hi End

2psyop writes:

Whenever one hears music on a system that begins to allow them to hear music in a way that moves them, impress them or allows them to hear things they had not before.... it is hi-end. Of course people own Gear for all kinds of reasons, prestige, hobby...

The question I asked has been answered. Could hardly agree more.

The Monitor series is upper MidFi to perhaps - perhaps - lower end HiFi. But, imo, that is stretching it. Not remotely close to the high end. 

Psyops
All the older gear from McIntosh, SAE, Bose, AR, Yamaha, Marantz, JBL, Garrard, Sansui, and many other brands were considered hi-end at the time, many still are today. 

>>>>>That’s a pretty mixed bag of stuff. I would tend to disagree they were ever high end, especially not today.

Here ya go!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-end_audio

What he said hind end!