2. best-of
  3. 160114-2319

Best "Bang for the Buck" you have owned?

Yes, the CJ ART, various Audio Research were all great...but I do remember lower priced items that gave much pleasure for their price.

In no order, The Large Advent,  DQ-10, Nakamichi SR receivers,  inexpensive Nordost cables, many tuners giving good vibes vis "FREE" music.  Also, in a different way, the Nakamichi TM radios and SoundSpace systems. 

There was a solid state ARC pre that was very good....ls-12?

And I do  remember "free" listening at some friends homes/systems that were great values. I was exceedingly lucky to have a best friend that bought most of my gear when I was "moving on".  It gave me the chance to listen to what I had had compared to what I currently had....at least once what I had sold to him was better than what my replacement gear was...........the old "live and learn". 





whatjd
wspohn's avatar
wspohn
608 posts
 
Boston Acoustics A40 speakers - amazingly decent for the very modest price  1980s

Spica speakers, whether TC50 (needed the right stands) or Angelus, gave excellent performance at a bargain price with then state of the art imaging  1980s

Arcam Delta 70 CD player + Black Box DA converter c. 1990 the first reasonably priced CD combo that offered reasonable digital sound.

Adcom GFA-535 integrated amp
knotscott
944 posts
 
My whole system is "poor man’s highend". All excellent bang for the buck, and had most of it for 30 years. Dynaco/VTA ST-70, Lazarus preamp, AT-LP120XUSB w/AT-VM95 shibata, DIY cables, Sterling Acoustics speakers ....a taste of good champagne for the cost of good beer.

13blm's avatar
13blm
63 posts
 
I bought a house from an engineer  who briefly worked at AR in the sixties.  He left a bunch of stuff in the attic including some eico el84 "integrated monoblocks" an eico tuner with a cats eye rectifier and a bag of vintage tubes.  Also some open back Tannoy Reds with deteriorated surroundd but he came back for those. The amps sounded great with some old Cornwalls 
danvignau's avatar
danvignau
935 posts
 
For my grad school system, my stacked wood Advents powered by my Phase Liner 400 worked so well that the local Infinity dealer had me bring it to his outdoor, overnight party.  He furnished an Ariston RD 80, with a Mark Levinson head amp and Signet two wand turntable, that I bought from him for $150.  I still have those pieces, with the Supex 900Mark IV, plus my old Kenwood marble TT used with an SME, at the time.
therobert
51 posts
 
Combination of NAD 326BEE amp and Monitor Audio GR10 speakers - Amazingly good sound for the price. Still kind of wish I hadn't sold them, but, unfortunately, don't have the space for more than one system.
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