When a budget speaker is preferred to a high end one...

i have much more fun listening to my budget bookshelf speakers than i do my big @$$ expensive ones.  I 2nd what russ said above in his last sentence. 

Super high-end systems require a lot of work from the listener. Everything is laid bare. Most times I just want to play some tunes and enjoy what I’m hearing, not try for a critical listening session. You can be perfectly happy with very modest components. I urge everyone to spend time listening to statement systems, so you know what is possible but use that experience to help identify the characteristics that are important to you. I like critical systems, but I spend 95% of my time listening to my fun systems. 

If a budget speaker is tuned to your ears more closely than the high end speaker of course it will be preferred. 

There is no difference between high end and budget speakers. Only the price.

This is quite common in my experience.

Over the years and after having attended many Hi-Fi shows I’ve very rarely come away thinking that the most expensive speakers were ever the best on show.

The one exception was the Avantgarde Trios which imaged and scaled exceptionally.

At the same time I can’t ever recall the cheapest speakers ever sounding the best either, although last year someone was selling a pair of large bookshelves (in Baltic birch cabinets) which were rocking way out of their shockingly low price range (<£600).

They weren’t the best in show, that might have been the Kudos Titans (£17k), but it did illustrate the huge disconnect often seen between price and performance.

Just why this happens so often isn’t easy to explain but I have noticed that really expensive speakers usually tend to be more revealing in one area more than others and this often works against them.

The result can be that they not only reveal the faults in the recording they often end up highlighting issues within their own performance too.

Increased resolution can be a 2 way sword unless a careful sonic balance is not also maintained.

https://www.hifipig.com/mycetias-vulcanian-loudspeakers/

In a recording studio to make sure the mix will sound good on a car radio.

Many good studios use both.

+1 that speaker designers have different ideas of what the perfect sound is.

Very accurate and concise @blisshifi if my add the measurement of quality is not always price.

+1 @blisshifi Concise, accurate, helpful answer.

There are many expensive things I don't like.

Why would speakers be an exception?

@blisshifi well done on covering everything that matters.

I have experienced this. I at one point “downgraded” from a Wilson Yvette to a Scansonic MB-6B. Beyond just me, I had a few other folks agree it was much better.

First off, many speaker manufacturers are just plain out expensive. Sometimes fancy build qualities and finishes add extravagantly to the price.

Second, most times it’s the room. In my case I have a 19’x23’ room with sloped ceiling up to 18’, but I could only afford to give 48” between the back of the Yvette and the wall, and it really required another foot or two to sound best. The Scansonic just sang with that amount of room.

Third, it comes down to electronics matching. Some speakers just work better with the sonic signature of some amps, preamps, etc.

Last, speakers are just all voiced differently, and each builds a different relationship with individuals. Sometimes the one you fall in love with is the one that nobody else agrees with, and that’s perfectly okay.