As a techie / audophile n00b considering something in the D&D, Kii, Mesanovic, LS60, Beolab 90 (jk) category, it seems like a horrible time to invest $x,000 given what might be coming in the near future. For example, there are plenty of third-parties who have all of the required skills and production facilities in house, but have yet to enter the market. This group clearly includes existing vendors who probably won't innovate for fear of undercutting their primary revenue streams. But... how long can B&W or Sonus Faber sell their high-end all-in-ones without better processing? Or JBL, Bose, Polk, etc., not launch some sort of copycat? DSP doesn't have to be
super-spatial to be awesome & clearly more than a handful of companies have figured out how to do this on their own without help from Dirac. I'm not expecting a full range, large room solution to be available for $2,000, but I'm also don't think it's outrageous to imagine a D&D 8C competitor at 1/3 the price in 2025. There's already a Mesanovic and Kii (soon) nipping at 8C performance at 1/2 the price, not to mention the LS60. Also hard to imagine all those Camilla Rpis owners out there aren't already experimenting with some sort of DIY all-in-one.
Please don't mistake my question about how far prices might drop in the next 2 years as any slight on the amazing engineering all of these companies have accomplished. I've worked with startups shipping integrated hardware and software products, so I am truly in awe. And grateful!
That said, I'm wondering what soothsaying perspective the grizzled industry vets here at ASR might provide.
I'm not sure the industry will or won't start offering major DSP-driven improvements in sound / price over the next few years.
In order to reap the benefits of DSP you generally need extra amplifier power to overcome other compromises in the design. Even though "power is cheap" today, clean power capable of producing 100dB at 20hz regardless of driver diameter will not suddenly become free. Likewise, drivers with that level of performance need a certain amount of copper, magnet, and precision manufacturing, and that costs money regardless of the DSP you put in the box. Similarly, the box itself can't be made of cardboard, and that also costs what it costs, regardless of what DSP you put in there.
"Good design doesn't cost more" is true, but only after you put the design into mass production. Before that, you need a good acoustic engineer, and they DO cost more.
Coming from the speaker world, I can tell you that acoustic engineers capable of producing a Kii or D&C 8C killer are not just sitting around waiting for someone to call them. Even with unlimited CPU power built into the cabinet, not everyone can just sit down and crap out a world-class speaker. If they could, the prototypes for $150 actives we planned (and scrapped) would have come out a lot better, let me tell you.
B&W may have some people like this on staff, Bose probably does, but those brands have long since distanced themselves from objectively good performance. They have a house sound and their customers are looking for that, not "the perfect cardioid speaker".
JBL is one to watch on this front. So is Revel, by virtue of the Harman family. So I would not be surprised if you see some interesting LS60 or 8C-like designs coming from that end in the next few years.
So bottom line - in order to produce 8C / LS60 / Kii-like sound, you need several high quality drivers, you need sturdy boxes, and you need powerful amps. There is no reason to think the prices of those things will drop quickly in the near future.
What we might see are lower-SPL or slightly lower-performance speakers with cardioid designs using cheaper components. So maybe Kali or Adam puts out a cardioid monitor with 8C DNA in the $2000 range sometime soon? I would not hold my breath for these designs breaking new ground in the $1000 range though, the parts cost to make it work is simply too high at the minimum. Think about it, you can pay >$1000 for a traditional monitor with one woofer... what happens when you have 2-4 woofers on the same box?
TL;DR:
DSP is basically free
Drivers and amps are not free, and will not get cheap fast
Harman, Kali, Adam, maybe iLoud are ones to watch for a lower-tier cardioid monitor IMO
Don't hold your breath for sub-$2K high-quality cardioid designs