Oh come ON! there IS a correlation between price and quality UP TO a price point. I find a 12k bucks koetsu cartridge VERY hard to justify, but i've owned cheapass gemini, decent stanton, pretty good shure and very good Goldring, each of them costing more than the one before it and there were pretty tangible differences that my sister who doesnt know what the **** a phono cartridge is on the first place could spot.
I've auditioned B&Ws 601 at 400 bucks, 602s at 500 and some kickass Sonus Fabers at 5000, and there DEFINATELY was a difference. as there was between a rotel RA-01 at 450 and a Musical Fidelity at 4500.
However, past a price point, the improvements that can be made to the quality of the components and the build quality is so minute that it becomes much more of a "status" and "self-suggestion" thing.
Personally, i think that if you think that blowing 60.000 on a stereo system makes your music sound better and makes you happy (assuming you can afford that kind of equipment without starving your family) go for it.
Basically, i think specially at the lower (between 0 and 3000$) price brackets, moving up in bucks will bring a noticeable increase in sound quality, therefore stablishing a correlation (this is, however, all subjective. a lot of people nowadays will prefer systems that just shake the walls, even tho they do that with horribly distorted bass. and you can do that with a couple of 100s)