Garbage out of speakers in an acoustically treated room is still garbage. However, in this context, ’garbage’ is a relative term.
To the OP’s topic:
Using "definition of audiophile" as a search engine seems to yield this definition (or the equivalent) from about all the hits that came back for me, "a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction."
To me that means that although someone who listens to a system consisting of significantly expensive electronics and speakers may find the sound of a system consisting of much cheaper gear to be (if they are being honest) garbage, the person listening to the more affordable system can still meet the criteria of an audiophile because the definition of enthusiasm is not dependent solely upon the quality the of gear (and therefor the SQ) one is listening to, but how critically one is listening and how appreciative one is to the actual SQ one is listening to.
However, one who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction will quite likely take steps as often as possible to increase the quality of his or her play back which will, among other things, include upgrading the quality of his or her gear. Some will be more obsessive than others in this endeavor.