2. misc-audio
  3. 182532-162255

Really Inexpensive Systems That Sounded Great?

I think there is a big difference between "cheap" and inexpensive. I have blown money on "cheap" cables and immediately regretted it when my ears started bleeding from the brightness in my digital components. I also don’t mean "bargains" like the time I scored $2000 speakers for $200 on Craigslist, that is basically luck.

I am talking about inexpensive (less than $1500) for a system that sounded really great to you.

I fell into a whole house audio system from DTS Play-Fi because I wanted to try and compare different brands. I picked up Play-Fi amps, preamps and active speakers made by Polk, Paradigm, Klipsch, Onkyo and DefTech all for less than $1000 a pop. For what it is, whole house audio/casual listening it sounds great.

What inexpensive great sounding systems have you tried?

 

kota1
curtdr
348 posts
 

@clydeactor 

@gents 

@tomcarr 

+1 to all

brad18loseke
4 posts
 

Fosi Audio TB10D (upgraded version) $80

Wiim mini streamer                              $80

Geshelli Labs J2 Dac                           $250

Klipsch RB5II                                       $250

Decent sounding budget system IMO

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,295 posts
 

@brad18loseke

 

I have a little Fosi amp as well in one of my systems and was shocked to hear how well it does with kef ls50s. I’ve heard some way more expensive amps fail miserably at that task.  A no brainer for <$100. 

buckycyo
13 posts
 

Lots of new equipment sounds nice if well matched thanks to trickle down…my thoughts go back to the old days of Hafler pre and amp, Dahlquist DQ10s or Roger’s JR149s (a friend is still using my old ones and they sound great). Tough to evaluate how inexpensive these pieces were given decades of inflation, but I could afford them new and used when I was pretty poor…

waytoomuchstuff's avatar
waytoomuchstuff
1,125 posts
 

The KLH Model 20 "Amazing Music Box" was my first experience with hifi sound. A buddy was telling me great his new stereo system sounded, so I decided to drop over after school for a listen. Here was this dinky little chassis with a turntable stuck in the middle of it with cutesy little knobs. Speakers were not small, but lacked the awesomeness I that I envisioned. The expectation of a mind-blowing musical interlude had already dropped to near zero as he cued up the music on this glorified table radio.

Then, he played WIth a Little Help from My Friends, a song I’d heard on my dad’s dual chassis 12" 4-way Admiral console stereo many times before. There was a delicacy to Ringo’s voice I hadn’t heard before. Hum? Other selections revealed details and the feeling of "being there". Okay. This was IT. I was hooked.

More to discover