Correlation: Money and Good Sound

No way. I do not like the sound of NAD amps. I would rather have something else used, (tube gear) for 2-3 times the price of NAD equipment, like you state. but in general I get the 'jist of what you are saying. But why the rant today? Just curious.

Also do not forget DIY projects! Or modified gear!

For uncolored neutrality, I thought the marantz cd, EVS Millennium DAC, Krell 300i, and Magnepan 1.6/qr was tough to beat. Granted it was a tad dry in the midrange, but I thought it was surprising good for the money. In a similar vein my previous acoustats and tubes did flesh out a midrange that very few all-out-assult dealer demos were even able to match, in the midrange.

I think there's a lot of Sun Tsu involoved here. You need to know what you as a music lover need and expect from a stereo. And you need to know what gears in your price range can deliver on those sonic priorities. No offense, but how unboxy sounding are the Europas? Me, I can't stand box colorations so they may not be a match for me. Vice versa. Someone else will hate the magneplanar weaknesses, so likewise they would be a poor match for that person.

But generally it DOES cost good money to get great (what does that mean?) sound. But there are a lot of poor performers out there. Even though some designs are just rehashes of old designs, apparently some (how much?) money has to be thrown at the problem, whether is a part quality swap or a decent power supply, or tweaks , or something.

I don't know. I'm still new at this and and trying to sort through a lot of this myself as I grow as an audiophile.

I too not too much impressed by NAD sound except NAD C370 ones. Anything bellow just seems to be unable to drive anything anyhow.
Among valuably priced components I'd go for Sunfire, Rotel and certainly McCormack. Schuffling among these brands with right speaker you may achieve the level of megapriced performance just by adding a simple RadioShack cables.

you get what you pay for- sort of. i.e., i had a hafler
300w/ch amp which was much better than a denon amp that it replaced- smoother sounding. but then i lugged home a levinson 23 (200w/ch)-used that was going for a good price.
it took 5 minutes to realize how much better the levinson was- much richer textures to instruments. there was no going back- i got a USED ML-23.5 which stayed in my system for a very long time. but let's face it- most people's paychecks don't cover $5,000 amplifier purchases, and it takes years until the right sound comes along at a price that you can afford. i waited for several years until i could get a pair of speakers that represented "to me" the audio end of the road- they cost $12,000. were they better than my b&w 801's?
way better. but i then heard the 801's with pass aleph amps,
and they sounded like a completely different speaker (again, much better, but the amps were $14,000 at the time-the speakers cost a third of that am't). i amuse myself when i recall the argument i used to make that you could build a state of the art speaker for no more than $2-3k/pair considering the cost of materials and workmanship. it's probably true- there are $10,000 guitars out there that cost
$600 in materials. sometimes i wish my father had been a carpenter instead of an accountant...

You only get what you pay for (if you are lucky)! Its what you do with it that counts. Stehno's comments are right on point.

In all matters, not just audio equipment, I am perfectly willing to pay top dollar for a superb product. However, I look to the quality of the product first, and worry about the price afterwards. I never begin my search for quality by evaluating the most expensive items.

One factor that can drastically affect cost is new technology. Recent examples are DVD players that have caused development of inexpensive high speed 24-bit DACs, and digital power amps that deliver results previously obtainable only at 4 to 5 times the cost. I don't think it makes sense to pay an exorbitant price for a gold-plated version of yesterday's technology.

Many high end audio products are well built and good designs, but carry a huge price tag because of the very small number of units manufactured and sold. If you buy one of these what you are paying for is exclusivity, not performance. People will pay more for a Volkswagen if it has a Porsche nameplate.