WILSON AUDIO/ cost vs. value

The X-2's take many weeks to build. Lots of man hours and overhead are required for that one pair of speakers. they use the best drivers, their own developed cabinet materials, and the best finish quality of any speaker availible. plus, when you buy the speakers, there is professional setup included. their dealers go to provo for training. it is a speciality speaker, only the wealthiest can afford it and most that do buy them may not be audiophiles. like wilson said, they are buying into the culture not neccisarily the product. wish i had that kinda money.

For those, Mr. Wilson's achievement is notable whither or not you like his speakers, demeaning Wilson's serves no purpose whatsoever.

Holenneck - Say what you will, the X-2 is still only a pair of speakers and he's got them priced like an S-Class Mercedes. I get a big disconnect when I look at that comparison. Consider what goes into that car compared to what is in the Wilson speakers. Sure volume is a factor but so is the difference in tooling and parts count and labor. Talk about man hours, the Benz must be 100 times as labor intensive with 100 times as many parts and a reputation for quality that outstrips Wilson by many years and several orders of magnitude.
For these reasons I continue to ignore justifications for his pricing. He charges that much because people will pay it, not because his cost of manufacturing requires it. That argument is illogical.

I agree with you, people will pay 125k for speakers; they also pay that much for a wrist watches.

If you simply go on a cost to cost ratio, sure, the Mercedes makes more sense.

But we are talking about loudspeakers, and I believe there a more speakers over the 100k barrier than the x-2. Why aren’t we talking about them?

S-class Mercedes is to automobiles as Wilson x-2's is to audio?

That comparison isn’t even close!!!! There are cars that cost several times 125k, so Mercedes is actually an average priced luxury car; the x-2 is the king of the hill.

So to say that my argument is illogical is fine, but to look at it the way you are looking at is also illogical.

In the end, despite my argument I will never purchase a pair of x-2's unless a miracle occurs in my bank account, but i still respect Dave Wilson's products and the prices he chooses to sell them.

Holenneck -
I chose to use Wilson speakers in my analogy for two reasons.
First - I believe they are the highest profile offender although you are right about there being others. Secondly, Wilson is the topic of this thread.
You say there are cars that are more expensive than $125,000 and that makes my analogy "not even close". Illogical again.
The topic was prestige or pride of ownership or status. Mercedes wrote the book on that topic. Walk out your front door and start asking people what they think of when you say Wilson. Then try the same thing with Mercedes. This is where "not even close" will show up.