Watts, everything is involved. All the the topics we covered so far are a huge part of it. Yes, market price matters, however what Richard said about going from 600k to 100k is a huge determinant. If a manufacturer wants to do R&D that they will trickle down to their other lower lines, then they can make the assumption that at 600k, they'll sell only 3 for the year, but if they go 100k, then they can sell 50 for the year. That would be what you are talking about I assume? The market at 600k will relate to 3 sales and that's what the market allows, but at 100k for the same thing (economy of scale) then you sell 50.
What makes an expensive speaker expensive
When one plunks down $10,000 $50,000 and more for a speaker you’re paying for awesome sound, perhaps an elegant or outlandish style, some prestige ... but what makes the price what it is?
Are the materials in a $95,000 set of speakers really that expensive? Or are you paying a designer who has determined he can make more by selling a few at a really high price as compared to a lot at a low price?
And at what point do you stop using price as a gauge to the quality? Would you be surprised to see $30,000 speakers "outperform" $150,000 speakers?
Too much time on my hands today I guess.
Are the materials in a $95,000 set of speakers really that expensive? Or are you paying a designer who has determined he can make more by selling a few at a really high price as compared to a lot at a low price?
And at what point do you stop using price as a gauge to the quality? Would you be surprised to see $30,000 speakers "outperform" $150,000 speakers?
Too much time on my hands today I guess.
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That is generally what I am talking about, but more to the point: if the manufacturer is doing the analysis correctly they should estimate the demand across various price points and choose the prices that maximizes ROE. Often this is well in excess of underling costs including development (i.e., they realize a positive fully loaded gross margin). |
Hehe, I just posted about this. Please see my blog entry on a Cynical View of Speaker Pricing as well as the Stereophile Reviews - The Data Doesn't Lie But to answer your question in two lines:
Let me know what you think. Be well, Erik |
I did a lot of research on this subject. The answer is, roughly, driver prices and gimmicks. For most high end speakers (and I use the term pejoratively) the final cost is between 20 and 30x the cost of the DRIVERS of one speaker. I know, you’d think it was something else, but it’s usually not. This formula explains about 85% to 95% of these speakers. In addition, to be rated highly at Stereophile at any price-point it usually must follow the "Stereophile Curve." For more details and some examples, please visit my blog on the subjects: http://speakermakersjourney.blogspot.com/2016/05/a-cynical-introduction-to-speaker.html http://speakermakersjourney.blogspot.com/2016/05/stereophile-reviews-data-doesnt-lie.html |
- 170 posts total