Cheapie audio equipment you love as much as the more expensive stuff

Used this with headphones for years. It's even better via line out and headphone amp. A bit clunky to use compared to a DAP, but I like the sound.

 

I feel uncomfortable saying it's cheap, but if the **** hit the fan and I had to unload everything, a Schiit Vali driving HD-600's would keep me very happy.

+1 on the AJ Pioneers. I wish I had those as a kid.

 

My basement system, Usher 520's and a Fisher 481A tube amp and a common Sony CD player. When I want to really listen to music that's were I go. My upstairs is an Almarro 6c33c single ended amp and a pair of Consonance M15 speakers with a nice vintage Sony 333esD cd player. The basement is more musical.

 

My Fiio A1 amp.



Staggeringly good for the money and tiny too. I wouldn't pay much more for any other amp else now. I think I paid £80 for mine.

How technology has moved on.

 

A Ross Martin Audio DAC for the bedroom system. An interesting buying experience to say the least.

This thing is built like a tank. And with the higher end op-amps, it sounds pretty decent.

 

A SMSL SA36A Pro and 'used' Wharfedale Delta 30's to play music from my Fiio DAP's line out from in the bedroom when I'm poorly. Just enough output for comfortable sound pressures in a small room with decent quality.

 

My main system is McIntosh,Linn, Vandersteen and Cambridge stuff.

My secondary (TV ) room is Sony Blue Ray into Yamaha A-s501 integrated and Boston Acoustic speakers and serves me well.

 

Cambridge Soundworks Model Six bookshelf speakers with the Teak wood finish, built circa 2000, purchased on eBay for $88. These are from early in the production switch to China and are several pounds heavier than the speakers they sell today. I bought these for the den, just next door to my home office where I do most of my listening via KEF LS50s. They have a big, warm sound that's so nice for most any music, but they are especially good for CDs. I think their lack of precision gives digital music a nice helping of extra warmth that's very appealing. Being an acoustic suspension design they're light on bass, so I have them hooked up to a pair of CSW Ensemble woofers that I've owned since the late 80's. There's no crossover control, but it all seems to work out just fine. An added bonus is that they mesh well with my "new" vintage Luxman L-85v integrated amp, sounding even better than they did with the Pioneer SX-850 I used until recently.

 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00APSUPLG?psc=1

 

NAD 7140. Got it for free, $135 to restore it, powers everything, sounds great.

 

Two recent acquisitions which show up more expensive counterparts. Wharfedale diamond 220s, more detailed and open than my £2000 Dynaudios, and Yamaha HDH200 phones, also really musical.
Rega turntable s continue to punch well above their weight.

 

Two items... One a pair of Audioengine A5+ powered speakers that I use for the TV in the living room. Sometimes play CDs through them too. Amazing sound and volume for $400 powered speakers. They would give speakers twice the price a run for their money, and that is without considering the additional expense of an amp.

Second is my Logitech Z-2300 2.1 THX certified computer speakers. They were about $300 top of the range model back in the day before being superseded by an inferior model. The sound quality is quite good, playing digital files from my PC. Even my brother, who has a bias towards analogue playback, likes them. They have a warmth about them, similar to a vinyl sound.

 

Love this thread! I'm getting ideas for splurge purchases with what you guys are showing us.

 

Another worthy mention, though not a cheapy cheapy is the Bluesound Node wireless streamer I bought for my (mainly analogue) second stereo. At $400 it is a fraction of the cost of my Naim NDX but sounds almost as good (which is excellent) and with a much better user interface. Either technology is improving at a rapid rate or the Naim is grossly overpriced for what it is.

 

Nice. I use an NAD 7125 in the bedroom system (which to be honest, gets most of the playing time these days). I got it for $25 at a thrift store a few years back.

 

Coupla pictures

Taken while testing out so I tidied the wiring up a bit later.
Cables are Fisual basic lc-ofc with decent plugs plus something of steal for the price available from your local Amazon store.
I did find for digital sources a 10db padded attenuator was needed to avoid the first stage of the amp overloading. 2 volt in 200mv doesn't quite go.

Wharfedale Delta 30's not quite in the Diamond's league but pretty good with 88db@1meter@1watt sensitivity with 8 ohms to make the most of the SA36's output.
Pretty amazing Class D amplifier for the money usually fed from the X1 or X3 output from lossless 16 or 24 bit sources.

 

I have an SMSL SA-S3. Uses the 2021B, when paired with efficient speakers it is a real wonder. I also use it with a cheapo Little Bear tube buffer, together they produce pleasant sound.

 

My modified Lenco sounds so much better than my Linn LP12 it isn't even funny.

My Croft valve amps also blow my old Naim stuff out of the water.

Don't be taken in by all the hype people. I am good friends with a Linn dealer and he laughs at what some people spend on Linn stuff.

 

I remember seeing the Croft power and control units in the early 90's up here in the Midlands.

 

Koss PortaPros!

 

HRT LineStreamer + - Analog to Digital Converter !!

 

I recently picked up as part of a bundle purchase a c.1978 Pioneer PL-560 turntable. I cleaned off a few decades of dirt, DeOxIt'd the pots, fabbed some replacement feet, Dynamatted the metal plate beneath the platter, and repaired the arm return mechanism.

Outfitted with a modest Shure M97xE, I am blown away by how good it sounds. Dynamic, quick transients... deep, controlled, textured bass...pinpoint imaging...quiet backgrounds...great tracking...etc. etc.

Some have criticized the Shure M97xE for being dull or bloated, and I have heard this cartridge sound like poop on the 'wrong' turntable, but it sounds detailed, lively, smooth and accurate on the PL-560. The cables' capacitance must be right in the Shure's sweet spot, because this combo sounds better than it has any right to.

I was planning to flip this turntable, but I'm gonna hang onto it. Who would have expected this kind of performance from a plain jane direct drive automatic?

 

This past spring for $40 I picked up via Craig's List a pair of your speakers' grandfathers, a pair of 1971 KLH Sixes in abused/neglected condition. I sanded/refinished the cabinets, re-grilled the fronts, re-capped the crossovers, and re-doped/re-sealed the woofers. I also had to replace one dead tweeter.

So, for a total investment of under $100, and a little time and effort, I now have a pair of classic KLH Sixes that sound as terrific as they look!


Before:


After:

BTW, acoustic suspension speakers should not be light on bass! The whole point of the design was to produce deep bass from a smaller cabinet. The KLH Sixes above dip down into the upper 30's, I believe.

 

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I don't have any really expensive gear, but I do have gear that gets me 85% of some of the best. I have more money in my recording gear than my 3 systems as I am more interested in that. But, I do have 3 pairs of great headphones; Focal Spirit Pros, AKG K701s and K271s. With those I can pretty much hear as deep as I want. I suppose that the $1500 cans are great, but that is not the neighborhood I get to live in. My affordable Grado 80s ( I still have and use) got me started on the better can merry-go-round. Now look where the masses are in audio....headphones.

 

Grado SR80i's!

I paid $100 for them, and later decided to do the common mods, which were easy to do and took no more than 20 minutes to complete. The result was much better bass extension and smoother top end.

I had a chance not to long ago to compare my modded SR80i's to a pair of SR225i's, and I would say that my phones sounded better!