What about the more expensive kit makes it better than the other one? What might make it worth the price?
I recently got into a sales gig that pays very well, so this is not a purely academic question. In the near future I could build the $10k kit, if I had a good enough reason to do so.
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.c...peak-ellipticor-a50-3.5-way-speaker-kit-pair/
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.c...o-sb12.3-sb-acoustics-12-dual-midrange-3-way/
I recently got into a sales gig that pays very well, so this is not a purely academic question. In the near future I could build the $10k kit, if I had a good enough reason to do so.
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.c...peak-ellipticor-a50-3.5-way-speaker-kit-pair/
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.c...o-sb12.3-sb-acoustics-12-dual-midrange-3-way/
At the top of any market, there are diminishing returns and rapidly rising prices. The Ellipticor models are at/near the top of Scan-Speak's offerings, and they are not a cheap source to begin with. You're paying much more for what they feel are the best drivers they can make and sell at a volume that makes sense. And you may be paying more for the elliptical configuration just because it's more difficult to manufacture.
SB is generally trying to offer more bang for the buck vs the traditional Scandinavian speaker companies, and the drivers in the SB kit you linked to aren't the top of their line. That doesn't mean they are bad, but you would generally expect lower price drivers to be a bit less resolving, not as wide in bandwidth capabilities, slightly higher distortion, etc.
The Troel's page for the Ellipticor kit says things like:"I was immediately struck by the featherlight and responsive bass," "The 21WE has phenomenal dynamic headroom and regardless of source material I've never been able to overload the driver from a 3½-way configuration," "this mid-dome did . . . does something very differently - and to my ears better than anything I've ever heard. . . . The D8404 allows an unprecedented window to the music and I've never had the spatial information so clear in that sense you do not have to concentrate on listening for that quality, it is just there. It has presence and transparency - and at the same time is smooth on the ear. I'm amazed such a small driver can go so low with such power and lack of distortion - and even from a simple low-pass crossover."
In the end, only the user can decide whether a particular upgrade or price makes sense for their system. Once you're up in the few thousand dollar per pair retail range from good designers/companies, you're likely getting 80 or 90% of the performance that's achievable (barring some outliers and things like much higher output capabilities or lower bass extension from very large speakers). With good kits, you would generally expect higher performance at lower prices compared to finished speakers, since you're doing the assembly and sometimes building cabinets.
SB is generally trying to offer more bang for the buck vs the traditional Scandinavian speaker companies, and the drivers in the SB kit you linked to aren't the top of their line. That doesn't mean they are bad, but you would generally expect lower price drivers to be a bit less resolving, not as wide in bandwidth capabilities, slightly higher distortion, etc.
The Troel's page for the Ellipticor kit says things like:"I was immediately struck by the featherlight and responsive bass," "The 21WE has phenomenal dynamic headroom and regardless of source material I've never been able to overload the driver from a 3½-way configuration," "this mid-dome did . . . does something very differently - and to my ears better than anything I've ever heard. . . . The D8404 allows an unprecedented window to the music and I've never had the spatial information so clear in that sense you do not have to concentrate on listening for that quality, it is just there. It has presence and transparency - and at the same time is smooth on the ear. I'm amazed such a small driver can go so low with such power and lack of distortion - and even from a simple low-pass crossover."
In the end, only the user can decide whether a particular upgrade or price makes sense for their system. Once you're up in the few thousand dollar per pair retail range from good designers/companies, you're likely getting 80 or 90% of the performance that's achievable (barring some outliers and things like much higher output capabilities or lower bass extension from very large speakers). With good kits, you would generally expect higher performance at lower prices compared to finished speakers, since you're doing the assembly and sometimes building cabinets.
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