Ours is a hobby of diminishing returns past a certain point. While you could spend tens of thousands in the pursuit of audio perfection, the wise application of but a thousand dollars can create a very musical system capable of much that audiophila is all about. It's really all a question of degree. Spend what you wish or can afford and enjoy the music.
Are you Guys Rich or What!?
I have an old system, nothing special, Adcom, Vandersteens etc and I recently set foot for the first time in a "high end" shop, hoping to get to the next level of audio nirvana. When I saw some of the prices for monoblock amplifiers, cables, the latest speakers etc, I practically fell off my chair when I realized that I could blow $50-100K pretty easily on this stuff. I am not rich. Do you big budget system guys all work on Wall Street or something or do you eat macaroni and cheese most nights to put a few bucks away for CDs and your next upgrade?