What’s the Sweet Spot price point wise in your audio journey?

My experiences have been a BOM between apprx'  £10K down to approx' £1K.

Casing costs and EE's design and build time are extra. 

Bigger build requirement adds up to quite different costings. 

Phonostages - DAC - Pre Amp - Power Amp are all produced using this method. Q

Real Bang for Buck is found in this method. 

A pair of Cabinet Speakers are to be purchased in the vrry near future using an almost identical approach. 

I know more about the Speakers than any other purchased item, I do not disbelieve the claims I have seen that strongly suggests that 20 - 30 x the expenditure  outlay is required to find fair competition in the  Commercial exposed Brand Speaker market. 

@kerrybh "...Everyone has a different mix of financial capacity, priority and goals."

Exactly. It is a balance of those.

In particular these parameters often set folks "point of diminishing returns". It makes one feel that one has made a decision that is absolute instead of relative. 

For me, I am an audiophile, I see no point of diminishing returns... I see my financial limitation. 

@ghdprentice +1 

Agree completely 

@deep_333 I have a similar experience. Last Christmas, I got my lady friend a system for less than 5K. It sounds really good and she loves it and gets a taste of this hobby that can be quite consuming for many of us.
When I ask her if we might get something to improve her system for this Christmas, she said “why? What I have sounds great and I don’t need anything else.” That’s a great attitude, one I wish I had, but she is much smarter than me. 
 

we are all different and should respect the differences

OK, I was joking about having golf clubs, but the joke illustrated a very real pathology! :)