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

I’ll relate two experiences that I think illustrate the difference. Both experiences occurred while demoing speakers - though at different stores.

First experience - I was listening to Paradigm Signature speakers (I don’t remember the specific model but it was their biggest and best and I’m guessing the year was around 2015.  I thought they sounded pretty nice - not great, They were in my budget at the time and under consideration.  I made the mistake of having the dealer move the speaker cables to another speaker - above my set budget. Everything else was the same (obviously positioning was a bit different - but it was a big room).  I came away discouraged as the music was so much clearer. What previously sounded resolving and full range now sounded congested and lacking impact. The different in mid range clarity was proverbially night and day.  I didn’t buy the Paradigms but came away with lesson 1 that you can get more by going upstream.  It’s not all fancy cabinetry.

The second experience came when at a dealer to audition some electronics.  The dealer was playing it through Rockports.  It would have been about 2018. The Rockports being played were about $30k according to memory.  I thought they were fantastic in every regard.  But, the dealer also had the model up. I asked the difference and he said “just more of everything”.  I had him play them. Again - same everything accept for placement.  The difference in price? Another $15k.  The dealer was right.  More midrange clarity. Effortless and musical. Two speakers from the same manufacturer - already expensive. Similar looking cabinets, too. And, the difference would have been obvious to anyone.  Had I the room and the budget, they’d be in my living room today.  

BTW - none of the above would have been revealed by measurements.  In all cases, the speakers were essentially full range and measure well. 

More expensive isn’t always better, but let’s not cheapen the significant efforts by some honest builders to make something better. It takes effort and skill.  

One day when the virus contagion is under control there will be these events called "audio shows" again. I highly recommend Axpona. It gives all of us the opportunity to hear the range of moderate to cost-no-object systems. Many times the extremely expensive systems are set up in larger rooms so that the room is not such a limiting factor. I have attended. I came away with the conclusion that the most expensive loudspeakers looked and sounded impressive but were not likely to provide much if any greater long-term joy or accurate recreation of the recording. At the last Axpona held in 2019 my favorite loudspeakers were the Audio Notes, Volti’s, and Devore Orangutans despite having listened to several far more expensive loudspeakers. JA evidently thought this was the best sounding system https://www.stereophile.com/content/jas-best-sound-axpona-mbl-n31-dac-n15-monoblocks-101e-mk2-speakers-wireworld-cables I listened to it and felt like I was in a carnival; sound was coming from everywhere and it left me feeling uneasy and I was not reminded of live music or real music. In summary, going to audio shows like Axpona is perversely rewarding because assuming you come away with the same impressions I did you will see that the rich have more expensive loudspeakers but don’t likely get better sound.

Those big MBL omni's aren't everybody's cup of tea but then again neither are Audio Note, Devore Orangutans or those awful Volti's. 

 or those awful Volti's. 

This is what makes talking about this hobby rather than just listening to our systems so fun-divergent opinions. I don't own Voltis or AN's, but do own a pair of O/93's. I very much like my O/93's but don't love them. The midrange is compromised to a minor degree, but the more you listen to them (the more I listen to them) the more apparent the flaw is. But as to the Rivals, you are the first I have seen to call them "awful". Where did you hear them, which models, and with what ancillary gear? At Axpona it was Rival's tried and true partnership with Border Patrol and Triode Wire Labs and they were the deluxe version of the Rivals with exterior crossovers. If you had heard this set-up and if you had tastes that are even remotely similar to my own, the criticism would be that the sound is a bit unrefined and shouty, something akin to listening to audio through a set of a rock band's Gibson stack of stage monitors up on stage. But they were so "alive" in way that very few loudspeakers are and I thought the sound was refined in a different way than we normally think of with the word "refined"-the sound was organic and natural despite being a bit raw and shouty. If the number one rule of Fight Club is to not talk about Fight Club, the number one rule of loudspeakers is that there are always compromises. 

@cakyol 

The difference = a lot of money for about 2-5% improvement in sound.....

The curve of diminishing returns.

As I said earlier, while this curve does exist, it is highly subjective, and is different, sometimes drastically so, for everyone. 

For some people, even people that can't afford the difference in money, that 2-5% difference you posit, may actually stick out like a sore thumb.

Some aspect of audio reproduction, that you may find inconsequential, for others, may be one of the things they place at very high importance. And of course. vis versa.

Remember, the vast majority of music listeners use $20 ear buds, to listen to MP3's, on their smart phones. Or they listen to all their music on their Alexa, or similar while at home.

I am sure a substantial percentage of them think that those of us here, who have modest systems, no where near the very high end, are at the extreme end of that curve of diminishing returns you mentioned.