Really Inexpensive Systems That Sounded Great?

My surprisingly good sounding simple inexpensive:

12x13 room w/8ft ceiling, carpeted, otherwise no treatment.

sansui 881 receiver

NHT 1.5 bookshelves

samsung CD player 

off the shelf 12 gauge wires 

a friend that worked in studios….wanted to buy the speakers on the spot.

Elac BS41-Bk (~$65.00)modified using Neil Blanchard directions ($20 plus parts ~ $70.00)

Aiyima a07 Pro (~$80.00)

Don’t be jaundiced by the inexpensive cost, this system rivals my mid fi system = Node as a streamer, REM ADI-2 DAC FS, Freya + pre, Rogue Hydra amp, TAD Micro Evolution 1 speakers, REL T/9x sub woofers.

Of course it is your listening area and your ears that should drive your choices.   Try to audition as much as you can, take advantage of return policies !

I don't like really expensive wine.  I feel like a lot of the time it tastes like wine with a bunch of gravel in it.  I really don't like expensive coffee. It's too bitter.  I've listened to some five and low six figure sound systems and while they seem impressive they seem like they're trying too hard I can also find the sound kind of uncompromising and the whole experience just overbearing. 

Mostly, expensive systems are an aesthetic that's harder to achieve at a lower price point. The fact that it's hard to achieve that aesthetic at a lower price point doesn't mean that it's somehow better.  I've watched a lot of people chug down expensive wine without knowing if they liked it. 

At some level there's a lot of diminishing return chasing some imagined super system. The whole hobby is filled with confirmation bias, and desire for desires sake, and if you ask me, a lot of junk science. 

My main system is a Tom McNally SET amp that I bought for $350 in a Harbor Freight parking lot and a pair of Omega speakers which are single drivers.  I love that system and wouldn't trade it for anything. It's easy to listen to for extended sessions and the mids sound great to my wife and I. 

In the end, you'll be happy with your system when you allow yourself that pleasure. 

Ultimately there is no objective measure, not really, as I don't listen to test tones in an anechoic chamber. 

I too have a bunch of expensive and inexpensive stuff. Some is Schiit gear, a Aegir amp, a Freya n preamp and now a latest spec Gungnir DAC. I also hav e an $8000 SS integrated amp and a $5000 tube integrated amp and to my years the Schiit and at a cost of a fifth and a third of my other amps the Schiit combo sounds at least as good. I have seven pairs of speakers going from $700 to $3500 and they all sound fantastic with my sources and amps. With the stuff I have I could put a combination of gear together that costs less than $3000 that will blow you away. I also use the Genelec powered monitors that were reviewed in Stereophile with the Freya preamp and a $1200 Burson DAC that at around $3500 is my favorite system. It is that good. So inexpensive equipment with the right synergy can play with way more expensive stuff. As a 65 year old audiophile I have either owned it or heard it so I know of what I speak. One of the best systems I have ever heard was back in the nineties when a friend who didn’t have a job and could spend his time tweaking the system had a pair of inexpensive PSB towers , two small asl tube monos ($200) and a modified pioneer GD transforms cd player. Most musically engaging system I have ever heard besides my Genelec system. 

I've been enjoying listening to our living room / tv system comprised of Raspberry Pi 4 source, HDMI out to tv, tv optical digital out to a Nuforce DDA-120 integrated and a pair of Polk R300 speakers.

Playing Qobuz at 16/44.1 (limited by what the TV will pass thru), it sounds good enough to definitely hold my attention.

RPi 4 was about $100 (running Raspberry Pi OS and Qobuz in the Chromium browser), DDA-120 was I think $275 used, and Speakers were $100/pair on sale.