a brand new pair of fosrex fe126e 4 inch full range drivers for $90. hooked em up as full range and supported the bass with a sub,real hard to beat!!!!!!!!!!! |
a pair of khorns for 1000 dollars, not a speaker for everyone but i luv them. |
Without a doubt my Channel Islands Audio VDA 2 DAC. Exceptional sound and build quality for $599. The price to performance ratio is high, you will spend much more to obtain better sound. I felt that it sounded better than the Benchmark, which while very good has too many bells and whistles for my tastes. In addition the VDA 2 uses a fully discrete analog out. |
When Federated stopped carrying Luxman equipment, late 70's early 80's ?, the West LA store blew it out at more than 50% off. I bought the T-12 tuner; C-12 preamp,and G-11 equalizer for $825($1785retail) new in sealed boxes! I used a Dynakit Stereo-70 then an Eagle 2 to drive Sonab-116's and later Dalquist DQ-10'si |
NOTHING! --- I pay through the nose for everything! :) |
Addendum:
Two pairs of Apex signature speaker wires (purchased from on line reviewer) as well as my Cogen Hall EM digital cable. ( I will never part with these cables). In retrospect, these were more of a gift than a sale from the prior owner. |
Linn turntable,dynavector 505 arm and dynavector ruby cartridge all thrown free with my first major purchase of electrostatic speakers and threshold electronics 30yrs ago.
Otherwise, a (tested) perfect luxman R117 receiver with remote for $125 on ebay and my (9/10) magnepan 1.6 QR speakers for less than half list price. |
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A "Trends Audio" USB to AES/EBU converter for about 200 bucks to attach my laptop to my Zanden DAC. A bit more expensive than the Hagermann, but creating less listener fatigue after long listening bouts, for reasons I still have to find out.... |
I think I would vote for Odyssey audio with their mono extreme se amps and the man behind the scene Klaus. |
Monarchy Audio M24 DAC and preamp. My ACI Sapphire XL speakers also make a great bang for the buck. |
Hmm.. It's probably a tie between my purchase of a minty pair of slightly used floor-demo Hales Revelation Two's (Sapele finish) at near dealer-cost from my local dealer when Hales went out of business, or my score of a vintage Pioneer SX-434 receiver for only $10(!) at a neighbor's garage sale last summer, original box included. That little 15 wpc gem has nary a scratch on it and all the lights work perfectly! I just love listening to the quiet FM tuner while basking in the glow of that classic blue dial! I was marvelling at how good my iPod sounds through this little receiver and the phono stage is pretty good, too.. Awesome bang-for-your-buck! And the Hales aren't bad, either ;-) -jz |
Blue Circle USB Thingee DAC. $169 plus a 19.95 3 ft USB gold plated cable from the Shack. It runs everything off my PC in fine fashion. Installation was a no brainer, make sure to set all the levels up on the PC.
VBR files seem to sound the best. I haven't ripped anything in Apple lossless or wav yet for comparison.
I was able to get HDCD using the Windows Media Player with the CD in my puter. WMP does not play well with iTunes, so make sure you shut iTunes down first.
I should mention this is my first new audio purchase since 1978 when I was able to buy at dealer pricing.
It's the wave of the future folks ... there aren't going to be a lot of "redbook" CD stores down the road. Time to get computer literate or the iPod generation will take over. |
Slimdevices Squeezebox (paired with a Benchmark DAC-1). Has TOTALLY revolutionized my listening. Entire music collection now ripped to FLAC, plus frequent listening to Internet Radio (mainly Radioio Acoustic and Pandora). Now I have "whole house audio" in addition to my main listening room, and am listening 10X more than I ever did before! |
Home-made corner bass traps. Cost all of $40 for materials for two of them plus about 20mins to put them together. They do an excellent job cleaning up the bass frequencies. This "product" has given me by far the best improvement per dollar spent I have ever had.
In terms of buying something that someone else made, I would say that my Denon DL103R cart is pretty much the cat's pajamas. |
Philips MFB 545 active speakers for 1200 usd, made in the early eighties. 3 ways speakers, three in-built amplifiers (75 watts, 50 watts, 25 watts) with 12 inch woofers. Lovely full bodied sound of the seventies, with a good dose of dynamism and speed. Actually, to hear a violin concerto on these speakers are revealing: there is an orchestra behind the violinist. No more hassle with speaker-amp-speaker cable-power cable matching. It works well with the supplied Chinese pcs (Although I have recently bought VH audio flavour 4 pcs.)There are bass and treble and volume controls, so I could adjust the sound to the quality of recordings (typically, when I play - very rarely - pop or rock music, I need to reduce bass level). |
Benchmark DAC1 USB for my PC |
Eastern Electric Minimax Preamp
Gallo Nucleus Speakers
Mapleshade Speaker Jumpers |
3-way tie, I think:
1) Dared SL1200A preamp (w/Mullard CV4024s & a Bendix 6106 rectifier), replaced a Sonic Frontiers SFL-1
2) KAB/Technics SL1200MK2 turntable that absolutely wiped the floor with my Michell TechnoDec/Audionote combo
3) $50 Chinese 6SN7-based USB DAC (listening to Pandora Radio with it right now, wonderful w/a pair of Raytheons!) |
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Scott 299 Integrated, $30 + $180 in parts from VTV to get it running .
