I have tried similar a few times, and each time I was initially surprised by how good the low cost/high value gear was, but after a while I was eager to get the good stuff back in...
I read this on another site
The OP said that he put together a 2nd system consisting of Nola Boxer speakers and a current NAD intergrated amp that cost 500.00. He said his first system consisted of Wilson Sasha speakers and a ARC ref-5 and a Ref-75. He claims as an experiment he hooked up the NAD amp to the Sasha's. He said in some ways the NAD sounded better than the ARC combination. I have never tried this experiment myself but I am really curious to try it. Has anyone hear ever tried an experiment like this before?