HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH TO SPEND ON A SYSTEM? IF YOU GET THE SOUND DOES IT MATTER?

Some may judge others guilty of this, doubt any audiophile ever admitted to this in regard to their own spending unless they're in debtor prison or lost family and friends over their expenditures.

I’ve actually reduced the retail cost of my amplifier 75% in the last few years and it sounds the best ever.  True story. 

If you buy high-end used components, you can end up with a good system for $10 to $20k.  There are various formulas as to how to apportion the money spent to various components - 60% to speakers, 30% to amp and pre-amp, 10% to turntable is one formula.  My experience has been that you will get much better value buying used components from reputable manufacturers.  And Audiogon is the best place to find them.  

@hilde45 how many caps is too much CAPS! Lol 😂 To each his own! Lol 😝 

if I were a Lotto winner, I'd be much more willing and able to  spend crazy money to get a system that, in my listening room, would reliably transport my hearing mechanism to the venue in which the recording took place, meaning that there would be no "sweet spot" because the imaging would be actual and not a grand [but conditional] illusion, where the sound would sweetly and totally be free of any artifice, lacking any electronic noise/distortion, with the exact same frequency balance as the original performance and venue. as it is, I am a stickler for stereophonic imaging AND decently accurate frequency balance. the only speaker systems I'd ever heard that had a room-sized sweet spot and reasonably accurate frequency balance, were the Maggie tympani III and the Bose Cinemate SR-1, the former very VERY expensive [including the premium ancillary electronics and acoustic room treatment it required] and the latter somewhat more affordable. the Maggie sound system did its magic via brute force engineering, the Bose system did its magic via the magic of DSP. to my ears, the Maggie system sounded "sweeter" and purer, with much visceral impact, as befits its king's ransom price. that would be the system I'd get if I was rich.