In the 50's and I was a kid, a friend of the family had a mono setup with JBL speakers and McIntosh tubes. I was blown away by the sound. Then the stereophonic LP came along and our friend went to a stereo set up. I was more blown away. These two systems were so superior to anything else out there at the time high end audio really was something. There were several stores in my town with listening rooms of escalating quality and cost where one could really hear difference in sound.
Now 65 years later with today's low cost electronics and speaker manufacturing techniques one has to really listen for differences between a low and high cost system of the same sound pressure level capability, so many people are happy with Best Buy or Amazon.
Still a great hobby for some though.