What's pound for pound the best equipment ever?

bigrod

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HiFi Trade?
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As I’ve tended to buy second hand quality gear that I’ve already heard previously , it has generally pound for pound been worthwhile investments , You can’t argue with paying less than half price for something in mint condition that sounds so good ..

The only real chance I took was on the  Kara’s . Saw them for sale second hand just by chance while out shopping.. Had a demo in not to great a room ,but brought them as experience told me they had great potential in the right place ..OMG what a bargain..A third of the retail price and with new tweeters .

The latest incarnation now called the Karrisisma are £20 grand per speaker 



 

Monitor Gold Ten

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Just wondering, if you buy a house right next to Sizewell B, would you get the cleanest electricity in the UK?

Actually, just been watching Chernobyl on Now TV...
What a glowing review! Oh; ummm; ok...  :minikev:

 

Monitor Gold Ten

Basking in the warm glow of Electron Tubes.
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£40 Tannoy Monitor Gold 3LZ Loudspeakers. 

£50* Cambridge Audio Dacmagic 2i.

Rotel RCD 06.**

*A Tonbridge Audio-jumble find back in 2012.

**Bought new in 2007; still working! 

 

bigrod

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The Sony CDP715E is a lot better than the Rotel 965BX.I have owned both.Still own the Sony and it takes an extremely good DAC to sound as good.
I had the Rotel 965 BX discrete it was around £400 at the time and was my first foray into CD playback.. i Demo’d 2 other players above £600 at the time and it bettered them both 

 

audio_PHIL_e

audioPHILe
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Game changers for me, in terms of achieving high quality at a substantially reduced price, included....

Amptastic Mini-T amp. For £50 it bested many a multi £k class A/AB amp.

XiangSheng DAC-01A. £100 and it sat happily in a 5 £figure system.

Proac Response 2 standmount speakers. Not cheap back in the day (£1600 in the mid 1980s) but totally revised was I thought was achievable. (They replaced and totally embarrassed Quad 63 stats).

Philips GP390 ceramic cartridge, ridiculously good for about £50.
Their little 10W box was Very Good Indeed.
 
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Lawrence001

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Linn DS/1 (Free just paid postage)

NHT Super Zero speakers (ditto)

Amphion Krypton speakers (but I don't want to open up old wounds with that one)

If only i had found a similarly priced amp to drive them I could have the ultimate budget system.

 

joolz

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HiFi Trade?
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A little Stereo Coffee Light Dependant Resister pre-amp, converted to battery power by Alan/Firebottle - that i bought out of the AOS classifieds a few years ago...sold my Herron VT2 pre as it was as good but not better, trialled a Puresound L300 and didn't buy that either !

 

Rayymondo

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My Linn Klimax Renew  DS was a relative bargain at £2K, considering the original Klimax would have cost many  times more and the Renew comes with an upgraded power supply which arguably makes it better than the original Klimax DS 

The Renew comes in a plain black box -  in a compact  size that works much better for me than the original Klimax - and doesn't have the fancy solid aluminum case.

It's not much to look at but has a velvety smooth liquid sound that only the best dacs can produce - also has the advantage of being a streamer and Dac in one so saves on box count.

Not so easy to find these days but worth grabbing when they do appear... 

 

DomT

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HiFi Trade?
  1. No
As I’ve tended to buy second hand quality gear that I’ve already heard previously , it has generally pound for pound been worthwhile investments , You can’t argue with paying less than half price for something in mint condition that sounds so good ..

The only real chance I took was on the  Kara’s . Saw them for sale second hand just by chance while out shopping.. Had a demo in not to great a room ,but brought them as experience told me they had great potential in the right place ..OMG what a bargain..A third of the retail price and with new tweeters .

The latest incarnation now called the Karrisisma are £20 grand per speaker 

Whenever I see these speakers I am reminded of the fifth element film. I think that they are one of the best looking speakers that I have seen. 

 
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Steveh

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HiFi Trade?
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Always a subjective choice of course, for me it is my Tannoy  Eyris 2 floorstanders. RRP was £1k , and I got them for £199.(Richer Sounds special)

Recommended (with caution) in HiFi World, partly because of the 85db measured senstiivity(Tannoy spec is 87.5db) so consequentially requiring a "powerful" amplifier(particularly as the bass driver is 4ohm) with an ability to drive difficult loads. The Chord SPM800B drives them effortlessly.

 
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