What is your favorite budget audio component?

ADL-GT40 - The "Swiss Army Knife" of high end audio.  Combines a pre-amp / 24-96 DAC / MM MC phono stage that produces clean, clear, musical sounds.  Throw in an A to D converter that will facilitate high rez vinyl  rips, and that is one kick @$$ budget component considering the $500 I paid for it.  Look up Art Dudleys review in Stereophile for a more detailed look.

Note:  The upgraded 40a features a DAC capable of 24/192 and other improvements.

BTW - Not a dealer or anyone in the industry. Just a satisfied consumer.  

After thinking this over, I have forgotten my favorite cheap upgrade is this: 

My room was a little bit "hot" so I purchased a 5' X  9' rug. Using a couple of carpet tack strips which I nailed to the wall and into studs, I was able to hang the rug from the tack strip. Not only did it greatly improve the sound but the rug adds a good look to the room. 

I am a dealer for carpet tack strip so don't buy them from Lowes I can sell them to at a greatly marked up price. 

Jim
Dealer of the decade.

Already been mentioned but if we stick to sub $1000, just has to include Bluesound Vault 2( $999 new open box) and Oppo 105d, most versatile cost effective shiny disc spinner in existence...imho.

But my biggest steal was a nearly new Exogal Comet Plus, list $2995, for a paltry $1000 even! How could I not buy it!

My favorite unit was a Onkyo T-4711  AM/FM Stereo tuner I bought new at the old Circuit City store back in 96'  It's retail price was at the time $600.00 but I got it new for $159.99, as a matter of fact I bought three of them, two gold, and one black unit all for the same price because I have three systems and I wanted a decent tuner for background music when working on something. All three are now working for 21 years and not one ever had a problem. This is a great tuner and one I'm never letting go of.

DSpeaker Antimode 8033 dsp room eq for subwoofers.