Mega dollar systems. 200k on up. What are their professions?

Why do people care so much of what people spend on this hobby.  I work a normal job make a decent salary.  Wife does not work.  I was not given any money, put 3 kids through college.  I spend a good amount on my stuff over the years.  Not as much as many here but probably too much than I should have.  But I enjoy it.  Raises many eyebrows of friends and I get the "why" and "how come" questions.  But then I ask how much do you spend on "X"...  golf memberships etc.  I have one co-worker who makes less than me but his wife works so probably in the end more.  But he spends over $1300/mo in car leases.  Plus hundreds more a month on insurance and taxes on those cars.  So in my head I go it would only be 3-4 years to save the money to buy my stuff with those costs..so there you go.  People do "waste" their money, but YOLO.  My brother died suddenly at 49 years old.  Stop worrying about what others do and spend.  Live within your means and if it makes you happy  you win. 

The bigger question is does the $500K system sound 20X better than a $25K system. Given the law of diminishing returns - I’d say NO. Anyone who says yes - I’d call bullshit in a minute. It’s a placebo effect- you want it to sound better.

@polkalover you are correct. But it is well known in this hobby that once your system gets to a certain level there are diminishing returns or another way to phrase it is that for those that want those extra bits of real or perceived improvement the costs of those improvements go up and the amount of those improvements become small. Some find that acceptable to “top off” their systems. Others will say it doesn’t make economic sense. But we aren’t in this hobby for economic sense. 

@tomic601 I didn’t entirely miss the punk period. However, I wasn’t totally into a lot of punk either. But I was directing my comments from the point of view of the listener. My impression is that your comments pertained more from the point of view of the musician, which I do understand. 

First of all everyone is assuming someone actually buys this stuff. Acoustical Systems will be lucky to sell 5 of these turntables. Wealthy people did not get wealthy by being stupid. The question I always ask myself in trying to remain impartial is, if I had the money would I buy this? For the Apolite the answer is a resounding no.

Most of the megabuck systems I have heard over the years did not sound near worth the money spent on them. Only a few of the owners were really into audio and for many of them the system was just a trophy to impress their friends, just like a Rolex. 
The most ridiculous thing I would buy would be Atma-sphere MA 3 amplifiers. I think they are the coolest amps on the planet. 
At any rate it is very possible to build a first class SOTA system for $100K to $150K dollars. And, there is the art in it. Anyone can throw money at a system but regardless of what you buy you still have to make it work well. The highest levels of performance require hard work and thoughtfulness.