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

+10

@ghdprentice  and  @oddiofyl  .

You get what you pay for?

This Pyle Phono Stage, $14.

doggone thing beat fancy ifi ... cambridge duo, .... it hides behind, linear in/out, I prefer my phono in my mx110z and my Luxman, but to get up and listening, it's surprisingly good.

Flimsy wood floors, I still needed something to solve getting 2 steps away from my TT after dropping the needle in the run-in area

$13. rubber/cork blocks did the trick

see them under TT here (eventually I wrapped them with black tape

Story about ’CHEAP’.

I’m a retired Interior Designer, specialized in Corporate Offices, New Headquarters, Relocations, Renovations for 46 years.

I’m still in school, working part time, just allowed to meet clients alone.

I come back from a meeting, tell Betty, head of the Decoration Dept. (furniture and furnishings).

"The client wants cheaper furniture"

Betty leans back in horror, batts her eyelids at me and says "We don’t sell cheap furniture, tell the client I will find something "LESS COSTLY".

I didn’t say anything, but the word has been out of my vocabulary ever since then.

Cheap chinsy. Yes, it is out there. Price conscious, inexpensive, less costly. It is all out there, but to demean and then ask for recommendations is a left-handed compliment at best. "Where did you get that suit, JC Penny? You look great in it." That is how some people come across, maybe not even realizing it. Then there are the mean people. But mostly, as I notice grammar, spelling, intent, 'opportunity', etc. it reminds me just how poorly we may be expressing ourselves. 

 The intent in this thread is simple enough. What component comes to mind that didn't cost what you thought that it should, that also sounded beyond your expectations?

 You get what you pay for is true enough so much of the time, yet there have been notable exceptions.