Last year I heard the just released Burmester 216 and was very impressed with the liquidity and the ease of operation driving a Sonus Faber Lilium. I asked the sales rep. the usual generic questions and $35k was quoted. I thought this an extreme value when considering brand/build quality and near reference SQ. When comparing the Burmester to any Hegel amp(mid fi darlings?) which company is making more profit(%) on a component. Compare the Hegel H30a at $20k? and the Burmester 216. My conservative guess is the the Burmester is at least 3x more costly to produce. Clearly the Burmester is a superior product and represents better value.
Is it possible for a high end manufacturer to overprice their goods?
Having just read the interesting and hyperbole laden review by RH of the new Rockport Orion speakers in the latest issue of The Absolute Sound, one thing struck me..
is it possible in the high end for a manufacturer to overprice their product ( doesn’t have to be a speaker, but this example comes to mind)? I ask this, as the Orion is priced at $133k! Yes,a price that would probably make 99% of hobbyists squirm. Yet, the speaker now joins a number of competitors that are in the $100k realm.
To that, this particular speaker stands just 50.3” tall and is just 14.3” wide…with one 13” woofer, one 7” midrange and a 1.25” beryllium dome ( which these days is nothing special at all…and could potentially lead to the nasties of beryllium bite).
The question is…given this speakers design and parts, which may or may not be SOTA, is it possible that this is just another overpriced product that will not sell, or is it like others, correctly priced for its target market? Thoughts…
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- 233 posts total
- 233 posts total