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).
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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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 |
I roughly know the cost of the drivers of Vandersteen speakers and I can promise you that it's nowhere near 20X the cost of them. I totally agree on many other of the top manufacturer's. I've pointed that out about Wilson in earlier posts I'm sure. The other thing that no one thinks about is speaker matching. Many top line producers have to find drivers that match within certain specs and then they have all those other drivers that they need to make up the cost of. There are various ways to do so, however part of it is the cost of making speaker A. Ton's of reasons and many should cost what they do. Not saying the sound quality is worth it by any means. I haven't like most of the TOL speakers from so many makers. Some just sound bigger, but not better. There really is no blanket reason as each maker has their own reasons. I know many manufacturers and have for years and most don't really care about following anyone else's graphs. They just care to make music the way they feel is best for the majority of buyers out there. Not saying they don't do what they can to get a great review, but honestly, it's nearly impossible to get a poor one these days. |
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