I’m in small town Wisconsin, USA. About 2-1/2 hours drive from the Twin Cities.
What you’re saying fits. The Wisdom system he was pushing was their very lowest priced, something like $2000/speaker. If their prices get as high as you’re saying, then I don’t expect you’d get much from them for two grand. The appearance of that unit wasn’t that impressive, so I couldn’t see the point in it. Just not what I’m looking for for that room.
I get the drift that Dr. Toole respects the work done at JBL, but his personal preference is for Revel, and expects most listeners would agree. I, of course, can’t speak for him. That’s just the impression I get from my readings. I have factory installed Revel in my car, and JBL on my desk, in my home gym, and my go-to for mobile (phone + in-ear buds). My strong preference is for JBL. The Revel system in my car sounds too hot in the treble, and is under powered. The volume goes to 30, but I can’t usually stand to turn it higher than 10, where the sound starts to get too harsh. And that they call Ultima, bespoke for that specific vehicle. It’s very sweet and clean within its limits, but at highway speed it’s just not loud enough, without objectionable distortion.
I think the particular model Revel speaker my dealer’s recommending for me is available to him at a discount price, so maybe the margin’s a little better, but I don’t know that for sure. But it’s a three-way, and the JBL alternative is a two-way with a little lower rated power handling and a higher price. So I won’t complain.