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What are/were the best sounding cheap components you have ever had?

It is easy to like the best of the best, so to say.  However it is always satifying and memorable when an inexpensive product turns out to be very good to great. 

Some that come to mind from personal experience"

Large Advents (original)

Early Nakamichi SR receivers

Original Monster interconnects and speaker wire

Pioneer Pl-12 turntable

Shure M-95

Early Stax and Audio Technica headphones

MoFi "special" pressings

Magnum Dynalab Etude.  Yes some were better, but a real value

The Absolute Sound mag in the beginning 

Early Conrad-Johnson and Audio Research tube electronics

Early Classe integrated amps.

The original Sony Trinitrons

And there are others....but part of this hobby is enjoying the journey.

Have you had cost effective items that were successful for your enjoyment?

jusam
frankmc195's avatar
frankmc195
175 posts
 

My first was cheap... pioneer amp 25 watts with Kenwood speakers when Kenwood was made in Japan. They were my first set and I thought everything sounded as good and when I tried to change as they got older, boy was I wrong. This was so long ago that if you bought something older than this, you have to be dead.

td_dayton
320 posts
 

schiit modi 3. since buying it i've had multiple $500-1000 dacs through here and none offered enough improvement to justify the additional spend for me. going to try the denafrips one all the reviewers rave about before writing off that whole price bracket as a waste of money for me...don't know when i'll get to it though, because i am playing the cartridge upgrade game at the moment (ultimately i care more about vinyl than digital playback, and funds are limited.) but yeah the modi is a killer little piece of equipment in my experience

cey's avatar
cey
275 posts
 

ear 834P clone. the good one with the covered torroidal, black board with gold traces

$300 shipped. didnt mod it at all. just put in good tubes and WOW. 

vonhelmholtz
911 posts
 

1979-1981..NAD 3020 integrated amplifier.  Great on a student's budget.

ghdprentice
7,035 posts
 

You know. I saw this thread a while ago. Unless I can think of a way to add value… I tend to just follow it and not comment.

 

After some thought… my answer is never. I have never had a cheap component that sounded great, I have had cost effective… or good budget components. But, the only components that have blown my socks off have been incredibly well thought out and constructed audiophile equipment. Not one “cheap” component that I can think of ever sounded great. I have owned at least a hundred components. I would imagine after over fifty years of pursuing the high end for my main system, portable speaker system (I spent over ten years living in motels), portable headphone systems (I spent over 40 years while traveling and listening (pursuing the best possible sound), permanent headphone system (20 years pursuing the best), and permanent office system.

 

While looking for bargains is great. The way to get a truely great audio system is not to look for cheap stuff. You just get cheap stuff… and it might at best sound OK.

Great sound comes from dedicated companies willing to invest in research and development, quality components, and outstanding manufacturing quality.

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