Is it possible for a high end manufacturer to overprice their goods?

@russ69 Thanks for pushing me!

@8th-note 

If you have $50 million in Microsoft stock spending 7 figures for a stereo is reasonable in your world. What else are you going to do with your money? Give it to the homeless?

Well-placed irony. That said, one thing which is true about the wealthy, and non-wealthy to a large degree, is that happiness is largely measure in relative social position, not material riches. People buy eye candy and expensive things in large part to position themselves with others in their stratum. Part of the audio market is serving that need, while also throwing in a lot of nice audio parts and research in the process.

mofojo

@mihorn The only Hi-end audio company is the Wavetouch audio. Everything else are Hi-Fi. They all are simply unlistenable to me. I watched few 2023 Axpona videos and my ears are in serious pain. My ears are much better after I listen WTPC video for few minutes. Alex/Wavetouch”

ohh my that made me laugh after a rough night !! 😃😃😃😃😃

WT audio sounds the most natural and closest to the original music than any other audio system. There is a big gap between WT audio sound and 2nd best audio sound. WT is just a different league from every other sound systems. Until somebody makes the better sound, only Hi-end audio in the world is WT audio. Alex/Wavetouch audio

I have always wondered what some of the really high end manufacturers expectations are w/ the really pricey stuff in terms of actual number of units sold. 

I suspect some of these products are intended to create or maintain a manufacturer's reputation so they can sell their more reasonably priced offerings & not really intended to sell well themselves. The hope for many of us is that the technology & concepts they develop in creating these outstanding products is that some it can trickle down to more reasonably priced things & more people can benefit from them. 

As for the actual price of things, it's all a matter of point of view. I suspect the general public would think that spending even $5K on a pair of loudspeakers is crazy & would not ever consider it but to many here on this forum, that's basically the bare bones starting point for anything decent. The same goes for cars, bicycles, cameras whatever. For some, part of the fun is trying to get close to the sound quality of a top system for a lot less $ using our experience w/ tweeking, set up, room acoustics & used gear as well. 

If you work hard for your money, you deserve to spend it anyway you enjoy. If that means donating to charities or buying a $100K sound system, to each their own. 

In discussions with a retailer I respect, and talking about Focal speakers, he told be the mark-up was 100% at every step.  Focal Sopra 2 cost $6500 to build.  His cost from Focal was $13,000.  His list price (CDN) was $26,000.  Expected discount off list was 20% leaving him with a 30% margin on the sale.  I have no reason to believe this formula does not prevail regardless of the cost.  Bottom line, the higher you climb up the MSRP, the bigger the profits are built in at every step.  It's just a fact of life and no one is forcing any of us to buy anything we don't want.  

Part of my OP came from a recent discussion that I had with a very very well heeled friend who can easily afford anything in high end audio. To this gent, a multi million dollar system is no strain on the pocketbook. What interested me was his comment that he will not spend any money on a product that he sees as having a minimum value to cost ratio. We discussed several speakers ( not Rockport’s, and certainly not the Orion), but others that we all know and would respect, but few here can acquire. My friend commented that one of the reasons he is able to actually afford all of these products is also because he has the discriminatory ability to not get ’taken’, as he put it. Just to add another perspective to the narrative here.

Don’t get me wrong, this gent has a system that most would envy, but it has been put together with some considerable thought, and he always bought used or at a considerable discount, as far as I know.