca hookup. and the saber dacs i own now. see it can also work the other way when yo do not know what you really have. still cannot believe the sound i am getting with just a regular cd inside pcm only. much closer to vinyl. great video.

[@j.j.h.atemycereal]

Yeah, I’m guilty of falling for a few of these. Expensive (for me) cables ate up way too much of my budget, and I never really thought ANY of them made a difference. But I thought I ‘should’ have them. Thanks for owning up on behalf of the rest of us.

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

I cannot even add up how much money I have blown on cables. I bought into Audioquest, Cardas, Kimber, Transparent, Crystal Cable, Wireworld, you name it. To date, the ONLY cables from those brands that I have left are my Transparent cables. I don't believe they're better sounding than any of the others, but they are built to last, which is the ONLY reason I still have them and use them still.

[@teardownz]

Purchased a pair of Bang & Olufsen beolab9s for 2,400$. Basically these have become endgame for me as they were incredible! (Balanced of size/ performance)

[@MrDTF]

Hi I wanted ”proper” center channel so I bought three B&W 802 Diamond, i.e., L+R+C. This was in the time when multichannel music was promoted. Later I found out that the center speaker (not used) disturbed stereo listening. I found a person in Norway that had gone down the same route with three 802 Diamonds and we sold of our extra speakers as a pair. It took lot of extra work. I would also say that most purchases based on reviews only have failed. To listen and evaluate in your home is the best way.

[@LuxAudio389]

Yes, I recently learned the same thing at one of my dealers. Any inactive speaker absorbs and radiates energy from the playing speakers which noticibly majescacredolving speaker, less redolving. Inactive Subs too. This was really noticed in a dedicated listening room or theater with 1 small inactive speaker in the room🎭

[@xsamitt]

@@LuxAudio389 Very TRUE!!

[@mito747]

Extremely relatable video. I must say you’re one of the few people I trust for your reviews of products. One of my biggest regrets was purchasing a pair of Martin Logan’s speakers, the 60XTi’s to be exact. I own a pair of the Pioneer HP100(the 200w) model, and properly positioned, to me they sound way more lively than the Martin Logans, but that’s just my experience. Take care and keep up the excellent work.

[@homerjones3291]

Regret the home theater system - $2500 or so. After the “Hey! That fighter jet went right past me” or “I hear people talking in the back of the room” and earthquake rumbles, it just got boring fairly quickly, so when something went wrong with one of the channels, I never turned it on again. Plus, the wives (one at a time) wanted to just turn on the TV and watch something, not juggle many remotes to turn on multiple units and switch sources/room effects and such. “But, this remote can control everything!” did not impress. The friends we had come over to watch things weren’t particularly impressed, either.

[@curt5802]

I'm with you... I'm ditching the surround, going back to two-channel stereo even for video watching. I find the DIALOGUE to be more clear with simple two-channel and I find the effects to be more-than-satisfying.

[@midevil1980]

The grass is always greener, indeed... I definitely need to learn how to just stop and truly enjoy what I have more these days, instead of always wondering how I can make things "better". That mindset will definitely plague you. It's an endless journey to an impossible goal...

[@bobsykes]

The Laser Disk player had probably the shortest useful lifespan, and least content available, although it did give a slightly better picture than Super-VHS tapes on the 480i CRT TVs of the day.

[@ttpryor]

Love it!!!! a few years back I designed and installed a 15k watt SLS sound system in a church. Speaker wires...... #10 thhn wire! thanks for the great video!!

[@brianschulz6462]

Fun video… Do you have one that maybe I didn’t notice or could you make a video about the top 10 things you’re glad you bought?

[@davidkclayton]

Back in 1971, I bought a 8 track player for your home stereo. I thought it would replace vinal. I was 12 at that time. Great video, BTW.👍

[@collywallydooda]

Buying the same movie on VHS, DVD, HD DVD, Blu-ray, 4k Blu-ray... amazing how many times formats can make you buy the same title. On the flip side I bought an HD DVD player and movies after they lost the battle for virtually nothing, built up a large HD movie range from nothing for a bargain.

[@bartjackson4447]

You missed one...Laser Disc!...or am I out on an island by myself on this one?...

