Ever dream of owning a sports car? Who doesn't! But at the end of the day, any decent vehicle with four wheels and an engine will still "get you there." The same thing works for audio -- sure, we'd all love a $200,000-plus McIntosh system with monoblocks and story-tall speakers, but plenty of folks just want to hear Pandora or Spotify without doing the aural equivalent of squinting.

While your first choice might be a Bluetooth speaker or even a sound bar, the ultra-affordable Dayton Audio MK402 makes an excellent case for building a stereo system on a budget. These speakers may not look high-end, but more importantly, they don't sound low-end.

If you simply cannot afford to spend more than $100 on a pair of passive speakers, these Daytons should be high on your list of products to consider. The MK402s are yet another standout product from the company that brought you the Dayton Audio B652, Parts Express.