"The Law of Diminishing Returns"???

"that any components, amps, pre-amps over $1000, the improvements are very very small"

This is not true... unless you ask my wife! If you do critical listening as most of us do, I think you'll find there is quite a big difference in components over $1000. There are hundreds of components out there from different manufactures who sound very very good, however they just sound "different". (Such as tubes vs. solid state, and box speakers vs. planers.) Tweaking a component is (usually) a low cost alternative to upgrading the sound, however, don't think that buying equipment over $1,000 will yield little improvements.

Sean is correct this time.

I agree entirely with Elizabeth. In my listening experience, spending more does not necessarily lead to being more gratified with the sound, despite the fact that as others have mentioned you will notice significant differences in higher priced components. Rather, it's about the synergy of the components, and even more important, about the components' synergy with you.

Instead of expounding on what's been said, which I believe all have their merits, let me just give you another example of what can work together.

I have a $9k amp and a $150.00 passive. Yes, those are the NIB prices. I'm on a preamp quest but haven't found anything yet that knocks my socks off, so I continue to use the little passive.

It really is all about synergy.

Forget the pricing. As Driver says, it is all about synergy - between your components as well as between your stereo and your ears. The ones hung up on cost can have it. Experimenting will yield far greater results than going by pricing hierarchy. Arthur