Also, just because something sounded "bad" to you hardly means they would sound bad to me, or someone else for that matter.
However, my money is my money. And just because someone can spend more of it hardly makes them a fool. Monty Python sucks...That's my opinion.
True, but I think people have to develop a good personal reference. Now I admit that is difficult in the pop/rock world. The music is largely already electronic!
However in the classical world it is possible and essential. Regular attendance at concerts is de rigeur. Now I recorded live concerts over many years. Those years were pivotal in honing my speaker designs. Which was one of the reasons I recorded so many concerts as a public service to the local public radio station. Once you have a good internal frame of reference it does not take long to tell whether a speaker is accurate or not. We are not talking just pleasing here, but pleasing and accurate.
I have designed a few custom high powered speakers in my time. Not many, as my designs are much higher in cost than commercial realizations and bids.
Until a few months ago I had a modular high performance high spl system that I used on location very occasionally. Unfortunately due to lack of storage space available to me now, I had to break it up and some of the drivers will go up for sale on eBay.
In 1988 I was engaged to record the ND Centennial Opera, Sakakawea.
A New York director was hired, and the assistant conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Only two of the singers were fully professional, and the orchestra pit in the Chester Fritz Auditorium is on the small size. Sound reinforcement was required, and an outfit hired to do it. When I arrived the composer was having a fit over the sound, and asked me if there was anything I could do.
I went home, organized a crew and brought in my modular system and 1200 watts of amp power all together.
I carefully set up microphones in the orchestra pit, and hid microphones in the scenery. When I got the system working, the New York director vowed the system was not working, as he was used to his "commercial sound."
I took the director up to the first balcony. I had an assistant at the control desk. When I raised my hand, I had the assistant cut my system, when I lowered it, I had him restore it. When the system came in the sound increased about 10 db, but the character of the sound did not change.
Members of the audience surveyed after the performance did not believe sound reinforcement had been used. That is what I mean by an accurate high spl system.
Honestly, the only highly accurate high spl systems I have heard, have been custom.
The reason is cost. If you can build it for a one off, it is OK. But once you talk low volume production, the cost becomes prohibitive. I did a cost analysis just for fun, I did a cost analysis of what the final retail coast of my three front speakers would be if you produced them for retail. The cost with manufacture, freight distributor and dealer, would put the front three speakers at around $100,000.
