What is the current retail cost of your reference system?

Having a conscious here is not about guilt, its about being mindful that most of us here live privileged lives. Keeping mindful of that tends to make one more humble, empathic and happy, one not always comparing themselves to those who have it better. 

Still, in general I'd say most audiophiles not into pissing contests, I'm also into cars and motorcycles, car enthusiasts boasting about HP is the worst, I see many absolutely destroying cars to get another 10-15hp, complete nitwits. At least a $10k cable doesn't destroy one's system.

30k,

half of that is the Devialet 250 EP, which replaced a complex Naim stack put together over many years.

The rest on speakers, 1 sub, CD player, cables and computer related audio gear...

+

Double that figure on music (first records) and then CDs, and now downloads, over 30+ yrs.

Big bucks dude!!

I wouldn't focus on a $ amount. You'll just get frustrated as you see people spend a small fortune. You should set a budget and then proportion it out % wise, with a majority spent on speakers. I will say that I've seen people spending $50-$100K on a system that sounds like crap due to improper pairing or horrible room acoustics. I have a system that I spent less than $10K (Dynaudio, Rotel, Sota) and it sounds great, but I was meticulous about placement, etc.

having been a high end residential real estate developer for twenty plus years, having seen hundreds if not thousands of very expensive homes, i can personally attest that people with money to burn and people with good taste are quite often in non-overlapping sets

that said, in the minority of cases where tremendous spending power meets great knowledge, well expended effort, and highly refined taste, the result can be truly exquisite

this reality certainly applies to stereo equipment and systems too