WILL THE NEW 60,000 AVALON ISIS BE THE BEST YET?

Would you buy a car from a dealer or manufacturer with this sort of pricing policy?

I imagine Ferraris and Maseratis have exactly these sorts of margins. As does expensive jewelry and most other luxury goods.

Most speakers have margins of between 33% and 50% (which is a markup of 50% - 100% over the dealer's cost), whether the MSRP is $2,000 or $20,000. At $60,000, the margin might be lower, but it will still be very healthy. It has to be. That's how businesses (manufacturers and retailers) have to operate if they are to keep their doors open.

My post was not made to diminish any particular persons enjoyment of a recently selected item.It was just a caution to prospective buyers not to be "sheep" when it comes to such a purchase and to consider the alternatives.It was intended to be taken in a general way not specific to this person or product.
My apologies if I have stepped on any toes.

JT

i can just picture the face on the dealer if someone returns a pair because they are unhappy....the restocking charge would be 6k.....intervention from real friends is in order......

the industry average in audio for the actual 'cost of goods' is 20% of the whsle cost, which is 40 to 60% of the msl price. in the automobile industry, even in the exotic end of the industry, the margins are much lower. mercedes would have to sell several 60k vehicles to make the same dollar amount as 60k speakers. Given any sinle figured limited production run, an educated guess would be that the actual 'cost of goods' on 60k loudspeakers would be close to 10%. to make more would also dilute the worth of each pair in the eye of the consumer unless selling more were a certainty. limiting the supply of anything to less than the demand is a very affective marketing tool in an already high margin business. if this sounds like the high end liquor,firearms , or even the model train business trade, it's because they are very similar.

My take ... though again I am more of each to his own camp. The Cost of Goods sold plus margin approach is not a good way to go about thinking about this. Its not just a matter putting together metals sheets, wood and some components together after all. What you are ingoring is the cost of intangible goods & property, namely engineering & design.

Another aspect to consider is that high end audio, especially models like such the Isis lack economies of scale production due the addressable market's size in the first place. Autos on the hand do....the equivalent would have to be say collector antique cars or the equivalent where the tailor made, individual labor (as opposed to coming of automated production line) is intensive.

The analogy the luxury goods is a good one. High fashion, jewelry (not just any diamond stud but well cut, designed one) etc etc all have these high mark ups due to a) engineering/design costs and b) lack of economies of scale production.

At the end of the day, the very highest end is just is as other such niche industries are. That should not mean there should not be pricing points that allow the purse challenged enthusiast to have a quality system. And indeed we all know there are wonderful products out there (and many duds too).

So at the end of the day as consumers, I really don;t think there is much point in discussing margins or cost of production....at the end of the day that is not what we are purchasing. We are buying the delivery of sound quality and the latter is subjective. If the Isis does that for you, congrats!