Did I Expect too much?

It would actually be helpful to name the company. There can be a myriad of reasons why those what they did, but cost and profit could certainly be among them.  Big companies are influenced by many departments other than the chief designer, and tend to be more profit conscious.

FWIW, I changed my old 80s binding posts to pure copper, and noted a small improvement in clarity.

Makes you wonder how much they may have skimped on crossover components. 

I recently had the owner of a very good audio retail store tell me that a speaker manufacturer will spend $10K to build a speaker.  They then wholesale that speaker to the retailer for $20K.  100% mark-up or 50% margin.  The retailer then puts the speaker on the floor for $40K.  Again, 100% mark-up or 50% margin.  I have no reason to think he was not being truthful.  My takeaway is the retail price has nothing to do with the cost of manufacturing or my expectation of highest quality components.  Cheers. 

The speakers are beautiful and the sound exceeds my expectations (after a minor upgrade).

It's not easy to build a pair of speakers that are beautiful and sound beautiful for people with high expectations for $15,000.  Running a business today is not cheap or easy.  Anyone who thinks it is probably hasn't run one.

Please share the name of the company and the speakers.  It would be helpful for prospective buyers to know.  Quality parts throughout is one of the reasons I bought Arendal and Revel speakers.  My subs have some lower quality parts but I expected them to at their prices points.  They still sound excellent.