Ever Bought an Audio Product that was Stupid Good for the Money?

Ayre- AX-5 integrated amp plus Ayre DX-5 universal player.

Happy Listening!

I bought a used Marantz 250 for $99 in approx 1996.  It beat the socks off the Adcom GFA-535 I’d been using for the prior six years. When I later upgraded from the Marantz to a McCormack DNA 0.5 Deluxe, I could barely hear a difference.  The main improvement with the McCormack is that it didn’t billow acrid smoke.

I’m not sure if this would count as a stupid good deal,but, I picked up a First Watt F5 ( not a clone,the real deal) with less than 50 hrs on it 5 years ago for $1200. Next would be 2 pairs of Zu Libtec speaker cables fo $75. ( 10’ and 8’)  

Sjofn HiFi The Clue speakers.  Except for a very persnickety Stereophile reviewer, these were resoundingly praised all around the internet.  $1k/pair.  At RMAF they used to be hooked up to a Hegel H70, Hegel DAC and I think it was a low-fi Onkyo CD player and blow away everyone who came in the room.  Placement against a wall and correct toe in is part of the buy-in, but their sound was just wildly good.  People were coming in the room from Magico's presentation, shaking their heads that The Clue could be as good or better than Magico's monitors.  I currently have two pair stacked, inverted (with a spacer) and wired in parallel to a Hegel H160, Hegel CDP4A and Rega P10 (waiting on new phono pre at the moment).  I'm not sure what would get me to set these speakers aside when doing a cost/benefit analysis.