"The law of diminishing returns was practically CREATED for the audio folks."
Plus 1 for secretguy. In 2007 I purchased the Focal 1027 Electra speakers with a berrilyium (sp?) tweeter for $5,000. They served me well including my new home with hardwood floors. Thinking that the technology must have improved tremendously since then, I purchased the Focal Sopra 2's in 2022 for $19K after I demoed them in the store. I thought the Kanta's were a lateral move so I stepped up to the Sopra's which struck me as more open. When I got them home, they sounded perceptively better than the Electras but only slightly so. Was the slight improvement worth 19K in 2022 vs the Electras in 2000 for 5K? Nice to have but an expensive Lesson One
In the 1990's I purchased Tannoy standmount speakers - the D-100's. They sounded damn good. I just purchased on Audiogon a used pair of Dynaudio Special Forty speakers for $2k.. I A-B'd them with the Tannoys. While the Dunaudio speakers sound very good, the old Tannoys sounded more "open" to my ears. Lesson Two learned. One almost needs a 12-step program to break this cycle.