I don't know where this fits in this thread, or if it fits at all, but I feel a little sad for young people nowadays whose only experience listening to music is earbuds and portable digital devices. More than once have I seen a young person (say, under 40) gasp when I played a familiar tune on a humble Kenwood KA-3500 and some Ascend Acoustic 2-ways. On the other hand, I was in college and grad school between '72 and '79. If I would have been able to listen to my music anywhere, anytime, and carry the equivalent of a hundred LPs in my pocket, I might not have bothered with a component system.
At some point, convenience trumps quality. It all depends on your frame of reference.
I listen to music, not audio. So, I'm not upset when someone says my KA-3500 is inferior to something else. I'm sure it is. But, my experience tells me that, in lots of things, successive improvements become smaller and smaller. Duane Allman's solo on Mountain Jam probably would not move me much more than it already does if I heard it on a $30,000 setup.
[EDITED for grammar & punctuation]
I have a KA 3500 and it is a sweet little amp. I also have a Sony TA F3A, Pioneer SA 7700, Marantz 1060 and even a Fisher CA 800 and they sound very nice as well.
There will always be the snobs that poo poo any mainstream brand......because only really smart people can think of adjectives that have no relation to the item being described.