Are Bowers and Wilkins speakers overpriced?

@OP  PaulGardner

Are Bowers and Wilkins speakers overpriced?

IMO.... You need to go back to the early 70's Paul - to find B&W speakers that cost more to make, than they sold for. Now under John Bowers term, as the years progressed the speakers matured they were still priced well compared, to how they performed. Look at the Matrix line as an example.  
It was not until John Bowers passing that the new management, brought in Nautilus, a different design (build and sounding), much more Eye Candy and the prices DOUBLED.

Eye Candy became such a big piece of the Audiophile selling package, and all gear and prices changed, not just B&W.

B&W speakers "are" popular, "are" marketed well and, "do" sell well.   Their customer service has always been excellent.

This B&W support database leads others .

http://bwgroupsupport.com/

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@erik_squires 
Erik
Seriously enough with the theory.
Everyone knows that when you have a company like B&W that uses their own anechoic chamber to tune speakers.....

.....once those same speakers make it into the AVERAGE shared listening space, tuning of upstream components and the ROOM is needed. 
 
Please tell us what B&W speakers you have set up in your own space/s and the associated gear that was used.

Cheers

paulgardner - When you say tuning of upstream components, what are you referring to? Things like tube rolling? Adding an EQ? Room treatment? Thx

Paul - yes but it depends. let me explain, but its getting outside of your OP question. I break it down between big rocks and smaller rocks. Bigger versus smaller expected changes.

For example you mention tube rolling.
I consider tube rolling a smaller rock. It’s a refinement, of what you already like. You're on the same road.
Now going from Solid State to Tubes, and Vice Versa - that is a bigger rock. That is a change in the road. Now IMO, one can (and I have and do) run B&W 800 series with Tubes and SS, it just depends on the size of the room and your listening style.

make sense?

elliottbnewcombjr
I was very active when the 801’s were announced, oh my, the big deal in the magazines, before they hit the stores. I couldn’t afford them, just wanted to be amazed by their sound. They hit Harvey’s, audio shows, .... I went away without great enthusiasm, never could explain why....

the 801m were, and still are, a mainstay in many studios, and one of the reasons why, IMO, was nailed by some comments made by Stereophile in their review. I reflect on this, based on my personal experience with them in the past.

All things being equal, this will make the speaker both a little too revealing of recorded detail and somewhat fussy when it comes to the quality of source and amplification components, just as LL noted in his auditioning comments.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/bw-matrix-801-series-2-loudspeaker-measurements

The 801m speakers have excellent target objectives for studios to hear everything - but will become a nightmare for the novice (all dealers when they were introduced), especially anyone, who brings these puppies home and places them on a suspended wood floor, and leaves them there on their factory castors. A design feature to allow movement in the studio.

dsper - They are overpriced because the tweeters are fatiguing

This is the most common complaint I have read about on many speakers. It is important to understand how any speaker was designed and tested (the type of room that was used, and associated gear ) - compared to the room and gear in which speakers are planned to be used.

Some audiophiles like to play roulette with their speakers; keep bringing in different ones, keeping the room and gear the same. Hoping to get a match.

I think the better approach when the high frequencies are fatiguing is to do one of two things.

1) Turn down the treble, or, 2) Turn up the bass.

You need equilibrium and both can be done by speaker room/angle positioning, different amps/preamps, etc...

Just angling the speakers outward a little may be all that is needed.

.

I wasn't referring to EQ. Turning down the treble, or turning up the bass is done first by speaker/room mods/angle positioning. If after that its still not working, look into appropriate gear (amps/preamps)  etc...

Many try to run B&W with amps that can't do 4 ohms well. Look at the amp's specs. The amps struggle and you get lean sound output - which makes the Highs dominant and fatiguing.     

.....and at the listener end. Your ears need to be the close to the same horizontal level as the midrange/tweeter. 
Raise/Lower speaker height or get a proper height chair.   

@mtrot 

 and they are no doubt using optimal amplification in those settings.

I would not assume this.
Personally, if I am looking at spending that kind of cash on speakers, it would mean I have too much stake in the game to trust a dealer setup, good or bad sounding, even if recommended amplification and other gear is being used.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/rJbGXxq5xMjbQS9EA

Dealer setups are one time, temporary events, and everyone's room and contents are different. Some speakers are so big, their size in regular rooms affects room acoustics. Same as a couch.

So in this situation, if I was a serious buyer, I would be asking the dealer to put the setup into near field for me to hear. They will not have an issue with this. Nearfield is the closest one can get a look into what is possible. Everything outside of Nearfield is a compromised illusion due to room reflections.

If after Nearfield you still feel the same way - proceed or look elsewhere.