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

@mikhailark, you make some very good points. I agree with what you say.

The most expensive system I ever heard in a private setting was housed in a multi million dollar room, all glass and overlooking the ocean. No acoustic treatments.

@fac

2000% is CRAZY..  Ive never met a single manufacturer that can get away with that.  There might be one product in their line that has a huge mark up because it's unique, some some one of kind invention,  but Im sure the rest of the company's line is in range with other product margins (typically 30%).  There is way too much competition to get away with ridiculous prices as the competitor is almost always willing to offer the same thing for less. 

 

The biggest driver of prices is the price of parts and metal work/cosmetics.  If you are small and can only afford to build say 50 of something in a year, your prices on those parts are very very expensive because you are buying in low quantity.  I learned this when I was complaining about the price of Jaguar parts.  I visited England and learned that Jaguar buys 50 sets of brakes at a time while Ford buys 100,000.  The jag brakes are 5X the money of the fords due to a small manufacturer having to set up to make just 50.  And since Jag never made a lot of money, got sold to Tata, you can see its not all that profitable to do.     

The fact that you can hand over a sticky wad of cash (cash) equalling 600k for a speaker (box+4 drivers), 100k for wire....and most of the guys who do this hail from Asia, etc should give you the gon crew a clue....i.e. tis certainly one way to launder some dirty money.

Soundstage explodes to the sky as ya keep paying....(you get what you paid for)..yeah right...and my hiny explodes all the way to Mars.

It is yes but has always been the Hi-End. The market for that particular brand would be a smaller demographic who believes in the product and engineering through and through. They often care less about hunting down another type of sound to relax to each evening when its already perfect. When you hear it you know

 

Happy listening!

 

 

I guess it depends on whether it sells. At that price there is only so large a market. If it provides something not easily found otherwise, or requires a highly-refined level of skill only uncommonly found, someone will appreciate it . . . maybe. It is because of products like these that i welcome the controversial ASR site and Amir's approach: does it measure well, as one might expect a TOTL product to measure? Or is it something that measures in a fairly ordinary and unexceptional way and its makers have to explain themselves.