Preference for speakers that are half the price. Has this ever happened to you?

Half the price? Guys have a preference for speakers that are 1/10th the price, 1/20th the price and so on, when tested properly.

As a starting point, the test subject's inherent snobbery will never let him admit such preferences when he hears certain brand names (He will swear all day that you get what you paid for and so on).

To remove such inherent biases, the examiner will need to put a blindfold on the test subject, hold his hand, walk him into a room and get him seated in front of 2 pairs of speakers (1 pair that cost 20 times more than the other).

I had a similar experience. After years of enjoying the Vanersteen 1ci, I thought moving up to the Treo CT would provide greater enjoyment. But for me, it just was not the case. To my ears, the 1's just have more meat on the bone, greater slam, more bass output, and are just more fun to listen to. Perhaps the Treo's are just too "refined" for my tastes. Sold the Treos and still have the 1's. YMMV

Unfortunately or fortunately it has happened to me several times at home after driving all over the country to purchase more expensive speakers assuming the investment will equal the sound improvement.

I have Wilson Sophia 1 that have continued to excel as I build other parts of my system and simply work with my system and my room.

I tried Egglestonworks Viginti, Wilson Alexia 1, Wilson Sasha DAW and Wilson Yvette.  Some offered improvements in certain areas but overall did not match what the Sophias do. 

Makes no sense to anyone but we have to trust our ears so just be thankful and focus your energy elsewhere for your next upgrade.

Wow! Looks like you got plenty of replies. here is my 2 cents worth. Take your time and do a thorough listen with breaks between listening sessions away from music. Go with your ears they'll never lie to you while a salesperson will. I've had many times listened to pricey speakers that didn't do it for me and have had less expensive speakers blow my ears away. Good luck and good listening.

Its a bonus if your preference costs less. In this case there are likely particular reasons for your preference. Both the Aida 2 and IC Ex3me are in the Sonus Faber reference line so each benefits from SF's best engineering, parts quality, etc. The Aida 2 is a great representation of the Sonus Faber house sound-very smooth and pleasing but a bit colored and sacrificing some detail to achieve its sound. In contrast, the Ex3me is a "concept" speaker that is a significant departure from anything else Sonus Faber builds. It features a beryllium tweeter and is tuned to be very transparent and detailed, less colored than other SF speakers which may sound more natural to you. So, the comparison was between the the typical SF house sound vs. something very different. It would be interesting if you compared the "regular" version of the Il Cremonese to the Aida-you might well prefer the Aida.