Why are Harbeth speakers expensive while its drivers are not.

Harbeth is a decent enough speaker but eway overvalued for every model IMO.     

I have read that manufacturers of some of the speakers which are based on the original BBC-type monitors have to pay a license fee to the BBC. Of all the variations and permutations of the BBC-type monitors made by Graham, Harbeth, Spendor and others—like the LS3/5A—I wonder which ones if any still require a royalty to be paid to the BBC. And, how much it might be if true, which adds to the cost.

Are the bigger monitors like the Harbeth 40 new designs, or evolutions of BBC monitors?

$550 to build the cabinets? It would cost around that much just to have them  sanded and spray finished.

I have heard Harbeth speakers at many audio shows and they always struck as kinda "meh", nothing that I fancied at all.   Even if they were a quarter of their retail price, they wouldn't interest me.   They are nice furniture, that I will admit.  We likes what we likes, I guess.  

I have built a couple of CSS Audio standpoint speakers -- the 1TD-X and latterly the smaller two-way Torii, which cost around $500 with the flat pack, and I could easily live with them as my reference speakers, although I do prefer my Cube Audio Jazzon speakers, but they cost $8,000.  They offer pre-built speakers as well which are still an awesome bargain in the audio world.