We’ve been trying out equipment for over 50 years, trying to find the best reproduction of music for our enjoyment. In my experience over that period, I’ve come to the conclusion that, as a matter of routine, the correlation between price and audio quality is very tenuous. It’s true that expensive gear generally has very nice fit and finish, usually satisfies the visual senses, and rarely sounds bad, but I’ve gotten great sound from very modestly priced systems and mediocre results from expensive ones. The one thing I am absolutely positive about is that I have wasted an enormous amount of dough over the decades (driven largely by ego). At least I acquired a little wisdom from it.
The system that gets the most play in our home is in our bedroom, and we often play it overnight. It’s composed of two kits, an Akitika PR-102 preamp and an Elekit TU8600S 300B SET amplifier, plus Altec Valencia speakers. Total cost (including WE tubes) was under $5k. It would sound just about as good with a Luxman R-1070 or something similar and cost half as much.