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

Having just read the interesting and hyperbole laden review by RH of the new Rockport Orion speakers in the latest issue of The Absolute Sound, one thing struck me..

is it possible in the high end for a manufacturer to overprice their product ( doesn’t have to be a speaker, but this example comes to mind)? I ask this, as the Orion is priced at $133k! Yes,a price that would probably make 99% of hobbyists squirm. Yet, the speaker now joins a number of competitors that are in the $100k realm. 
To that, this particular speaker stands just 50.3” tall and is just 14.3” wide…with one 13” woofer, one 7” midrange and a 1.25” beryllium dome ( which these days is nothing special at all…and could potentially lead to the nasties of beryllium bite).

The question is…given this speakers design and parts, which may or may not be SOTA, is it possible that this is just another overpriced product that will not sell, or is it like others, correctly priced for its target market? Thoughts…

128x128daveyf
thyname's avatar
thyname
3,107 posts
 

I guess if you go to Barnes and Noble and pick up basics of electronics and electro-magnetics, you will know instead of arguing

As naive as you think I am, I have realized that you have mastered the art of being very offensive to people, without being kicked out of the forums. And that’s skill you have. Thus your 5000+ posts in here (and counting).

Please don't take this the wrong way, and I mean absolutely no offense, a good person will never say jerky (only in a snarky cowardly way) things you post here.

 

czarivey
5,946 posts
 

@thyname,

I do have a lot more skills than you and you’ve just realized that while you really can do just absolutely nothing with your unsupported arguments. What else should I do or say??

Everything else is pretty much OK here (and counting).

 

4afsanakhan
134 posts
 

Funny you should mention that. A lot of good components are getting way over the top expensive. I certainly do not think more expensive = always better.

curtdr
348 posts
 

not only is it "possible" for "high end" manufacturers to overprice, it’s NORMAL...

and hey, if it works to sell stuff, well, so be it: what the market will bear, right?

some people are attracted to stuff ... "luxury" stuff ... exactly because it's priced high -- such folks are into exclusivity of money, moreso than performance.

Interestingly, most self-made American millionaires are not duped by such marketing ploys and do not care about luxury bling, which explains why they're self-made millionaires.  

 

curtdr
348 posts
 

@tomrk +1  "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."

what you say has been my experience over 40 years of this audio hobby

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