I don't agree. There's plenty of models that can outperform speakers at US$1500/pair, even at higher price points.
I can recommend 13 speakers above this price point, from my 'passive recommendation speaker' thread, link in signature.
At the US$1000/pair sale price of the LS50 Meta, here's my current recommendations:
Bookshelves < US$1,000/pair:
Name | PS | PSwSub | LFX |
Ascend Acoustics Sierra 1 V2 (Erin) | 6.4 | 8.4 | 42 |
Philharmonic Ceramic Mini (Erin) | 5.9 | 7.9 | 42 |
Revel M16 with sealed port [readme] (Amir) | 5.9 | ?? | ?? |
Elac Debut Reference DBR-62 (Amir)(Erin) | 5.2 | 7.4 | 46 |
Kef Q350 (Amir) | 5.7 | 7.5 | 38 |
Revel M16 with open port (Amir) | 5.6 | 7.7 | 45 |
Kef Q150 (Erin) | 4.9 | 7.0 | 45 |
Polk Audio Signature Elite ES20 (Amir) | 4.8 | 6.7 | 39 |
Arendal Sound 1961 Bookshelf (Erin) | 4.4 | 7.3 | 68 |
Since Erin reported two Preference Score values:
PS of 6.0 for LS50 Meta when on-axis
PS of 6.1 for LS50 Meta when 15 degrees off-axis.
That will become #2 recommendation for that price point.
This speaker becomes an easy recommendation at this price point, especially if you need great vertical directivity, such as for a near-field, like a computer desk.