[@charlesf2804]

As for the idea of lifting speaker cables off the floor, I have found it can make sense if one has carpet. Lifting my speaker cables off the floor got rid of an annoying buzz which would randomly show up when playing music. I mean SUDDEN, LOUD buzz. Perhaps the signal flowing through the cable on the carpet created the problem (static?). But I used simple wood pieces to get the cables off the carpeted. No more buzz since.

[@bactanite]

Companies peddling hardware upgrades are still around. There is an outfit on KZbin whose name I won't mention that says that almost every speaker on the market is crap. They encourage viewers to upgrade crossovers, bracing, and acoustic foam at a high cost to get acceptable sound, or better yet, buy a complete speaker kit from them.

[@bigjay1970]

Gr research!🤔🤫🙄😎

[@terrycain1811]

That company which I will say is GR-research. stay away from them with a flourish. I fell into his snake oil b.s. I did the upgrade all by myself. It really didn't help as I thought. Be aware Thanks

[@moonytheloony6516]

Can’t say I saw this video coming. I seriously thought HD DVD was going to win that war as well. Fortunately for me, I didn’t spend one single dollar into that format as I wanted to sit back, observe and patiently wait out the winner. I learned THAT skill from observing Michael Corleone.This was a very funny but brutally honest video. Masterfully done! You two are an amazing team.

[@RobGordon35]

75k for a screening room. Holy. Mother. of. God. I'm weeping and it wasnt even my cash. I admire your honesty. Semper Fi.

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

Oh, in today's money I'm sure a similar build out would cost multiples more. Some of these screening rooms have insane budgets and then get filled with the lamest gear or decor.

[@RobGordon35]

@@andrewrobinsonreviews I'm glad I didnt have that amount of money to spend! I have a friend that paid 10k for Meridian speakers 15 years ago *and that was just the front pair) and spent most of his time blasting pink noise through them when we just wanted to watch a movie! Ah... when I was young! lol!

[@classicrecordings]

I have to say I am surprised about your SACD comments. I am a die-hard vinyl listener, and rejected CD's for decades, but the sound of a well mastered/produced stereo/multi-channel SACD played through my stock Oppo BDP-95 is very satisfying. I listen to mainly Classical music, and SACD got me listening to some old recordings with fresh ears, as well as many new recordings and performances. I have almost 400 SACD's right now, and I am continuing to buy more.

[@ivyinvestor]

Nice to meet another SACD owner... I agree with AR about many items on his list. But I love my SACDs...and the few DVD-As I still have, too!

[@cnoyes72]

Hearing Kristi's story about that car stereo, I had something similar happen to me back in my 20's (without the car frame damage, thankfully). After that I decided to just stick with factory car radios that thieves wouldn't want to steal.

[@KristiWright]

The worst part was I was left paying off my credit card for a system I couldn't use anymore. Had to go back to the factory radio!

[@chico1287]

Great vid..thanks for sharing. I have so many regrets in my audiophile journey..I spent thousands on audio gear(amps, speakers CD players, and cables ) over 30 yrs. Being impatient and never satisfied, I ended up selling everything for pennies only to repeat the same mistakes several times over. I just didn’t appreciate the gear I had. Now I’m buying the same gear as it’s become vintage and far cheaper to buy and no loss on resale.

[@sirMAXX77]

The acoustic treatment one hurt the most. I am trying to do a dedicated home theater on as much of a budget as I can. I spent close too $1000 on just treating the room alone. Some parts look cool, but for the most part, I'm already having regrets and I feel 70% of the panels could come down. I feel I over did it and the paint that I used to darken room, not even command strips will stick to it and the panels keep falling off the walls which is not very flattering. So I need to rethink on treatment, take some down and reuse the ones I have to only place where they are actually useful. The Light that I mounted on the ceiling though is pretty cool and happy with though. It was also disheartening to hear a dedicated home theater room is a waste. I had ideas to use that as a selling point, cause how many homes have a home theatre.

[@therumbler]

Curious what made you (and Andrew) think a home theater room would _add_ value to the home. People want to live in a home, not sit in a dark room. Andrew even mentioned that others attempted to convince him it was a worthwhile investment! This sounds crazy to me. Sure, build the room if you want it, but not to increase a home's value

[@mohamedahmed1023]

Kudos on sharing that. Some of those purchases were tough to stomach lol I can say I don't really have any audio regrets. I've always bought used and anything I didn't like I sold for about as much as I bought them for or more.

