Only if you let them. Any business will keep jacking up their price until people will stop buying. You can spend as much as you would like or you can do your research and get a great sounding system for a reasonable price. This hobby is like others where people will spend double the price for a 5% increase in sound. If that is what they figure is a good return on investment I will never be the one to question it. You can spend $2000 on a car or $200,000. They both get you from point a to b just in different ways in your head and looks!