Greater Than the Sum of it's Parts

[Anti_Skate]

I'm the same way. I don't have alot of money to spend on this hobby, so I have set a general rule that I don't spend more than $50 on a piece of equipment (excluding repair parts). I started back into this hobby about 6 years ago as a way of keeping my electronic skills up since i don't do much of it at work anymore. I started with Yamaha R-5, Zenith Allegro speakers, and my trusty old Jvc Jl-A20 turntable. Through my hunt over the last 6 years, I've found, repaired, used, and traded numerous brands and types of gear from Pioneer to Marantz with some Carver and Kenwood sprinkled in along the way.
My current lineup is a HK A500 integrated amp, an AR-XA turntable with an Ortofon Om10, a pair of Electro-Voice Aristocrats, Carver Cd player, and a Technics ST-G5 tuner.

Bottom line here is that you don't need a lot of money to get a nice system if your willing to do the repair work yourself and maybe learn something along the way.

 

[Kreshna]

So I ask, what's the best system you have managed to piece together FOR VERY LITTLE MONEY

My secondary system in the garage: a pair of JBL L20T, driven by Sansui A-40 integrated amplifier. The source is my PC, which uses lowly Realtek onboard audio. It sounds really good though. The JBL L20T's titanium dome tweeter is tamed by the warm sound of the Sansui A-40 amp. Stereo imaging and sound stage depth are also great, although it could be due to the fact that I listen nearfield. It's a great all-round system; from music to movies to games.

 

[tanker 200]

We recently moved into a rental while we look for something else, This gave me the opportunity to move things around and build some systems around the house with all free finds. This is the system I put together for my girlfriend, she mostly listens to one of the Directv music channels at high volumes when I'm not around, this works for her. Carver C-4000 preamp, Carver TX-11 tuner with a Yamaha AX-592 80?wpc amp, And AE Aegis One's.

The other system in the bedroom is a Sansui AU-555A, TU-9500, and a pair of AR-5's
Small bedroom got a Pioneer system, SX-750, PL-10 turntable, QL-600A quad decoder, SR-202 reverb, JVC SEA-10 eq, Onkyo TA-630D cassette deck, Yamaha CDX-550 cd player, with ESS Tempests and Mini Monitors for the rear.
HT system is a Marantz SR-4300, Arcam DVD player With Boston Acoustics CR-9, CR-6, center speaker and a Polk rear channel speaker with a Velodyne HGS-18 subwoofer.
The last system in the living room Has my Sansui G-8700DB (that I bought in 1980), Nakamichi CR-1A, Sony CDP 610ES cd player, Aiwa AD-F-780 cassette deck, and a Technics SH-8055 EQ with Dahlquist DQ-20's and a M&K SB1A sub woofer.
IT's not hard to build a cheap system, people get rid of great stuff all the time and are happy to see it go to good use

 

[Splatter Pak]

As an experienced audio scrounger, I feel the need to post here. Here are my four house systems, and how I put them together:

Computer system (in front of me right now)
DAC Destroyer - bought at Twangfest for $25
Yamaha M35 amp - bought at an estate sale for $80
Mission 70 speakers - my wife spotted them at garage sale for $25
sounds great

Living room system
Aiwa P30 preamp - bought with a stack of micro components at a flea market for $20
Proton 300/301 - bought at the Surplus Exchange, and now being used as powered speakers - $10
sounds great

Shop system
Yamaha carousel CDP - was my wife's when me met
Yamaha A/V receiver - $30 at an estate sale
B&W "waffleback" speakers - bought used, don't remember where or for how much
sounds great

Main system
Sony DD lineartracker - bought at Twangfest (modded and with a great cart) for $75
ADS T2 tuner - an estate sale find for $15
Denon DVDP - found at annual audio sale in Lawrence, Kansas for $16
Denon 510 cassette deck - bought used somewhere or other
Luxman A-007 amp - found on eBay for $26
Nuvo class D power amp - again, audio sale in Lawrence for $30
Vandersteen 2C speakers - a C-list purchase for $400 (the big expense, but still a good deal)
sounds great

Can Splat scrounge or what?

