When it comes to electronics, you occasionally find an amp or DAC or whatever that punches well above its weight (or at the very least, reviews that claim it does), but I feel like this is less true of loudspeakers. Of course there isn't a straight map between price and performance in any area of hifi, I'm not suggesting that, but it seems to me there is quite a small number of very well-regarded speaker manufacturers whose products come up again and again in high-end discussions, but not many outlier products. Is this a reflection of reality, a reflection of marketing, or am I mistaken in the first place? It certainly makes sense that speakers are more difficult to design and build, but surely there are smart designers in unknown pockets of the globe doing great work that doesn't make it in to the popular hifi press? A look at the show reports would suggest that there are LOTS of other options, but the names never seem to get a mention outside of those reports. Admittedly, quite a few of these seem to have price-tags to match the big boys, so they hardly tick the giant-killer box, but they still leave me curious.
Of course, I could put this thread another way and simply ask how can I get SOTA performance for peanuts??
Of course, I could put this thread another way and simply ask how can I get SOTA performance for peanuts??