Paul S wrote:

Now as ever in hi-fi there seems to be no economically viable model for developing, producing, marketing and servicing  good sounding equipment. As ever, it remains for the end user to find and develop their own equipment from whatever happens to be available at the time. On the other hand, as ever there are still ways to do this, despite the demise of any given commercial product line. People in this forum seem to forget that horns don't sound better than other topologies but they are simply more efficient than other speakers, which opens the door to certain power options that are not honestly viable with other types of speakers. However, it's not about the topology, and it's not about the thickness of one's wallet, and it's not just about the ears but mainly what's between them. We can't just wait for "manufacturers" to do the job for us, and we certainly can't count on The Public to Support Good Sound. One of the most frustrating things for me has been that even at the level of drivers it seems to be almost entirely random in terms of real world result not just in terms of topology or even one line versus another but also driver to driver, down to individual units. Feh!

Paul S wrote:

However, it's also obvious that many still shop and shop and wait and wait for some "manufacturer" to "get it right" and offer to them something they can plug and play, and on this site there also seems to lurk the idea that this will be "the best", not because you sell it like this but because people continue to bring this with them when they get here. How ironic is it that really big speakers that might really deliver might take years to develop and embed in a room that supports them. even something purchased as "plug and play"?