Don't forget that there's increasing competition from the likes of China which will inevitably mean that getting a good sound needn't cost the earth.  Personally, the solid state pre/psu/power amp trio I replaced with my Chinese valve amps would have cost some poor bugger around £9k new, compared to £1500 for the valve pre-power - and yet the valve pre-power sounds much more 'musical' and I get more enjoyment from the music I play on it.  So, yeah, assuming nothing else had changed, it ought to be possible to put together a really nice system for not-too-much.