I've never listened to true "audiophile" equipment costing tens of thousands of dollars, but despite the "scientific" or logical arguments that there is no or little sound difference between high end and midrange equipment, I'd be perfectly happy even if there were. Within the context of the long history of human existence, most of us (at least in the west) live like kings (certainly true of anyone who owns a set of Axioms!
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Very little, if anything, of what I own (cars, clothes, furniture, A/V equipment, sporting goods) is real "high end" stuff like one would see on Life Styles of the Rich and Famous. To me a debate over the extent to which any of it is just as good as stuff costing 10 times more is silly. Who cares? Most of the stuff I own, and particularly my new HT system, is damn nice, and I'm very grateful to be able to enjoy it. I'm not going to let my enjoyment get dragged down by envy of better stuff, nor by getting defensive about whether more expensive stuff is really better.
Those who are not in the top 1% income bracket should know that they can get a terrific sounding system for a very reasonable price, that Axioms and a lot of the other equipment mentioned here provide good value, and that they can be very happy with what they purchase as long as they don't get caught up in worrying that someone somewhere has stuff that may sound better.