 

[Todd Dodds]

Poor? I was trying to make a living doing fine, artsy woodwork...averaged about $4 an hour. A customer said I needed some music in my 800 squre foot shop, and gave me a desktop speaker set...Klipsh THX. Those things were freakin' amazing. I still use them, and they work great outdoors, too. I've seen them around yardsales and CL in the $20 range. HiFi it ain't, but decent sound listening to Pandora or Spotify free stuff.

 

[Kreshna]

Poor? I was trying to make a living doing fine, artsy woodwork...averaged about $4 an hour. A customer said I needed some music in my 800 squre foot shop, and gave me a desktop speaker set...Klipsh THX. Those things were freakin' amazing. I still use them, and they work great outdoors, too. I've seen them around yardsales and CL in the $20 range. HiFi it ain't, but decent sound listening to Pandora or Spotify free stuff.

Desktop speakers can sound surprisingly good.

 

[Todd Dodds]

Desktop speakers can sound surprisingly good.

Good review.

 

[Kreshna]

Good review.

Thanks!

Ironically, I wrote it when I still knew nothing about audio --a totally amateur review, if you will.

 

[rkgren1]

My best budget (thrift store) system in present use:
Sherwood S7100-A receiver($15) driving a pair of Realistic Optimus Pro 7 speakers($5) through a Bose Acoustimass sub ($3) with a pair of old rabbit ears($2.25) for an antenna.
I could pick and choose from other idle components and improve things further, but as it is, this is a very nice-performing, compact system for the bedroom.

 

[OMGCat!]

I think my best, cheapest system was a HK 330c driving a set of KLH model 6. The HK was found during and apartment cleanout and someone gave me the speakers. Aside from whatever tape and CD player I hooked it up to the total investment was some Windex and paper towels.
It was a really nice, warm sounding setup. I gave it all away when I moved out of state but it would still make a great bedroom setup.

 

[Spe@kerBox]

Have a HK 330A that I restored and have restored many Sherwood 7100As. Both awesome units. Will be trying to get another 7100A as I should not have let the other one go.

 

[john5220]

I've put together a system with a Marantz 2235B and 2 pairs of Klipsch KG4's for $300 total.

 

[Lucky Pierre]

Here is my "cheap" list:
AR-4x, pair, free --trash picked
Dynaco A25, pair, free--trash picked
Dynaco MKIII, free--trash picked
Dynaco PAM1, free--trash picked
KLH 18 tuner, free--gift
Thorens TD 115 Mk II, free, gift
AR-7, pair, $25
Realistic Nova 7B, pair, $20

All of the trash picked equipment was in remarkable condition. The Dynaco amp and preamp were still in original boxes, unused. The AR-4x only had minor blemishes on the veneer. Then needed a recap and pot cleaning. The Dynaco A25 pair were in as-new condition. Not a mark on the veneer (other than YEARS worth of basement dust). They did not need anything other than a proper cleaning.

The only equipment I have really spent any $$ on is a second MKIII (for stereo), a Dynaco PAT 4 (paid for by the sale of the Dynaco MKIII box, and my AV receiver.

 

[restorer-john]

Great album, if you like Chicane.

 

[Bodyblue]

In the bedroom I have a cherry Realistic STA 95 that my Uncle gave me, he was the original owner. Hooked to it is an old cell phone to stream Spoitfy, a Sony SACD changer from Deseret for $15 and a pair of absolutely perfect, inside and out Realistic Nova 6s I got for $55. It blows me away with how good it sounds.

 

[DeezTipM8]

Altec Lansing VS4121 Subwoofer (It is apart of a complete set, but you can control it so it acts like a powered subwoofer only) - $25
Panasonic SB-FS900, it is apart of a surround sound set but I have used the surround sound bars as the tweeters and the one center as the midranged - $20
A cheap eBay amplifier board - $25

It sounds pretty close to my pair of Onkyo D-66s for highs and mids, and it comes pretty close (5-7%) to my JBL 4412s (Don't flame me, I don't have a DAC and I listen to music digitally only)