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

This is great stuff but what it makes me want to weep for is all the stuff in the last 50 years I've either left behind or given away to kids, step kids, grandkids, storage spaces never saw again and etc. Klipsch speakers, Tannoy speakers, old subs, cheap power conditioners, cables, cords and connects I may have paid a fortune for. o and a Krell 2250 I traded to Peachtree for $900. Do I miss it, I dunno I never had a Pre that worked with it anyway. Another trip down memory lane-Peace Out Bros,

A speaker system that I still have in my bedroom is the Fulton FMI 80’s. I use it with vintage Harmon-Kardon 430 twin-powered receiver…it’s still very musical.

@nicolelynn_94115: Oh man, I forgot about the FMI 80! Talk about value!! I didn’t have the 80, but I had Robert Fulton’s Model J, which employed the 80 as it’s midrange reproducer. For highs it was the RTR ESL tweeter box (containing 6 ESL tweeters, the same ones David Wilson used in his original WAMM), for lows a transmissionline-loaded dynamic woofer. I don’t remember the price of the 80 (something like $200?) but in 1974 the Model J was priced at $1200/pr, itself good value

By the way, Robert Fulton was also an excellent recording engineer. His ARK label LP's feature fantastic recorded sound, with superb inner detail and natural timbres. His recordings are exclusively of local Minnesota choirs and church organists, good ones.

KEF Corelli speakers knocked me out of the park when I wandered into a high end joint and listened to them after auditioning mediocre speakers at a Pacific Stereo. Was it at Northridge Audio? Anyway, it re-lit the high-end spark I got from my father when I was a kid. The spark hasn't faded since.

Ocean Digital WR 10 Digital Tuner.

I bought it to dip my toe into the world of Internet Radio.

It was becoming impossible to get even a clean mono signal from WQXR in NYC ( yes it's a shitty 710 watt classical station) But there was a time when my Magnum Dynalab could receive it in Stereo BUT with all the new hi-rise construction in lower Manhattan those days were long gone....

I was told by one of the former repair techs from Stereo Exchange to just get  an internet based unit.

I didn't want to spend a lot so I went for the WR 10 based on reviews.

WOW it's a great little unit.

Mind you I'm just using it to  stream classical music ( Easy Classic French in this case) for background BUT WOW!

I replaced the wall wart with a $50 dollar IFI power supply,added a Monarchy DIP and have it running into my Kora Tube DAC - and it sounds AMAZING ...

The unit was under $150 bucks, the power supply another 50 and a used Monarchy DIP   $200 bucks. Another maybe 150 bucks for digital cables, which you would need in any case and you have a little world beater.
 

It sounds ridiculously good!

 Pair it with a a set of self powered speakers and it would be a fabulous, desk top, 2nd bedroom, work room sound system.