In my view, we should be celebrating the efforts of those that have commited the talent and resources to produce cost-no-object examples of the best our industry can offer. There are ultra expensive products produced from a multitude of categories that appeal to those without financial or physical constraints. Having exquite examples of products within a catagory we are passionate about (high end audio) should put smiles on our faces that will take plastic surgery to remove.
Most "mortals" operate in a "this" OR "that" universe, where we need to make choices, and priorties need to be set up in accending order. Others want highly competant performance wrapped in a package that appeals esthetically accompanied by a stroke of industrial design genius. Then there are others who have a wherewithall to buy multiple copies of the (ultra expensive) item for each of their homes, and gift a pair (or, two) to friends and family. but still choose to apply a modest, high value competant to their purchase(s) because it is, well, who they are.
Mega expense products don’t always get it right. It could be a rigid design philopsy that leaves them short, or just plain gaps in their knowledge base. It is improper to assign less than admirable intent to a designer/manufacturer when we see (sometimes obvious) areas where resources were misapplied -- in our view.
As we seen in the past, "flagship" products have introduced "newer thinking" that has found its way into the mainstream. So, those "snob appeal" products do, in fact, provide a level of pragmatic injection for the "rest of us."
Lets raise our glasses (and cueing mechanisms?) to acknowledge those who put it all out there to produce the best of the best in our industry. While we’re not all better for it, some of us certainly are.
fyi- I was introduced to the concept of floating/balanced crossovers by a promenent speaker manufacturer years ago, and have never looked back.