Personally I don't buy a more expensive car once I find one that meets my requirements in performance and safety.
As a result I drive a small Ford which is cheap to maintain and drive as compared to the larger models which offer more but also cost more.

Same with AV equipment. I set minimum specs and buy something as close to that as I can get.

Both AV and car with me at least last a long time.
I still use the same old stereo I purchased back in 1988 (though it's not relegated since about 1998 to being an amplifier for my computer).
My car I hope to use for as long.
My previous TV lasted for over a decade as well.

OTOH many people expect (and the market makes them) to replace their computer every other year if not more often.
Computers are becoming commodity items, pretty much like GSM phones.
They're seen as throwaway things that shouldn't cost anything because their economic life is so much shorter than their techical life.

For computers I AM the discriminating buyer who gets all A brand components and selects those to give the best possible performance and expansion options within my budget.
But then I expect my computers to last longer than 2 years as well, upgrading bits and pieces regularly to keep them up to date so that now I've last month finally retired the last 4GB harddisk that I got back in 1997.