While I think it is interesting and instructive to affirm the many costs that go into every product, I think this has little to do with the cost to acceptance factor that is in my OP.
The question of whether something can be overpriced in this hobby to the point that all buyers say..no mas; is what I am questioning here. The example in my OP is of a speaker that has just received an absolute rave review by RH in the current issue of the Absolute Sound. I picked this example for a couple of reasons...1) it is priced at $133K, which only a few years back was almost unheard of for a piece of audio gear, and yet today, as other members have pointed out, is becoming more and more common and 2) It is a somewhat diminutive design that on the face of it does not seem to offer the glitz that a lot of ultra high end buyers are looking for...because they use their eyes as more of a factor than their ears.
To that, I noticed in the new issue of Stereophile, there is a reply to a letter by a reader from Jim Austin, stating the following: " the run-up in prices at the extreme high end is astonishing and concerning. It’s also logical. .......There’s a danger this could lead to too much focus on products for the wealthy and not enough for those of more moderate means--that is to say, most audiophiles. It could even cause the industry to turn towards fancy audiophile jewelry at the cost of sonics- because how many of those shopping at such prices are serious, critical, obsessed audiophiles?"
He then states:" Fortunately, though, most companies selling to that market seem to be doing it in a serious, uncynical way, exploring what can be done in engineering terms with such large budgets. Here's hoping the trickle down accelerates and that companies drunk on luxury high end cash don't forget about the rest of us."
While this may be generally true, there are certainly many companies that may not be complying with this...see my thread on the cable forum as an example.