What is the cheapest system (less than 500 euros/dollars) that surprised you with its sound quality?

[Talisman]

Unfortunately, in the audio world the prices of really good equipment are often very high, and we all enthusiasts tend to update our systems with better and more expensive components over time.
But is there a really cheap system (less than 500 euros between amplifier and speakers) that surprised you with its quality? in what situation? in what environment? what components were they?

 

[recycle]

Do you really need an amplifier? Why?
There are countless options for active speakers that can solve your problem, just google for "Best studio monitors under $500"
Obviously, you dont have to be too picky about their sound: they are not even considered studio monitor (better call them bookshelf speakers), in any case you can get the job done with them
An example:

 

[Talisman]

Do you really need an amplifier? Why?
There are countless options for active speakers that can solve your problem, just google for "Best studio monitors under $500"
Obviously, you dont have to be too picky about their sound: they are not even considered studio monitor (better call them bookshelf speakers), in any case you can get the job done with them
An example:
View attachment 284077

You missed the point of the question.
I'm not interested in searching for "best monitors under $500" and I'm not even interested in buying anything, or knowing what would theoretically do the job,
I am only interested in PERSONAL EXPERIENCES in which someone has found himself listening to an economic system and has been surprised by the sensation of quality, and perhaps understand why, perhaps an environment that is treated well, perhaps a happy combination of economic products, perhaps a positioning accurate.
I'm interested in direct experiences.

 

[Blumlein 88]

A big wow for me was using powered JBL LSR305 speakers. About $300 for the pair at the time. Add any of the good $200 or less DACs or DAC/Pre or audio recording interfaces and you have damn good sound. It has its deficiencies, but what it does was eye opening versus other gear at the time. The improved Mk II version can be had for $258 the pair now. I purchased some for monitor speakers to use in recording, but they were far better than I expected. I took them around to audiophile friends who had very expensive systems. They didn't better those, but all who heard them were left shaking their heads at how good they were for so cheap.

Catch some on a bit of a sale and you'd have money left over for a good enough DAC and some of the even more surprising LSR308's. Complete system for $500 that could not be touched not so long ago for even thrice the money. Hearing these two were part of my experience that convinced me Harman's speaker guidelines were really onto something.

 

[TonyJZX]

i think these experiences will vary based on what you can purchase in your area

eg. i live in the biggest city in this country so i usually have access to the best deals, best shops

however with so much chinese hifi available it becomes a bit moot

one system i have is the SMSL A300 which is $200

I have a discontinued Fosi 24/192 Q5 dac $50

and a set of Canton GLE 6.5" speakers which was $200

i really cannot complain about how well this performs

i also picked up an open box Harman Kardon BDS280 which is a bluray player than has dac streaming and 50w digiital amp inside.... for $100!

i beleive Harman has lots of sales in the US.

This $100 + any of the 6" speakers you can get... I cant really complain. I notice some good deals on plain passive bookshelf speakers since active seems the fashion now.

 

[Doodski]

I've handled a lot of audio gear in 24 years of working that industry in both sales and service. The Panasonic portables where very well built and I thought so highly of them that I sold my mother one. For less than $500 one could get auto reverse and a bi amp'd output. The value in the unit was that it sounded really good and it had a excellent tape mechanism that had super good W&F and was renowned for being durable and long lasting too. Every time I listened to that Panasonic blaster even after auditioning a home system the Panasonic impressed. Anything else worth mentioning was significantly more money. I web searched extensively to find the specific model although there was so many search results I was flooded with info and gave up the search.

 

[recycle]

You missed the point of the question.
I'm not interested in searching for "best monitors under $500" and I'm not even interested in buying anything, or knowing what would theoretically do the job,
I am only interested in PERSONAL EXPERIENCES in which someone has found himself listening to an economic system and has been surprised by the sensation of quality, and perhaps understand why, perhaps an environment that is treated well, perhaps a happy combination of economic products, perhaps a positioning accurate.
I'm interested in direct experiences.

Instead of saying "you missed the point of my question" it is much more polite to say "maybe I didn't explain myself very clearly". It's much more classy (besides, it's also the truth)

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

I've got several Bluetooth speakers that cost me around $100 canadian that I find really surprisingly good. The Tribit Xsound Mega packs a ridiculous wallop for it's size. I mean obviously not hifi stereo sound of course but just a really listenable piece of portable gear.

As far as actual amp/speaker component systems, My current amp is a Yamaha R-S202bl that cost me at the time I bought it $199cdn and it sounds totally amp-like (lol) and with the Pioneer SP-FS52 speakers I used to have which cost me about $300cdn it was a solid sounding rig. I currently have the Elac DBR62s which sound great with the same amp for not a huge amount more than the 500euro limit...

 

[Axo1989]

Not loudspeakers, but I was pleasantly surprised playing AirPods Pro from an iPad (we aren’t counting the iPad price of course, or iPhone which would also work) especially spatial audio (aka binaural) for music and even more for video (where the spatial soundstage is a bit uncanny). We are still talking about a DAC, amplifier and transducers, just very tiny ones.

