I agree completely. I don't go into the back room of those guitar shops very often. I will admit that top of the line Taylor, Martin, Gibson, (insert custom guitar builder here) sounds better than my $300 Samick. But my Samick has solid rosewood back and sides, solid cedar top, maple neck, and a rosewood fingerboard and bridge. It was made in Indonesia so I've bput about $50 into it along with many hours of my own time tweaking it (new saddle, setup, bridge pins, etc) When it's played by someone who knows what they're doing (definitely not me) it sounds amazing. It would take a very discriminating ear to tell that it wasn't an expensive, name brand guitar. It's definitely not a $3000 difference....
Tops for solidbodies are even more confusing to me as for the the differnece between the two grades of flamed maple (or whatever) will have no affect on the sound of the guitar at all.......