Best bang for the buck upgrade you ever did was-

Dedicated 20 amp line direct to the breaker box. Under $200.

 

Rega Planar 2, from a 70s Sony, for $250.

 

Visiting my physician to have earwax professionally removed. $20 (copay)

 

Moved to active speakers. No question.

 

Spent a few hours with speaker placement with a borrowed mic.

 

VPI Cyclone RCM. Not cheap but it will earn its keep and has already resulted in me playing more music.

 

This was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the title of this thread. I paid much more (80 euros), but still by far the best "bang for buck" upgrade I have made.

 

Onkyo Tx SR 606 7.1 receiver, set me back all of $50, opened up the world of surround sound for me.

 

iFI phono stage and capitance meter, can now calculate capitance and load it correctly. Perfect optimisation of mm cartridge.
Superb sound as a result. Really puts finishing touches to vinyl reply.

 

200 dollar Record Doctor RCM. Huge improvement in vinyl playback just huge.

 

Switched to Tisbury Passive preamp. (Stopped using my AV amp as a pre for stereo)

 

Rearranged my set up to a diagonal configuration. Did this a couple years ago and am still amazed at the image depth I get in a near-perfect square room. FREE.

 

I love my equalizers!

 

B.D. cones under a cheap CD player $80.

 

I just finished up the replacement of my ceiling in the basement where my system is located. I had horrible issues with the soundstage and brightness. I removed the entire drop ceiling and just went with the bare joists for a couple years. I finally got tired of it and had a new ceiling installed using tiles with a 65 NRC rating. I put the system back in last week and had on of those OMG moments. I wish I had done the work a long time ago. The ceiling is kind of low and I think that had a lot to do with the issues I was having.

Tim

 

Also dedicated power.
I was a 'serial upgrader' until I did this.
Other than carts/phono stages I haven't bought anything for years. I think my current CDP is 16 years old.

 

Nick,
I think you would be amazed at how far digital has come in the last decade!

Tim

 

To be fair, it's only being used as a transport now, I decided the DAC on my receiver sounded better.

 

For me it was upgrading my former satellite HT speakers to Cambridge Aero floorstanders for the front, the matching centre and a pair of minx satellites for the surrounds. Not the highest end of stuff but in the bubble that is my world it was a grand well spent - even SWMBO was impressed!,,,

 

Spent 15 minutes talking to GEICO.

 

Buying a pair of Pioneer Andrew Jones designed BS21 loudspeakers for my 2.1 rig. Initially $99/pr, I subsequently bought a 2nd pair on close out for $49.

Probably the 2nd best upgrade I ever made was buying a Pono as my digital source.

 

Klipsch KG4's at an estate sale. They were asking $30 but since it was the last day, they took $20.
(I did later add the Crites crossovers and titanium tweeters and that was a significant upgrade as well).

 

What speakers are you using ?

 

On a whim, I bought a pair of Bose 901s w/eq at the Salvation Army for......wait for it.......$25.00 US !!!!!! I sure the haters will respond, but they ROCK!

 

A mishmash of different drivers. In front, a combination of Paradigm Titans [$20] and very old Magnapans [free] with rusted out tweeters, used as mid/bass drivers, RCA/Radio Shack Linaeum speakers [$8] for surround, a kludge using a pair of floor standing RBH speakers [free] wired together to fake the center channel where one is not possible given the floor layout, a no-name powered sub [$20]. Yes, I know, this is Low-End Audio at its finest, a junkyard dog of a system.

When I see a bargain at a thrift store or yard sale, I can't resist. By way of example, just this week—the $14.95 Pioneer SX 780 Receiver from a thrift store had an additional discount to $11.95, the day after I find a single Polk RS 15 for $5, a total of $18 for a great FM radio with benefits.