Why are so many companies like harbeth making old speakers designs and charging thousends?

You should consider Merlin speakers. They are a tremendous value for the quality of sound they reproduce. I am not affiliated with Merlin in any way, but I have been an audio salesman, audio equipment technician, speaker designer, and have had 40 years experience listening to audio gear and live concerts.

I have owned both the Merlin TSM-MMM and currently have the Merlin VSM-MXM. The TSM's replaced Totems (used to sell them) and the VSMs replaced the TSMs. I have been upgrading my system a lit over the past 8 years, but nothing has displaced the Merlins - they are wonderful speakers.

If you look at audioreview.com, they won awards for there outstanding reviews on that website. They also have a passionate following on audio asylum, as these speakers have been constantly improved over the years by Merlin. Instead of a completely new model, they will find a great new capacitor and replace all the caps in the crossover. Then, they will change the model number slightly and offer inexpensive upgrades to existing customers. They have also won a lot of Best of Show awards at various audio shows.

You can pick up a used pair of TSMs (get the mme or mmm model) for $1500 ($4000 new) or a used pair of VSMs for $4000 ($15,000 new). I recommend checking out Signature Sound in New York.

if you do listen to these speakers, you will be glad you did. 

Happy Listening
Dave

I own a retail business and so just to chime in about cost to build a speaker. Its nearly impossible to generate a profit in a store front reselling items if you don't charge at least double what you pay for it. Not to mention that Harbeth may also be providing additional engineering or refining the parts in ways we don't appreciate and also they likely are offering item warranties etc which all effect bottom line.  You simply can't stay in business without similar markup.  Small business' may pay tax on the items used to build the product (we pay Obama's new medical device tax now-an additional 2%), sales tax when they sell it, workers comp, liability insurance and so on and so on.  It is not easy to generate a profit without marking it up.  The trend now is direct sales where you really can't demo the product without first paying-allbeit with good gaurenty but you still have to go through the process or purchasing the product and having it shipped to you home.  These speakers tend to be much more affordable as a result-more to your liking-but going that route almost assuredly signals the end of the storefront HIFI sales store for certain.  Take your pic!  Support direct sales for the savings of support the guy with a passion for hifi with a storefront where you can sit and listen and talk to an experienced salesman (hopefully) and be willing to pay for that experience.   Jut my 2 cents.  

Why are so many companies like harbeth making old speakers designs and charging thousends?

They charge what they can that will allow them to make a profit to stay in business. In other words, after overhead is covered, the product is priced according to the old Latin adage - what the market will bear. So the profit margin is irrelevant. If Harbeth, regardless of design and materials used, overpriced their speakers they would not sell. Then Harbeth has to do one of three things...
*reduce the price of their speaker and reduce margin.
* reduce the price of the speakers and maintain margin that would involve having them built overseas.
* Or go out of business.

Since Harbeth is still in business, making their product with higher labor cost in the UK, and selling speakers, I would say they are priced just right in the market. Someone is buying them. But the good news is, no one is forcing you to.

Its just simple free market capitalism.

Everything, and I mean everything in the Audio world is based on old designs. As far as the cost of equipment (or everything else for that matter), we live in a world of two income earners. A coffee cost a dime in the 50's/60's. As a kid, I could buy two comic books and a handful of candy for 25 cents. Add the cost of manufacture and exchange rates for the Harbeth also reflect the quality of construction as well as the preceding comments.

I agree with Paraneer, pricing as to what the market will bear is pretty common. Then do your best to increase efficiencies, reduce scrap, buy better, sell more, etc.

Regarding retooling and equipment as expense, I agree with the initial spend- but one would hopefully realize improvements in efficiencies as result. 

I can see where it would be a competitive business. Especially  if you depend on distributors to educate customers and sell the value of the product vs price- assuming the product can be differentiated and has unique value.