Curiously, never found a really good deal in a good digital source (closest Marantz CD 63SE, California Audio DAC). I was actually surprised by the quality of my G5 Mac when streamed to my system.
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Just the list here :
1. Forte 4a amp, $450
2. Apogee Duetta Signature speakers, $900
3. Paradigm Studio 20 speakers, $250
4. Paradigm Studio 20 Active speakers, $695
5. Velodyne FSX-12 sub, $300.
6. Citation 7.0 surround pre-amp using the analog pass thrus, $300.
7. Citation 7.1, 4 channel amp, $695
8. Reference Line Premminance 1a passive line stage, $395
9. Reference Line Silver Signature amp with outboard high current power supplies, $2500 (the best amp I've heard...period!) |
Paid $500 for an Arcam FMJ CD23 and sold it for $1275....then turned around and bought my Gryphon Linestage for $1200...both are great purchases but the dual mono preamp was a far better benefit for my system than the Arcam. |
Magnepan, Magneplanar 1.6qr speakers. Even at their list price they are an incredible bargain for such great sound! I can't tell you what I paid for my new pair...but it was the best deal on earth in my book! |
<$1500 for all Apogee speakers except the Diva. Most who have bought an Apogee, have never looked at buying anything else. |
Tyler Reference Monitors, stands, sub, external cross overs & cables from another Agon member for $1200.00. The absolute best money I have put into my system yet. Even at full retail these are worth every penny. |
pipedream 21 s recently right here on AG. Its the Rock n Roll speaker system from hell. Just what the Dr ordered! |
For me, this has to be the Spica TC-50 speakers which were $550 new back in the late '80s. At least when used with a sub (and replacing its Audax tweeters with the same), I seem to find it impossible to "upgrade" these speakers- when I listen to other speakers, it just make me appreciate them more. |
Jetkitty, I'd say your friend is the "best bang for the buck". |
Not too long ago, a 'friend' of mine sold me his Adcom GFP-750 for the remarkable price of $200. He was being kind, of course, and he sooo much wanted me to pitch the old, crappy, Yamaha preamp that I had at the time. In retrospect, it was probably more important to him than it was to me.
I was entirely unprepared for the demo. I just knew that there was NO WAY that a preamp would make more than a minor improvement in the sound of my modest stereo. Naturally, I couldn't have been more wrong - and I still have that preamp. |
Telefunken 12AX7's $100 for my Encore preamp 0h my God what a incredible improvement. Also EVS attenuaters will put many much much more expensive preamps too shame. |
Pair of brand-new, still sealed in the box JMLabs Mezzo Utopias for $3,000. Not hot, either (called JMLabs and confirmed serial numbers, etc. from original bill of sale).
will |
Oris 150 horns bought used on the gon |
1. Magnepan speakers -- I'm a convert for life
2. Nordost cables (Red Dawn and Blue Heaven)-- Made my other cables sound defective and so improved the sound that I still have trouble believing how good they are. |
My Wharfedale Diamond 8.1's. Bought a pair based on reviews for $130. Was blown away. Bought 8.3's used for 150-Diamond center new for $119(best budget center out there) These speakers sound great and are a total bargain even at msrp |
picked up a pair of alon II's on audigon that had a little bit if repair done to the rear of the dipole baffle for $500.
the owner would have taken less but i did not have the heart to offer less.cant tell unless you look for it from the back.
they are incredible speakers - sounds like maggies but with bass & dynamics. much better (more transperent) than the vandersteen 2's.
mike |
I have two both are analog. I bought a Teac TN400 Turntable with Stay UA7 arm in 1976. It's direct drive. It floats the platter on a magnetic field and its pretty impervious to shock when on a stable platform. It has capacitive controls with a 7 lb. machined platter. I paid less than $300.00 bucks for the whole thing. I have been using this turntable every since then through countless moves. It sounds better than most and never fails to work.
