Best Component Ever, for the money

That's IT Schubert! That's the table and exact cartridge (mine was a 91e, though, no d) I bought my self in 1969. I think it was a little more than $65 by then, but not much. It replaced a Garrard SL55, my first table. My amp was a Fisher X-100c, speakers AR 4x's, their cheapest.

Great minds think alike bdp24 !
At one time I worked for the nations biggest Klipsch dealer who was also a very big B&O dealer when their TT’s were a must have in yuppy-dom .
They were quite expensive for that time and I listened to them all day every
day .
One day I brought my AR in to work and swapped in the place of the top B&O with the big corner Klipschorns. It TOTALLY wiped out the expensive B&O and the other guys working there about wet their pants , The AR really
took the base on the big horns to a whole other plane .
The one thing I would most like to hear is the current big Klipsch with the improved crossovers. Even then it was a hell of a speaker  as rough and ready as it was.

My vote would go to The bottle head beepre. 1300 USD. it absolutely killed a vacuum state svp2 in my system. The retail on that was around 7K I believe. Next I would vote for the ET 2 tonearm. 

eXemplar audio eXception SE Line pre-amp

By far, the best sounding thing I've ever heard.

I have to agree with jw94055 on the GAS Son of Ampzilla. This was my first amp when I started into high end. I then started the journey of buying different amps but could not bear to part with my Son. All of the amps that I had sounded good but somehow left me wanting. Those amps included Pass Aleph 3, Vac 70/70, and many more well known brands.

After pulling the Son back out of the box it only became apparent that the Son was the only amp that could pull it all together. It has an entertainment factor and engaging quality the other amps just could not achieve. I have since sent the Son to GAS Audio where Mike Bettinger did a reference rebuild on it. Life couldn't be better!

Hafler 9180 amp. A big step up from my Bryston 2B.

No question at all. Magnepan MMGs!!

Best component for the money?  A Sherwood 7100 receiver that I have in my bedroom.  Twenty bucks at the thrift store. 

Hmmm, so no bona-fide acoustic treatments?

Used B&O ICEPower 250 ASP amplifier modules, which I scored for a ridiculous price of around $100 / each. Essentially I got very nice 125 watt monoblocks for around $300 each, including cases. About 1/10th what Jeff Rowland or Bel Canto was selling them for.

Best,

Erik

For LP owners, I'd say a VPI HW-16 cleaner.

NAD 7225PE receiver I bought in 1991 for $349...Musical, dead quiet, reliable, dynamic, smooth, and with an incredible tuner to boot. Still "does it" for me 25 years later.

My vote goes to my Epos Epic 2s that were clearanced at $400. Easily hold their own against my $2200 Monitor Audio floor standers. Another good one is my Topping D20 DAC for $100. It's just as good as the Musical Fidelity V90.