You don't need to spend a certain amount of money to be an audiophile. One definition of an audiophile might be this: a person who has a strong affinity for stereo equipment that sounds outstanding to THEM, and is willing to spend what "normal" people consider to be an excessive amount of money to get it. Usually that person will have been co-opted into the hobby as a teenager, during a visit to an audio store, listening to a high end "reference" system that has been properly set up. A pitfall is that this hobby can (an often does) become an obsession. It's a mistake to equate the price of gear with sound or build quality. Although there's a strong correlation, it is far from perfect. That fact becomes apparent over years of listening to different systems, some of which sound surprisingly great for the price and some of which sound surprisingly rotten for the price. Personally, I think that just throwing money at a system without using one's ears and brain is idiotic. Although the price GENERALLY correlates with quality, there are enough exceptions to make that rule dangerous to follow blindly.
If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion in response to your question, it is this: Don't get overfocused on the price tag as "qualifying" you as an audiophile. Only your ears, brain and heart can qualify you as an audiophile. It's a self-appointed status. Welcome to the club.
-Bill
