I am an audiophile, and you're sorely mistaken. You can get _really_ good sound quality for very 99% less than what you claim. A 6 figure sound system is a high end system. I don't believe in those expensive cables or directional ethernet cables, or power conditioners. But, like most things there is a sliding scale and diminishing returns. A 6 figure audio system would be a 100% of what you could achieve but for 2-3000$ you can get 90+% of the 6 figure system.
I can't remember what magazine it was, but a couple of years ago competing against very expensive gear, a ~300$ NAD amplifier beat out other 5 figure amps for sound quality. and 2000$ speakers were the runner up up 40.000$ speakers.
You don't even have to go quite that far up the scale. A small NAD integrated amp (or even the 7225 BBE receiver if you really want a tuner) paired with, say, a pair of Paradigm Titans (or the equivalent-range PSBs or similar) and the sources of your choice would be quite satisfactory at about the same price as the Acoustic Wave with CD changer. The problem is that now you have to pay attention to placement to extract what the system has to offer. That, in a nutshell, is where the Bose all-in-ones make their living — they're nearly oblivious to placement. Imaging? Not great by any stretch of the imagination, but as long as you'r in the same room as the system, it has some. There's no sweet spot, but there isn't a sour spot either. Same deal with interference suck-out.
$5K-ish, spent the right way and set up properly, will give you a system that will let you imagine you can tell whether or not the stand-up bass player had a beard. But to really get to that level, even with an unlimited budget, you really have to care about the system as much as the music it plays. Placement matters. The room matters. And I'm as willing to play that game as anybody (nobody who isn't would ever have bought a Basis Debut Gold Standard turntable with a Wheaton Triplanar tonearm mounting a Koetsu cartridge back when it mattered), but I understand that arranging your speakers, your furniture and your life around the requirements of a stereo system isn't for everybody. Frankly, a Bose box (or, in a time long past, a set of 901s instead of "real" speakers) gives better results in most cases when placement is an afterthought (if it's ever a thought at all). Does it cost more than it "should"? The markup over materials may be high, but it sells well enough at the price that nobody's been inclined to reduce prices, so I'd say not.
I can't remember what magazine it was, but a couple of years ago competing against very expensive gear, a ~300$ NAD amplifier beat out other 5 figure amps for sound quality. and 2000$ speakers were the runner up up 40.000$ speakers.