Although the upgrade spiral has it's own built in silliness (you end up buying the same function more than once) it does allow you to spread the cost out over time.

If you do some homework, you will find certain brands have good staying power. So an item made by one of these brands will loose very little value over time assuming only that you bought it used to begin with.

Two other advantages of spreading the upgrade spiral over time are that you get to listen in the meantime and if you are alert, a good deal will come along that you are now primed to jump on.

I now have a system that's pretty good, it took me a little over 10 years to assemble. I sold most of the old stuff to help pay for the new. I learned a lot as I grew my system and I owned something listenable the whole time.

Did I buy some functions more than once? Yes, but each pass, I knew more about what I wanted and more about how to listen for it.

There is one other route and that is the DIY option. See the site by that name. Savings may be less than you think, it turns out that first class components are not at all cheap.