[@Dmu_girl-2008]

Really fun video, while I don't have any of my own stories to share I will say my dad thought mini discs would be the next big thing after cds

[@mike.thomas]

I literally just sold my nice Sony MiniDisc player/recorder and a bunch of discs. It had been boxed up years ago and untouched for a long time before that. I didn’t kid myself about their future, but they were certainly convenient for recording and preserving vinyl. Thing is, I never played them (other than occasionally on my portable player/recorder), but instead continued with the original vinyl 🙄.

[@givvia6782]

Love this video Andrew & Kristi! Especially around audio and video cables!

[@fletchermunson6225]

The nice thing about having kids is you can train them to hold up your speaker cables.

[@michaelwright1602]

LMAO!

[@olegariomartinez6807]

Kudos for going against the audiophile grain. You have earned my respect and since I have been a subscriber for quite some time I am staying.

[@jjnewbold]

I got years of play, mostly for blu-ray, out of my Playstation 3. I'm still a big (primarily 4k now) blu-ray collector.

[@WireHedd]

I still have a PS3 Fatboy right behind me in my office that I fire up every once in a while. Classic device and made an AWESOME Linux machine until they nixed that with the firmware changes. Good Ol'GeoHotz was the man back in those days.

[@nitestrike1000]

Great video! And your wife's commentary at the end is always very insightful and this one brings back memories of my own removable face plate Kenwood cassette player with trunk mounted six disc CD changer. It was great until the face plate was removed for some reason I don't remember, and got lost when someone accidentally threw it away thinking it was junk rendering the whole system useless.🤣

[@davidwilson8634]

MiniDisc player got me! Had a portable one, car and home! 🤪

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

Wow. Thankfully I didn't try miniDisc, though I almost added D-VHS to this list, but I didn't want the video to be all about failed formats.

[@Techthusiasm]

Great video! Definitely agree with a lot of this. I sometimes need to check myself and temper my enthusiasm for spending on this or that in electronics. I do enjoy my dedicated room though, but it comes with a hard reality of just how much it actually gets used vs. our living room A/V system.

[@danny3565]

I once bought a Mumford and Sons album, I very much regret that

[@Patriot6669]

Same! Lol!

[@oompaloompa76]

Thank you for your honesty in both reviewing and regretting. I too bought into SA-CD (in fact had a dual format Denon player with DVD-A to be on the safe side 😉), but never made it past some Peter Gabriel, REM and Diana Krall discs, I sold a few years ago. I kept clear from Blueray because I remembered too well disposing my VHS cassettes for DVDs because I‘d be the „definitive version“ of Star Wars 🤣… What I regret is when I bought my second AV receiver with a pair of B&W 603. I heard them with a Rotel but eventually ended up buying a Marantz because it had 7.1…which I never used. But I still remember that Rotel sound 😂

[@TheBoomerConsumer]

I’m married to a gal I call the Brunette. Every time I mention a new piece of gear I want, her first words are “You don’t need that crap” You know what? She’s right 90% of the time.

[@scottroodvoets9013]

Thanks for clearing up a lot of the BS. I worked for a wire and cable manufacturer that made some speaker wire. Our lead engineer always assured me that any standard 14 awg wire will handle any audio signal without a problem and there is nothing to be gained by fancy designs.

[@adamlink7561]

My biggest regrets are stair stepping up the product line I’ve learned if I want the good model save for the good model. Because you are going to end up with and then you have 2 or 3 lower models you have to get rid of and no one wants… I also owned that crappy Sony blue ray player no WiFi and incredibly difficult firmware updates. but to be honest every single blue ray player I have owned was a piece of crap. I’m glad you tackled acoustic panels I generally feel like they are ugly, I care too much about the design of my space and they can wreck an aesthetic fast….

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

Early Sony firmware updates killed two of my Blu-ray players. It was maddening! As for treatments, I cannot begin to describe the frustration I feel when I see people just papering their room in treatments. It's nuts.

[@blanchardc]

I bought a Cambridge Audio DVD/SACD player in the mid-2000's. I still have it and bought a handful of audio CDs. Whatever investment I had in that format, I made it back in spades when someone offered me $1500 for a rare SACD disc. I was happy to sell it to him.

