I've heard 100K+ systems set up improperly, or in a lousy room, that sounded terrible. Then again; there are many people that can't stand the sound of live music, prefer transistor radio caliber reproduction, or will choose the very back row of the hall(Mrtennis?). If the poster actually has played the mentioned album "many, many times" on his "modest" system; it may not have enough left in the grooves to sound worth a damn. Lots of variables, preferences and opinions out there. As long as you're happy........
Revelation
So I was down at the local hifi dealer, its been a while, and I decided to listen to a LP in the store that I heard many many times on my own system and you know what my modest system relatively speaking, sounded similar if not better then the mega show room system with the 10k arm and the 30k preamp and 50k speakers. I was in disbelif. In my opinion there is not need to spend buckets of money to achieve the last 5 or 10%. Of this this is bad news for hifi dealers but I suspect they realize this too.