I doubt there are many here at AK who drink the Stereophile Kool-ade. If you trolled this Q at other audio sites I'm sure the thread would soon be closed, edited or erupt into the mother of all flamewars.
The term "high-end" is often abused for marketing (and bragging rights). A year ago I strolled into a local GW and they had some cheap BPC junk. Some customer was hanging around the gear and kept telling everybody who was trying to test something how the stuff was "high end". Maybe to him it was but I gotta think WTF? If Bose rocks yours world then I'll leave you in Fantasyland while I play my JBL/Adcom system (not "high end" by any stretch of the mind but it gets me to 90% of perfection).
To answer the big question, *anybody* (myself included) could enjoy any system (even <shudder> Bose). Its just a matter of your mindset. If you just stepped off Gilligan's Island and hadn't heard heard music in ten years, a drug-store CD walkman and a Britney Spears CD would have you smiling ear to ear.
Well, maybe not Britney but you get my point...
Part of me wants to convert the masses from mid-fi garbage but I have enough to do. Besides, if everybody dumped their cheap BPC and went high end or classic, there would be a lot more people fighting for the good gear.
As somebody pointed out earlier, sometimes all you need is mid-fi.
I long ago realized my quest for audio perfection was not going to be via the classic high end route. Buying a $500 new piece of gear was out of the question due to unemployment and other issues. I'd rather have six vintage pieces than one brand spankin' new high end piece anyways. Far more flexible IMHO. If one amp doesn't sound good with your "new" pawnshop speakers, then try the one you put in storage last summer.
I'm not trying to rag on the geniune high end gear makers and dealers (especially those of you out there in tonight's listening audience). You have continued the spirit of quality hifi gear that has disappeared from the average consumer's radar. When I was in tech school part of me thought the coolest thing would be to have my own high end audio company. Didn't turn out that way but hey, I'm having fun...