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

Rega Planar 2 - $19.00 - Goodwill in Los Gatos
AR XA - $39.00 - Yard Sell in Exeter
Bryston 3B SST - $1000 - Radio station going out of biz - Cape Cod
Klipsch 600M - $200 - Seller's GF beat with chain - eBag
Thiel .5 - $60 - Some guy on CL - Boston
Lenovo PC Server - $75 - Druggie in 7-11 parking lot - Boston


 

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Yes, I liked my AR-Xa turntable in 975 for $95, but that’s nearly $700 today for an all manual TT. Same math with large Advents, where $250 a pair is about $1,800. So for modern gear, I think my $299 Musical Fidelity V-90 DAC was great. After auditioning much more expensive DACs, I finally bought and kept a PS Audio Directstream for, what, 15x more, and that was on sale. If you like Magnepans, and I do, then they are bargains. 

Both the Coda 01p, $450 used, and the Threshold T3, $750 used. Exceptional Class A components and exceptional preamplifiers that can bring you 35 years of Audio joy. Tough to top. 

My KLH Model 5's, at $2000/pair when I got them, are the least expensive component in my system and the least expensive speakers I've bought in decades, but they sound great!