Moderately priced audio

Well, I don't have a single component in the system that cost me over $1k, either new or used, including cables and power cords. I count turntable/tonearm/cartridge as three components. But there are a lot of them, the components, so the total cost is not particularly low bit it is not high either. Moderate cost. And I see no reason to waist funds on anything that would not perform as good as what I have. I did have to pay for two pairs of new interconnects each almost as much as for a used turntable because I couldn't find them used, and the Purist Dominus power cord on my amp was about $2k when new.
So, the total system cost is probably around $11k, but most component were bought used.
$5k new for a system with one source ? It won't sound bad but it will sound much worse than what I got. I don't need it, better listen to computer with $200 Grado headphones.

I have a good ear, picky about my sound but not the income to jusify a levenson or better. I never will. I love music of all types and since a teen have followed stereo review and other mags. I now follow the web. What hi-fi and try to keep up on the latest gear I can and cannot afford. Over the years I have heard really great systems.  The best I remember was a Mark Levenson mono block system playing from a lynn sondek back in the late 70's.  I have found, and only my opinion with my home systems when you have $2,000 - $3000 system it takes a significant amount of investment to get that small bump in quality of sound that makes you go wow! Significant for me is over $1,000.   But it is a personal financial decision if the "wow" is worth the double or triple price tag? Or if you can still have a thrill off the other lower priced system?  Or could this all boil down to perzdx onal taste? The next system I have will most likey last me till life end.  The preamp, power amp I use now is 40 and 45 years old. I do not need to change systems just to do it.  I simply love listening and experiencing music. I like dynamics, low end authority, crisp highs smooth mids as my ears hear it.  I  wonder if the majority of music lovers and Hi Fi enthusiasts could tell much difference between a $2'000 pair of speakers $20,000, $50,000 or $100,000? The  same goes with the electronics.  My experience has been your sound system is no better than it weakest link which is usually room accoustics. It is beyond my imagination the cost of some of these systems.  It would be a thrill and a life experience I am sure if an average guy like me could tour home like settings and hear for myself these esoteric systems.  I am so happy those more fortune than myself can share the knowlege and experience they have with excellent products and some that we also can afford. Thank you again!

Quite a number of people have good hearing. I demonstrated to a few of them how changing one pair of interconnects or one power cord can significantly make the sound better or worse. They were surprised indeed. And none of those interconnects and power cords were junk, they were all good but a few were excellent. The less expensive power cord was $150 used and the best was $650 used, the interconnects were $500, $800, $1500 and $1700, all suggested retail prices new. Overall the best were the most expensive in this case, the $800 ones were the best value, the $500 ones were not acceptable. By the way, in my complicated set-up I use them all except the $500 ones, for those experiments I just simplified the signal chain and used only one source.

Yeah, another point is that what one calls moderately priced, either new or used, is very subjective, at least to the point. $5k new excellent amp is moderately priced in my view, $5k excellent cartridge is not. It doesn't matter whether or not I can afford it right away or ever. I try to assess the intrinsic value of these things and will not pay $3k for mediocre amp but might pay $5k for an excellent one.
However, I think I reached the limit of what is possible to achieve with inexpensive components. If I really want to make a big step up it is going to cost even used. As an example, the least expensive speakers that I might want is Kharma for about $4k used, on ebay right now.