Well, what's a "world beater" today will likely be considered to be overpriced in 5 years. I'm not sure what will keep the price of speakers as high as $10K or $20K, but I'm sure high-end will adapt. On the other hand, it could be like projectors and plasmas where the top-end models exist, but almost never sell because a) they're not that much better and b) they'll be outgunned within years by something obviously less expensive. In the NHT Xd system, you're paying half for speakers, half for DSP/amps. I'd bet that the box that runs Xd could be a $1000ish box in several years, bringing the system price down and maybe a $3000 box could do 6 or 7 channels, dropping the surround price to under $10K. Of course, you could add Be or diamond tweeters or other cutting edge advancements to keep the system at a higher price and higher performance level. Sony et al will do digital speakers, but they won't put exotic drivers in theirs. It will be a sales gimmick for the low-end. Kind of like a $300 receiver can technically do most of what a $3000 preamp can do, just not nearly as well.
But, yes, as far as the "shakedown", I think this will have to happen. Even with the natural reluctance of reviewers to embrace relatively inexpensive, but objectively superior design, so as not to slay the sacred cow, when they publish the measurements - distortion, FR, dispersion - what can they say? "Sure, this digital speaker measures dramatically better, but it just didn't convey the 'magic' of my $50K system". Yeah, I suppose they might even try that, but I think readers are a little smarter than that. Meridian's speaker prices have been high because they're competing with themselves. But I don't see how you'll be able to build a tower speaker for more than $10K within a couple of years and be able to justify it, let alone sell it. It's barely justifiable now. Unfortunately, speakers *could* get commoditized, but I hope not. We'll see, but it WILL be interesting over the next year or two. Xd is so inexpensive for what it is, none of the high-end companies can compete with it directly, (especially since their analog flagships are $15K+), so they'll have to come out with $20K and $30K flagships and talk about class a amplification or silver internal wiring or beryllium tweeters or exotic woods. Better? Maybe. 4-6 times the price better? Doubtful. By that time the high-end players bring out their $20K+ solutions, Xd will probably be <$4K with a <$7500 surround solution. And who knows what others will do to contribute to the mayhem. PhaseTech is readying a digital system and others will follow.
