I remember when I was a kid in 1975, there were tons of 'hi-fi' shops around. You could get a modest receiver, turntable, and a set of speakers for $500. Later you might add a cassette deck. And everyone was an audiophile (at least us guys lol) cuz we took sound seriously, we went to each others' houses, spun records, and talked about sound. And, if there was a young clerk in our fave 'hi-fi' store, we used to hang out there and listen to stuff we couldn't afford.
I just checked an inflation calculator and $500 then is a bit under 3k now. And arguably you can set up a listenable system for that. Especially in these days of globalism, computer design, and the ability to buy used stuff from all over.
A couple of years ago we bought a condo in FL and of course I need a sound system, right? But trying to keep it minimalist with no 'stuff' as in no CDs etc. So we bought a Bluestream PowerNode 2i (I run the TV thru it too), a pair of
Klipsch RP-600Ms, and some stands. I plug in my SSD with flacs of 1800 CDs and listen to Tidal and Adagio. How's the sound? Well, still a bit boomy, the apt has tile floors. But I'm working on it (there's one definition of an audiophile, no matter what you have, you're always 'working on it').
I discovered that the speaker stands can hold sand, and we're near a beach, so when I explained to my wife the theoretical advantages of filing the stands with sand, she became an enthusiastic participant (she loves doing stuff that's free). Took us a couple of weeks to get enough sand to fill the speaker stands, but we got it done.
When you tell someone you filled your speaker stands with sand, that makes you an audiophile when you know they think you're crazy.
BTW that system was less than 2k, and probably sounds better than that receiver/table/speaker combo from 1975, for a third less money.