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

fun fact: the most expensive speakers are made in a region, a fairly straight line from Switzerland to the Netherlands.

I imagine some audio manufacturers having an internal discussion--

"We can make it for $200, sell it for $500 and sell lots." 

"But, if we sell it for $500, no one will take it seriously as truly ’high end.’  Let’s price it at $5000 and call it our Statement product. Then we’ll sell even more."  

@hoodjem I was about to say something similar. Let's face it, the absolute high end doesn't sell many products. Expect a handful of sales every year. 

I truly believe that buyers are clueless and rely on emotion and gut feeling when buying expensive audio equipment. Let me put it this way: in a room full of $100k speakers, the $50k speaker will seem inferior based on price and expected value alone (even if it performs better). 

So manufacturers may by nudging buyers into spending more money that way. Just create a very extensive, overly complicated line of speakers. Make the prices exponential. This is really a car salesman tactic. You expect to spend $20k on a car, you walk out of the dealer with a $35k vehicle because it was on sale and because most other cars in the showroom were around $50k. Your brain accepts higher prices because you perceive higher prices at the dealership. This applies to eveything: furniture, mattresses, kitchens, bikes etc...

It's not unreasonable to assume that flagship products drive up the prices for lower-tiered products by association. In other words, drive up the averages. 

@kokakolia I have been looking at prices for 3 weeks now, 100s of speakers (243 and counting), and I don’t see it. Sure there are outliers but for the most part, these companies’ managers aren’t driving Teslas. There is great value at 3K and even better value at 10 and there may be of course, a bigger markup over 20K but way fewer buyers too. The competition is immense that keeps prices in check.

@grislybutter Agreed. There are many bookshelf speakers from boutique brands under 3000€. But we're getting off-topic. Immense competition is obviously good. But it's hard to get your brand out there. US brands have a huge priority above Euro brands. 

I don't know, I would be hesitant to purchase high-end speakers from Wilson Audio, Sonus Faber or Focal. They're obviously putting a lot of their budget into bribing the press and marketing.