My second item is a used Linn LP12. I bought it with an Itok with a Supex 900 and Basik arm. for $400.00 bucks back in the eighties. I had it modded to the Valhalla shortly thereafter. And yes the Supex still works fine and so does the table. (I didn't use the Supex for almost ten years). |
Some of the best bang for the buck purchases I made I actually paid full price for. Nixon DAC, Furutech power distributors, Eichmann, Bogdan, Wolff cables and Carolina speakers to name a few. |
16ft. pair of Acoustic Zen Satori speaker cables for $955 new. It might not sound cheap, but what you get for the money is a steal. |
2 that I can recall.
Paradigm 3se mk III mini speakers- I bought them back in the mid 80s for ~$250 new. Great speakers for the price, I sold them quite a long time ago. I can still recall the great performance for the price.
Recent- Classe DR6 preamp bought here on the 'gon for $950. A near vintage piece with a wonderful phono stage. I outgrew my B&K Pro10MC and did not want a outboard phono preamp to make my system more complex than it is. It was an ideal solution. |
Denon DL103R. An outstanding cartridge for around $200. Not available in the US, but if you are very good at researching sources, you can get them.
The other great bang-for-buck item I think is Lowther speakers. If you can DIY a cabinet, they will give unbelieveable sound for under a grand. The clarity and coherence of Lowthers is incredible. |
Novus plastic cleaner for about $4.00 and a microfiber polishing cloth from Wal-Mart for $2.00. Use on CD's. |
SET EL84 amp for $26 fully tubed with GE tubes. One of best sounding amp I have heard ( Jadis SE-300b is more romantic but not in terms of dynamic and the price tag.) Compared with Sun Audio SV3 on JBL horn system and it blewed the Sun Audio away in terms of clarity and bass response. This little guy with no feed back really brings the music out of the speakers. For my second setup, it matched perfectly with Jensen TF-3 and Dynaco PAS-3 modified and DIY silver interconnects and speaker cables. |
Well with me it was two Spectral 200 Class A amps in the eighties for 2000 Swissfrancs each, which would be about 3000 bucks at today's rate of exchange. I still use them to this day to drive the Stax stators in my setup and without MIT wires to boot! |
Sean, email me...I promise not to reveal anything to Francisco. :-)
BTW, I mention the product only because it's the truth. I have no doubt that, were I looking for my first TT today, having wider knowledge about what's available (and if I had never DJ'ed at that college station), I probably wouldn't ever think to even consider the 1200. I bought it out of ignorance to some degree, and in a way I keep it out of ignorance too: I've heard a few 'high end' TT's in passing, but have never really auditioned one under familiar conditions. Even if I wanted to shop around, I don't know where I'd go or what I'd do - none of the dealers near me seem to stress analog. I had to buy my last cartridge sound-unheard through the mail; I assume I'd probably be facing a similar situation for an audiophile-approved TT, and how much would that tell me on a comparitive basis about anything other than that TT vs. my present one - after I'd already bought it? A TT is one component I'd want to get brand-new, but it's also one of the few that it seems you can't comparatively audition at most dealers. So since I'm not unhappy, here I stay... |
Z, there's a story i'd like to share that is quite complimentary to Technics DD tables, but i might lose what little credibility i have with "audiophiles" if i did. I'm glad that you have enough faith in your choice and ears to mention such a product. I'd say something like this to Francisco, but he's already on the warpath defending his "baby" and doesn't need any more ammo to throw back at those that fling darts at these products : ) Sean
> |
Tbird,
It was not a Polk for $30k, but a previous speaker
I owned & sold. I got the Polks right after I sold
other speakers, and was suprised!
Great bang (and better) for the buck. |
By default, it would have to be my going-on-20-years-old Technics SL-1200 turntable. I special ordered it through Circuit City for $290 when I left college (the first time :-) in the early-mid 80's, after having used the desk-mounted Technics TT's at the school radion station - long before I ever seriously entertained thoughts of one day building a high end system for myself. At the time, in my blissful ignorance, I thought it must be about the best TT one could get, but even then I thought it was a bargain for what you got, despite my lack of funds (they're around twice that much now, I think). Many thousands of records, and many thousands of dollars spent on much higher-zoot equipment later, I still do not *hear* a reason why I should need to replace it (though I have tweaked it up a bit), and it's never not worked for even a minute of that time. It's the only surviving piece of gear I still own from my first self-assembled system (based on NAD separates). No audiophile cache, and hardly the ultimate I'm sure, but that's what I call enduring value. |
I never new of polk having a speaker costing thirty thousand dollars. I own a couple different set of polk speakers in the early to late seventies. all very good. Must have missed this pair. Please fill me in. |
Carver Z modular amps. In my case they are two of the A220s at about $350, and the excellent A-760x which I bought for less than $700. |
