It doesn’t have to be all that expensive really, but there are certainly endless avenues to waste money on.

I went to a friend of a friends place who had spent well over $25k, had a grossly inferior front end, and system and speaker placement set up that really couldn’t have been worse for the room.  I listened, heard unrealized potential, tried to make a few suggestions but mostly didn’t and thought to myself now that’s a waste of money.