"not about the $, its about what does it take to engineer a machine that becomes invisible

I disagree. The problem is all system's are compromised to some extent. People either avoid systems or speakers that have a compromise they really do not like or are attracted to systems or speakers that do something they like or a combination of the two. However IMHE when confronted with a system that has relatively few compromises and particularly images well and is devoid of sibilance, everyone will drop their jaws and universally agree it is one of the best systems they have ever heard if not the very best. The very best systems, with the right recording can fool you into thinking a violin is playing in your living room or even a piano. Very few systems can do that. So, we are forced into accepting certain degrees of inaccuracy and the audio industry gives you a choice of inaccuracies on purpose. This is particularly true of speakers. 
The differences between the excellent amplifiers we now have are relatively minor as long as they match up with the speaker well. 

Notice in this video that price, in these people's minds is the primary indicator of quality. If it costs more it must be better. This is not the reality I live in. I have heard $100,000 systems that stomp on $300,000 systems. It also takes engineering to make speakers disappear and clever engineering at that. At home you (or someone else) have to engineer your system and room to produce the desired results. You can't just throw equipment into a room and expect it to work well.