Is it possible for a high end manufacturer to overprice their goods?

Last fall I went to the audio show in suburban DC, and I enjoy it (although pointing out to my friend who accompanied that audio is an old man’s game).  I went into the many hotel rooms where speaker vendors were demonstrating their wares. A lot of fun actually, but what struck me is that with few exceptions that price had nothing to do with the quality of the sound coming from the speakers.

Moreover, it was pretty clear that to distinguish themselves, speaker makers resort to outlandish physical designs to stand out in the crowd. And when I say "outlandish", it means "ugly".

Finally, my observation is that most of these speaker makers won’t be around in 3-5 years, but more will spring up in their place, as long as people are willing to pay for them. It seems you don’t need a lot of capital to get into the speaker business.

I am not convinced you always get what you pay for and I am skeptical of extreme prices. In 2005 the WAVAC 833A stereo amplifier was reviewed in Stereoplile magazine. Its price was $350,000. It had the grid of the 833A transformer coupled from a 300B SET. You can build this simple SET circuit yourself for less than $2000, $4000 if you use Western Electric 300B drivers. Hammond makes robust output transformers built the same way with the same materials as the most expensive Japanese transformers, all of which are not rated to carry as much DC current or signal current as the Hammond. You can drive the grids with Lundahl transformers which are arguably the best you can buy, and you can use globe 45 or 245 triodes which are built the same way Western Electric 300B triodes were built and drive them with mu follower directly coupled 6SN7 dual triodes. The power supply can have polypropylene filter capacitors when many $10,000 SET amplifiers use inferior electrolytic filter capacitors in the power supply. 

There has to be something fishy about selling such an amplifier for $350,000. 

What about speaker cables costing $27,000 a pair? How far do you have to go before credulity breaks down? 

Here is another consideration. A sound system will never perfectly reproduce how a live performance sounds. If a $5000 system is 70% accurate by some yet to perfectly define measure, is a system with six figure components that much closer, say $80? 

@tomrk

when I say "outlandish", it means "ugly".

I have been thinking about the same thing, which is very much like the OPs question, how high they can go with the price?

How far they can go with the ugliness that these top of the line products’ design represent?

So many are hideous looking, an absolute crime against basic design principles, for the same amount of money and effort they could be just look normal or pleasant - aesthetically.

Relax. No need to get worked up. Plenty of affordable gear available in the marketplace, at all price points. Don’t freak out. They are not going away. On the contrary, markets are flooded with cheap China Audio gear.

@grislybutter : maybe I can help you: which component are you in market for, and at what price range? Unless of course you are all set and are here to just whine and moan about capitalism 🤯🤔

@thyname i don't need your help, not sure when/where I gave you that impression. 

I was not saying a word about capitalism. Again it's more complicated than that and if you didn't comprehend it the first time, I doubt I can convey it to you. Which proves my point, if you didn't live in your bubble, your mind would be more open to the seeing what is disturbing here (NOT capitalism).