" High end " audiophile equipment can be reasonably priced gear, or, can fringe on being ridiculously out of bounds, financially, to most. If I recall, Harry Pearson was the 1st to use, and refer, the term, high end. Back in the day, a Nad 3020 amplifier, driving a pair of bookshelf Kef loudspeakers, with a Thorens turntable, was considered high end, compared to an all in one rack system you could buy at Sears. High end is all relative. Klipsch, in my opinion, makes high end, but also caters to the entry level, typical consumer ( not discussing their huge presence in the pro market ). Aiwa, popular with mini shelf systems, only caters to the entry level, typical consumer. Aiwa, is not high end. Maybe not a good analogy. The terms " high end audio ", and " audiophile ", both represent a combination of " better " equipment ( in this case, gear, designed to retrieve more " information ", of recorded music, from our sources ), searched out, and ultimately owned, by individuals who, as music listeners, are more critical than most ( an Aiwa owner ), and desires, and, is willing to pay more for the equipment, to get more of this " information ", from their recorded music. I would say, there is a tremendous amount of equipment that is high end, and not all of it is expensive. Peoples biases exist, so like everything else, there are different viewpoints on the subject. I will say this. If differences exist, in say, a power cord change, that system might be considered high end. And if an individual plays around with power cords, he / she would be considered an audiophile. It should be noted, that I know people, who are audiophiles, but unfortunately, like the equipment, more than the music. However, it is the music that drives the majority of us, and our enjoyment can be found, very reasonably. Owning Klipsch Lascalas, although tweaked and modified, allow me to make this statement, and I would not own many $50 K speakers in their place. Not all, but many. Enjoy ! MrD.