Actually my father was a WE person. He had a pair of 116As and WE wing speakers. I sold them in the 80s to fund a lot of my more current gear. I was a Mcintosh owner at 15 in the late 60s early 70s. I worked my tail off for over a year. 2 MC20 Macs and a Mac30 kit for Klipsch horns and an Imperial sub. It sounded better than the old 45 flathead I had to drive to school. I hated that thing. Stupid stick shift and a foot clutch. Parts were cheaper than a car and the girls didn't mind. If they made the tire rub in the back, that was a no no.Sounds like the Living Voice Vox Olympian could be your dream speaker
I hope I didn't give any other impression. The Art of the designer I can also appreciate. My point was and is just like you, expensive does not have to equate to personal preference or great equipment if you know what you like and have educated yourself to a point of not being sold a bill of goods.The bottom line is it should sound as beautiful as it looks.
No one on this earth is going to sell me a 10K DAC or a 15K amp. So you know where I stand with nutso 100K plus anything. I paid 39K for a house 29 years ago.
I sold it for 275K. No dummies in my house.
I seldom buy anything without a test drive or I know what I'm getting already.. There may be a lot of stuff that sounds different, better, worse, or some other fancy term.
The fact that there is a point of "good enough for me", at a pretty reasonable price.
I also look at good sound as an investment too. I have many pieces of vintage Mac. It is tough to beat the sound of a C20 or MX110 and a pair of MC30s or a 240 with just about any older horn. How do they measure? They sound wonderful in a moderately treated room. No one runs out with their fingers in their ears. They keep eatin' their popcorn!!! Purely subjective. I know when my C20s and C11 were recapped/resistors/hexfreds/PS they went from .5 factory to < than .05 THD. Mike Samra's builds. Russian PIO. There is not a boutique cap in any of them. Incredibly fun preamps to use.
My reference system is that C20 and a MC240. BUT I'm currently playing with a tricked Cary SLP-05, a pair of V12Rs, RM30s or RMx Elixirs speakers, Herron, Decware, Mac phono preamps and a few TT. Thoren. It's the first time I haven't used onboard tone control. Currently I'm using mechanical room correction with an active bass system/correction and a servo sub system, 280hz <. The bass system is the same on all my systems. I just move the monitors, they use a passive 2/3 way XO.
I might have spent 10-12k in the last 2 years. But I sold 11 pieces of Marantz valve gear. I'm just having fun because I can. That gear sat for 20+ years
They love it, I don't. I sold it for 7 time what I paid for it. They were just elated, so was I.
I drive a 2003 Toyota Camry and a 1996 EB F150. They are in great shape. Good sound too.
Regards