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I was exploring mythology in audio,

You were geeking out, we all do it, NP.

I had a unique position that I had just weeks previously been in recording sessions with the vocalist in maybe the best recording studio in the world

You should call them and see if you can move in and use their system, problem solved.

the most famous recording engineer in the world

If you tell me he has tube amps then I get why you were geeking out

I spoke to the guy who personally sold more Focal speakers than anyone in the world

Ahhh I see the first misstep, you didn’t meet just a salesman, you met a real killer and he saw your wallet comng from a mile away. I hope you didn’t tell him you came from that studio, all he heard from that point on was a cash register.

I was wrong about my purchase because I fell into the trap of believing the mythology.

You didn’t fall in, you jumped in like everyone does with few exceptions. I still think you should hit the bid with your passives and get that same salesman to show you the active setup I posted and I bet he wont. The two towers you auditioned ar $25K. The setup I posted is $25K all in for everything. If you were in sales what would you be pitching? Duh!

@donavabdear , about to run out the door, but the high end Focals, like some other speakers in that space, B&W comes to mind, have too much off axis energy at high frequencies and by today's standards poor directivity control. Unless they are in a heavily damped room, they will come across as bright. Same problem with Focal professional monitors like the aforementioned Solo/Trio6 Be from Focal.  The Focals probably could sound very good in the right room.

w.r.t. tearing out crossovers and DIYing, back to one of things I said early in this thread. To make a good active speaker, you still need to start with an acoustically good speaker. If using simple external active crossover, then you need to start with good low distortion drivers too.

@thespeakerdude 

To make a good active speaker, you still need to start with an acoustically good speaker.

If I have $40K and want a home theater of active speakers what would "acoustically good" system would YOU recommend? 

@donavabdear

I was wrong about my purchase

+1- As you make bad purchases inevitably ask your self if you were starting over would you still buy that same component. If the answer is no you should sell it immediately, no sense being miserable. The opposite happens too, you have something you like and sell it for an "upgrade" and then miss what you sold so bad you have "sellers remorse".

--it happens ☹