Bending the cantilever on my Linn Arkiv. Beer was involved.

I sent my Onkyo TXSR-875 receiver in for service for a chirping noise and it was gone for over three months. When I finally got it back, there was just a note saying I needed more ventilation and that heat issues caused the chirping noise. It was the longest three months of my life, with my receiver gone for service, and all for a very easily resolved issue.

1972: Living in a condo with eight people. Thought we would splurge and get a cleaning service to clean up the place. Came home from work to discover a clean condo, and all our LPs neatly stacked next to the baseboard heater. 200 LPs warped!

I purchased a big-bucks Stereophile "Class A" recommended component from an online dealer without having first auditioned it.

While still new in the hobby, it was the purchase of a used preamp on the recommendation of a fool. It then arrived in 7/10 condition after having been described as 9/10. Then, while I was negotiating to return it for reimbursement, the manufacturer interfered, calling the seller, informing him that I was only interested in a free audition and not to trust me! Why did the manufacturer think this? Because he misunderstood a question Iʻd asked regarding his preampʻs compatibility with my amp, thinking it was a preamp and that I was trying to conduct a comparison shootout! After recriminating emails from the seller, I ended up accepting the preamp (with a few hundred off for the lowered condition), and, despite its good sound, have never been happy with it for the foul taste of how it came to me.

Snapped cantilever on a Dyna DV20X. I've been very careful ever since.

An online "bargain" Linn Kairn preamp.Tested briefly and then put into storage while waiting delivery of another amp. When my new multi-amp system was ready to set up, the Kairn with an older power supply stopped working within minutes. I'm now well past the time that I can return this non-functioning purchase!

Brought my hot date home for a little romantic "listening." Unfortunately, I turned on the power amp before the tube preamp and a loud transient killed the woofers in my Rogers LS3/5As.

Any piece I've purchased without an in-home audition. And yes, I've done that more than once. Sometimes I'm a little slow. But, I got those turkeys cheap, the worst reason to buy audio equipment.

Definitely when my beloved Fisher 800t receiver fried. It was with me through the 70's and into the 80's. After 15 grooving years one day I turned it on and 'pfff'. The whole front end of the power supply smoked.

I had a JVC Quad receiver in the rumpus room. One day it rained. Guess where the roof leaked ?