Affordable vs. ultra expensive speakers - what's the difference?

there are some inexpensive speakers I like a lot, and some expensive one's I do not like, but all my favorites are expensive...not sure if those who do not hear a difference are lucky or unlucky...they save money but miss out on so much

No speakers at any cost will beat by his upgrading power,

These 6 aspects of acoustic control parameters in a room:

-Balance between absorbing surfaces,

-Reflecting one,

-Diffusive one....

-control over reverberation time and timing of the wavefronts

- control over the distribution of the pressure zones

- fine layering and tuning of the laminar flow

These 3 last aspects could be  controlled with Helmhotz mechanical  method NOT by electronical equalization...

Dont upgrade good speakers with costly one BEFORE studying and experimenting with acoustic...

@jbhiller i couldn’t agree with you more, each upgrade makes me believe I can now reach the next echelon of component, something I never thought I’d get to 10 years ago. The same goes for the spending habits people have that are socially understood, music, despite it being almost vital to life, seems like an afterthought for many. I use my system basically everyday and enjoy it for hours, what else is getting that kind of use except my work laptop!

🍿

@jbhiller Well said.

For me: “I don't have $50k speakers, but today I have $32K speakers and I never thought I'd get here.  I can now fathom maybe a $70K set of speakers if I could use them and enjoy them thoroughly for 20 years. 

However, when I retired I had $13K speakers which I thought I would have forever, and was able to upgrade to these $34K speakers… wow, I am so lucky… and enjoy them every day. They are so much more than I thought speakers could be.