What if a high end speaker measures really badly?

Probably not myself personally, but If someone likes the sound of an expensive speaker it does not matter that it does not measure well or technically may be poorly designed or implemented. The off base measurements will probably be an indicator of the particular unique sound that is liked and is less likely to be found elsewhere. In other words a poorly engineered speaker may sound unique and distinguish itself from others but the reason it sounds that way may not be a very good one.

Or one may just be drawn to a product by aesthetics.  You have to live with your speakers so looks matter.  It’s all good even if not so much technically. 

If it measures “really badly,” then it’s not a high end speaker IME. All the absolute best speakers I’ve heard and owned measure exceptionally well.

I have zero doubt that these days I would be able to quickly hear the issues with that Alta speaker. 

A decade ago when I was much less experienced, it’s likely that had I auditioned that same speaker, I would’ve thought it pretty good. 

Seems to me the correlation between high end and cost is much higher than the correlation between high end and measured sound quality.  

The Alta Alyssa also seems to be radically oddly designed.  In the case of the Adam it's almost as if the designers have deliberately introduced some comb filtering into the frequency response, kind of a hard thing to do if you are paying even moderate attention in crossover theory class.

Perhaps the radically different response curves make the speakers sound more detailed and make the reviewer go through their entire album collection again to hear what they've been missing.... 🤢

Sorry, that's a bit of a cliche I read when speakers are deliberately ragged. If the peaks and dips are not audible, as @audiokinesis suggests then I wonder why and how they went through all the trouble to introduce them in the first place? 🤣

If it measures badly and sounds good, it is good.

If it measures good and sounds bad, it is bad.

Wow, what incredible and original insight! Haven’t heard that one before. 🙄