Thus spake Keith G:
"Paul B" wrote in message
...
Just been to the 1st Hi Fi show in over 12yrs. Went with my GF, a
friend & met up with another couple. It was actually good fun & I
managed to leave my cynical persona behind.


snip


The worst sound was from the Cyrus room


Well, who'da thunk it.....??

I can remember salivating over the Audiolab 8000A & eagerly awaiting its
release as a replacement for my Sansui AU217. It had so many rave reviews, I
couldn't possibly go wrong by buying one.

It duly arrived & I was somewhat underwhelmed by its sound. For starters,
its crosstalk between inputs was poor on its phono input. I whipped the lid
off & discovered that although the PCB layout has been CAD designed as
advertised, it was for digital topology & all the phono inputs spread out
across much of the rear panel all came together with tiny track widths with
equally tiny gaps between them. I sold the damn thing & returned to my
Sansui.

The moral being that rave reviews mean jack ****. I eventually sold on the
Sansui & am still using a Linx Quasar that replaced it. A friend bought a
much later version of the Audiolab 8000A which sounded fine as it happens.

Alarm bells start ringing when reviews state "partner with care" or best
suited to a particular kind of music as is often said of Cyrus gear. I was
not that enthralled with the triple amp'd Linn system - just didn't light a
fire under my seat, the last part I heard was from an LP12 - the only vinyl
I heard in a demo - didn't see a deck in the Rega room.