+1 on the Akitika, they are amazing. Stereo Times has a nice review. I have a modest system ( $12K ). I pulled the SEP tube amp and rotated in the Akitika, sounds amazing. Pair it with the matching pre or use Shitt Audio gear. I ran the amp with Zu Omens, Klipsch Heresy’s, and JBL 4312’s. Sounded great, but was a little under powered for the JBL’s. I bought mine off AGON ,homebuilt as new with upgraded chassis and parts. Paired it with a used Cambridge DAC Magic 200. Add a pair of budget bookshelves like Borea 3, Klipsch 600, or Elac. As far as vintage gear , I gave my son a 23 wpc Marantz receiver and Klipsch KG 1.5’s and a Bluesound Node 130. Total cost with decent IC’s and Speaker cables was $1100. If you can experiment you’ll find that budget amp speaker combination that has a little synergistic magic. Happy hunting , Mike B.
Really Inexpensive Systems That Sounded Great?
I think there is a big difference between "cheap" and inexpensive. I have blown money on "cheap" cables and immediately regretted it when my ears started bleeding from the brightness in my digital components. I also don’t mean "bargains" like the time I scored $2000 speakers for $200 on Craigslist, that is basically luck.
I am talking about inexpensive (less than $1500) for a system that sounded really great to you.
I fell into a whole house audio system from DTS Play-Fi because I wanted to try and compare different brands. I picked up Play-Fi amps, preamps and active speakers made by Polk, Paradigm, Klipsch, Onkyo and DefTech all for less than $1000 a pop. For what it is, whole house audio/casual listening it sounds great.
What inexpensive great sounding systems have you tried?