 

[MattHooper]

For me, back in the 80's, the famous Realistic Minimus 7 speakers, a Radio Shack staple.

I had this model:

The sound is still burned in to my mind. They sounded spacious, smooth, imaged like mad, and had just the right lower mid/upper bass hump cannily integrated to make
them sound bigger and heftier.

I actually helped them along by placing them carefully in the corners of a shelf unit, which loaded the sound outward and made them sound HUGE. I have a friend who heard
them set up that way and he says he's never forgot it.

 

[Jochen]

A big wow for me was using powered JBL LSR305 speakers. About $300 for the pair at the time. Add any of the good $200 or less DACs or DAC/Pre or audio recording interfaces and you have damn good sound. It has its deficiencies, but what it does was eye opening versus other gear at the time. The improved Mk II version can be had for $258 the pair now. I purchased some for monitor speakers to use in recording, but they were far better than I expected. I took them around to audiophile friends who had very expensive systems. They didn't better those, but all who heard them were left shaking their heads at how good they were for so cheap.

Catch some on a bit of a sale and you'd have money left over for a good enough DAC and some of the even more surprising LSR308's. Complete system for $500 that could not be touched not so long ago for even thrice the money. Hearing these two were part of my experience that convinced me Harman's speaker guidelines were really onto something.

I bought a pair of 308 MKIIs for my home office room, they are on sale for $420 the pair. I have added a cheap streamer from Aliexpress for $40. Combined with Qobuz gives a very nice system for even below $500.

 

[DonR]

I paid $13 for a Logitech 2.1 system on clearance to use with a TV. Wasn't expecting much but the improvement was stunning. Says more about TV speakers than a $13 powered system though.

 

[GXAlan]

Sonos Era 300

Sonos Era

First 5 minute impression. I do own the Sonos Fives. I generally prefer flat in-room response rather than downsloping frequency responses and prefer lots of bass. (JBL 708P and Onkyo D-TK10 are my reference bookshelves. I like the original Magnepan MG-III which has a flatter in-room curve...

audiosciencereview.com

 

[Rednaxela]

Years ago my employer gifted us a Sonos Play:1 for Christmas.

Pretty stunned by the sound it could produce.

 

[Talisman]

Instead of saying "you missed the point of my question" it is much more polite to say "maybe I didn't explain myself very clearly". It's much more classy (besides, it's also the truth)

I could have written that, but the truth is that you missed the point, I had specified it well in the request of the first post

But is there a really cheap system (less than 500 euros between amplifier and speakers) that surprised you with its quality? in what situation? in what environment? what components were they?

 

[Talisman]

I've got several Bluetooth speakers that cost me around $100 canadian that I find really surprisingly good. The Tribit Xsound Mega packs a ridiculous wallop for it's size. I mean obviously not hifi stereo sound of course but just a really listenable piece of portable gear.

This happened to me too, just with tribits.
I'm young enough to love bluetooth speakers but old enough to have known the pitiful first attempts, which sounded awful. Then they gradually got along and played better and better.
The first time I listened to the tribit stormbox micros in wireless stereo setup my jaw dropped.

incredibly small, incredibly cheap but still managed to form a real soundstage with clean, immersive sound up close and at low volumes. Incredible.

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

I have a Tribit Micro as well. Very handy little speaker. I also have a pair of the Xsound Surf speakers from Tribit and they too sound great as a stereo pair. They are tiny and cost me about $50 each (again, Canadian...so like $35usd). Back in the 80s as a late teen/early 20s guy looking for a good bedroom sound solution I had a long list of different boom boxes and eventually I got a set of Acoustic Research Powered Partners. They cost me about $500! Big, heavy triangular metal things that each had a tiny little rotating volume dial on the front that was just a pita to adjust to try and balance the output from the 2 speakers. I guess the idea was to run them full on and use whatever you plugged into them as a source to control the volume but for some reason I didn't like doing that...I think it might have caused them to hiss a lot or something. Anyway, the Tribit Xsound Surf pair is massively more convenient, wireless, and I think probably actually sounds better (and maybe even louder!) than those ridiculous boat anchors. In a general sense I'm constantly blown away by the amazing tech we have available now for sound. I do not look back on past decades with any rose-colored nostalgia goggles at all...

 

[recycle]

I could have written that, but the truth is that you missed the point, he had specified it well in the request of the first post

I gave you a chance, but nothing …
now you will go straight to my ignore list

 

[DoctorRobert]

In my bedroom I have a stereo set of SONOS Play:1s, room-calibrated with an iPhone. And everyday, when I go to sleep I am really pleasantly surprised by their sound quality, even though I should know by now. (This probably disqualifies me as a true hifi specialist.) At the low levels I listen in my bedroom they even 'emulate' lower frequencies quite effectively. I would not recommend them for people who want to listen to Ouverture 1812 at realistic volumes. But for a general purpose pleasant listening in a smallish room, you definitely can do worse.

 

[Talisman]

I gave you a chance, but nothing …
now you will go straight to my ignore list

I think I'll still be able to eat today