[@MrOgynist]

Did you buy green sharpies to run along the edge of your CDs?

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

No, but I did buy contact paste that completely f-ed up my RCA terminals on my first Decware amp.

[@alcozar5905]

Andrew I appreciate your honesty, some of my first hifi gear I gave away to family members that share my interest. Hey, by the way this is what makes your channel so liked!!!

[@Mayday73]

Haven't finished the complete video yet, but had to write this after the hd-dvd and blu-ray segments. My experience was kinda the opposite of yours. I waited until the format war ended and then bought an og PS3 mainly cause it could be upgraded. It is still works fine and continues to be our only blu-ray player.

[@kudukilla]

Me too, remembering the previous Beta vs VHS format war, I guess I’m old.

[@masterstacker2833]

Isn't buying gear you might regret also part of the learning curve? I think it comes with the territory. Good that you made an instructional video on the pitfalls.

[@edd2771]

Another great video. I know your intent is not to trash other reviewers, but there is one in particular who waxes poetic about all manner of feet, stands, platter mats, upgrades etc etc using such lavish and specific prose that I began to wonder if I was missing the boat by being deeply skeptical about what he appeared to be hearing. Thank you for some common sense sanity on these topics.

[@KristiWright]

I honestly have no idea who you are even talking about...which is to say this is definitely not meant as a way to call out another reviewer.

[@edd2771]

@@KristiWright of course. It’s me not you. And he’s a good reviewer. He just loves the do-dads

[@SeanVedell]

@kristi Wright for the win! I’ve rarely considered a formats lifespan when I buy into it. Things change/evolve and that’s part of the hobby. No regrets!

[@KristiWright]

😍

[@angelorasmijn7306]

I only buy secondhand gear. This is better for my wallet and keep things fun, whether I make a mistake or not. And I try to keep focusing on enjoying the music and not the gear.

[@angelclaudio604]

Appreciate the honesty especially the home theater experience, gives us all a lot to think about - thank you!

[@NealSchultz]

Can I just say as of February 2022, my number one regret is being lured into the Dirac Live THANG - whose calibration settings routine don't work on android or PC. Gave up and used Accueq on my Onkyo TX-RV50.

[@cory3685]

You need something that is purpose built for DIRAC like MINIDSP SHD.... most receivers have half baked Dirac processing or software capabilities... my first hand experience

[@F3Y3F3]

I didn't really regret it, but I bought a Yamaha KX-1200u cassette deck for $450 (in the PX) instead of the Nakamichi Dragon that was $1500... mostly so I could make hi-def copies of borrowed CD's on tape using DBX noise reduction. I could've purchased a shit-load of CD's instead with that money.

[@shinyori]

This is great content :)). Well, when you're talking about a passion, there is no price and I can totally relate to it.

[@craiglange4852]

First off, this was the perfect video to watch this morning with a cup of coffee. Totally stress free. Thank you. Regrets? That's why I subscribe to your channel. With the education you AND Kristie provide I know I will have no regrets. Now before your channel (prepare to cringe) A) leaving my Pioneer SX-780/Technics turntable/unlimited wattage Bose 301s behind in the divorce so the children would have something to listen to. B) I forget what the salesman wanted me to buy over the BIC surround speaker package but I wasn't willing to spend the money. Those 20 year old speakers & sub are now playing in New Orleans. Let me end this with I enjoy the chase on paper of good sound, but other than a Harmon Kardon surround receiver and a Denon 6 disc player for the SX-780, my wallet always dictated the bottom of audio gear, price wise. No N.A.D. or Bang & Olufsun. Those were dreams. Once my new purchase was set up I was always surprised at what I thought was the best I could fund. I am happy with that. And I listen to that equipment for a loooooonnng time. Again, thank you for your efforts.

[@stefanegger]

I like Harman kardon even I know it's older and no comparison to what other people have.

[@stelioskritikakis]

Totally agree with the video. i'm so glad i totally skipped the hd-dvd blu ray era.. However for me space is a key factor not to overspend in gear. Streaming and digital archives do the job fine, plus i love minimalism :)

[@je19921]

Can't agree more. I've always lived in a fairly compact and minimalist condo, so too much clutter would be impossible. Gigantic speakers like La Scala while amazing would never work also, so I never consider them, helps keep my budget in check