What Do You Get When You Spend Megabucks?

It's my opinion that you could put together a high quality system for about $7,500 (MSRP). For those willing to spend more, great systems can be put together for $20,000 to $50,000. I don't think anyone could seriously question the overall quality of these latter systems, but they would in no way approach the state of the art. My question is, what's that something extra you get when you're willing to push the limits as to what is possible in home sound reproduction and spend major dollars (say $250,000+) on a single system? Another way of asking my question is, what do $80,000 speakers do that $15,000 speakers don't?

My question is a serious question and I have no ax to grind one way or another. I have significant experience with components that cost in the $3,000 to $15,000 range, but not much with products costing more. I'm very interested in hearing from those people who have made that rather large financial commitment to music reproduction.