HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH TO SPEND ON A SYSTEM? IF YOU GET THE SOUND DOES IT MATTER?

I think it was Benjamin Franklin who said, “ You do you, boo”.

Stop with the all caps. FFS, enough with the all caps.

I think it depends on your budget.  What can you afford without impacting what else you need money for.  The story of the guy that built a million $ system and having it go bad is a cautionary tale.  In my experience starting simple and lower budget and then upgrading one piece at a time as you can afford it is the way to go.  Also trusting your ears and buying equipment you can try and return if it doesn’t sound good in your system is important.  I love tweaking my system as part of this hobby so I’ll probably never stop. 

@carlsbad2: Isn't having a lifetime subscription more like having a library card than one's own library?

For networths indicated below, it is good to not exceed indicated rig costs in 2025 (to mitigate maximal diminished returns).

Networth: Rig cost

10k to 50k: Walmart boombox (just kidding, get Hifiman headphones)

100k: 1k

500k: 3k

1 mill: 10k

10 mill: 50k

100 mill: 100k

500 mill: 100k

1 bill: 100k

100 bill: 100k

500 billion (Vladimirovich, Elon, etc): 100k