Are Bowers and Wilkins speakers overpriced?

@unsound
labor costs in the UK are actually cheap. Especially for skilled labor that speakers require, they are way below US costs.

I do feel B&W speakers are expensive. There are several reasons, and I emphasize "feel"

Their model line up and pricing strategy is very confusing. A lot of similar sized, *very* similar looking models for widely different prices. The average user will end up with the perception that the cheaper models will not be the best of the class quality (and not that cheap) and the best of the class is prohibitively expensive. It’s the dealers who have to figure out how they present the B&W line up to not make it confusing.
And then, any time I heard them, I was mildly impressed

But overall, I must eat my words, they sell more speakers than probably all other brand discussed on these pages, combined

@grislybutter, I wasn’t thinking about comparisons to US labor costs, but rather those countries that are specifically sought out for cheap labor costs and perhaps sometimes even considered slave labor.
 The wide variety offered might be due to a strategy that might some times require dealers to carry large segments of lines that prohibit cherry picking desired models. This strategy also takes “shelf” space from competitors.

@unsound 
it's not a boutique brand for sure and you might be right, the wide variety puts them on a lot of shelves. 

As way above says…..

 your asking specifically if b&w speakers are overpriced………in an audio website  ?
eveerthing audio is overpriced. 
 Audio diehards spend 250$ on a fuse …A FUSE !!!!!
or 2500$ on a pair of rca cables…..
700$ on a 2 foot power cord which turns water into wine.  
 Are b&w overpriced ?? Yeah maybe a little 😄😄🍺

Are they expensive, not to me when you compare them with the competition. There is lot of R&D, labor (UK not China) and distribution cost not to mention dealers mark ups. 

Fortunately, there are plenty of bargains available in all segments of Hi-Fi :-)