The new dynamic in speaker pricing

A few months back i heard the new Wilson Alexx Vs. These are a very impressive speaker. What struck me was that at this level, and room dependent, the speaker can portray the sense of ’scale’ of a large ’live’ event! That is something that I think only larger speakers can accomplish. ( plus the room has to be large enough to allow for this portrayal!). What the multi kilo buck ( $700K+) speaker brings over this is not obvious to me. The Wilsons’ retail for about $135K and require a stout amp upstream and a very large room, but give them this...and I think most of us would be happy. OTOH, maybe the top of the line Magico’s and the others mentioned above do offer something in addition...question in my mind is what that is? I would like to hear for myself if the additional large $$ is easily heard, or if the law of diminishing returns is so great at this price point that all you are buying is ’bragging rights’??

I have a smallish pro horn sound system set up in my studio that I've actually used for a "live event." So, if you want the sound of a live event, just get some well designed P.A. speakers and save the hundreds of thousands for something else.

One thing to consider is that these speakers are not made for the masses. They are absolutely made for the 1%. Just with any manufacturer in any category, they invest R&D to make their statement products. This is true in any precision performance category - auto, watches, etc. They are not intended to sell many, which is also why it is priced so high, because there was considerable time spent to develop the product.

The decision to make these types of moves is not to increase the overall median for a price of speakers, but to distinguish the brand from others in terms of innovation and impression. Other brands recognize this, and they follow suit. But most are also smart enough to know that most of their products need to be in a price range that is accessible to a larger population.

Because of this, many of these products are also not designed for the average space, and it will make most people wonder why anyone would ever settle for them. But there are the people who have the money and right gear, people who have the right space, and people who have all of the above to accommodate these ultra-expensive speakers.

Are they worth it? To echo @ghdprentice, that decision is up to the individual.

@blisshifi Some good points. However, historically there have been a number of ultra priced speakers that have come to the market that have really failed to not only catch the consumers attention, but have also failed in their ability to sound better than the far lower priced competition. This leaves the few that dipped into their wallet with a costly boat anchor that is now difficult to move on. As the speaker pricing factors increase, now many over $350K, not only does the value for money equation surface, but also the ’expectation’ level of the consumer. Admitedly  one could argue that at this price level, the consumer is not really that concerned about the above...and as such these points are irrelevant. Interestingly, the few folks that i know that would be able to dip into this price pool are in fact exactly the opposite...they are extremely value conscious! YMMV.

@daveyf I agree with you as well. Just because something should be a statement piece doesn't make it incredible for everyone, or anyone! In that case, it's a failed experiment by the designer/manufacturer, and they will learn the hard way, though they may be able to write off their losses, and maybe that's part of the game as well.