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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
therobert
51 posts
 

Best inexpensive combo I had was NAD326BEE driving Monitor Audio GR10’s - amazingly good sound.

drbarney1's avatar
drbarney1
179 posts
 

Get a book on vacuum tube design and go for SET in the preamplifier and amplifier. They are easy to design and to build. You can do the same with open baffle speaker designs using full range speakers that require very little power. 2A3 or 45 triodes can be heated with AC that is center tapped for the cathode to ground through a dropping resistor and polypropylene capacitors. Use polypropylene capacitors in a vacuum tube rectified power supply with Hammond chokes and transformers. 

There are $10,000 tube amplifiers that use the inferior electrolytic capacitors in the power supply and what you build will probably sound better.

kota1 OP
2,706 posts
 

@drbarney1 

Get a book on vacuum tube design and go for SET in the preamplifier and amplifier

Can you post a link?

daveselbow's avatar
daveselbow
4 posts
 

KEF LS50 wireless - my system

KEF LS50W mk2 

both unbeatable at the price

kef engineers have packed in a bi-amp bi-dac dual mono amp set up in both that as a complete system is unbeatable at those price ranges. The mk1 is impressive, the mk2 moves it all on leaps with 380W/p/c of custom amplification - everything is designed to work with each other.

daveselbow's avatar
daveselbow
4 posts
 

You just have instant ‘system synergy’ as every part is designed for the system

that the whole (the sound) is bigger than the sum of the parts

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