Although the MSRP of the Blue Heron 2 is high, keep in mind that's MSRP. I think demo models are often available at greatly reduced prices. It's possible you could get the BH2 for $7k if you looked around.
I know that's still seems high, but it's less stratospheric. Their other speakers are even less.
Speakers are so amazing -- like food, wine, physical beauty -- so many different and varied ways of producing a product that appeals to certain tastes.
With an amp the goal is don't change the signal, just amplify it. Electrical engineers often talk about the "ideal amplifier".
With speakers it's different (at our current technology). I'm not sure there's a single "sonic truth" out there for speakers. If the sound appeals to you, then buy that.
It's unfortunate there aren't more opportunities for extended A/B speaker testing.
I think the internet companies like Axiom, Rocket, Ascent, etc. have a great idea. It's well worth the shipping price to order and compare the speakers in your own home. You could burn up that much time and gasoline going from store to store, and still be unsure if the store's acoustic environment represented your place.
At a decent Hi-Fi shop you can bring in your Axioms to do A/B tests with their store brands.
With any comparision, always make sure the amplifier is in pure direct stereo, all DSP is disabled, no electronic EQ, and loudness is normalized between speakers.
