Are Bowers and Wilkins speakers overpriced?

@wrenth Agree. All high end Audio gear is way overpriced, a rich mans hobby like a Mopar collector.

I traded in a pair of Bang and Olufsen speakers for a pair of B&W DM5 bookshelf speakers in the mid ’70’s, and still love their sound. I also own a pair of B&W 802 series 80 floorstanding speakers whose crossovers were modified brilliantly by Walt D’Ascenzo of SoundMods. These were made in 1981 at a retail cost of around $4,000, which was a pretty stiff price then.
I first heard the B&W’s with diamond tweeters when they first appeared driven by Cambridge Audio monoblocks and was blown away by their sound. I believe they cost around $15,000. Certainly out of my reach but I don’t think they were overpriced in that they performed better than anything else in that price range. Personally, I’m drawn to them because they sound human. A peculiar way to describe an electronic box, but like a Greek marble figure that comes alive in stone, the music emanating from the B&W’s resonates with my being. I’ve heard some new B&W’s in a showroom that didn’t do it for me, so if I were to make a switch, it would probably be an older version in the Diamond series.

B&W takes negative comments here for the same reason McIntosh does: they’re not esoteric enough.
People are in these forums because they enjoy the lesser known brands and enjoy discussing them. Similarly, people aren’t joining wine forums to discuss your standard grocery store wines. And there may be a few good bottles there!

Are they overpriced? Well, I would say they spend more on marketing and branding than other speaker companies do. That’s why their much more well known. So that marketing costs has to go somewhere. Though one could argue, their size allows them efficiencies to save on production or materials perhaps that they can use towards marketing. So debatable.

Can anyone really say Wilson speakers aren’t overpriced?

As others have commented, all these speakers are overpriced and the counter argument is someone is willing to purchase them so they’re not overpriced.

If they are under priced everyone would say they are cheap speakers but offer a great value. Add $500.00 more to the price tag and they will be a steal for the price. Is anyone following my logic?

I own and have owned many B&W speakers, including D, D2, D3, in-wall, and in-ceiling.  I am very pleased with the value and flexibility they offer.  That said, I find that they are very good for mixed duty (music, movies, tv, and multiroom).

As far as two-channel setups I have had the 803D, 804D2, and 805D3.  With each pair my observations have been similar.  They look great, sound great, and seem well built.  However, I found that I couldn't listen to them for long sessions due to fatigue; regardless of the gear that was behind them.

I recently built a pair of 3-way actives using RAAL, Accuton, and SBA.  I did a side-by-side using the 805D3.  Both were running on a Classe amp in an acoustically treated listening room.  The results weren't even close.  To my ears (and others') the RAAL/Accuton build out-performed the D3s in every respect, particularly the mids and highs.  The D3s look better, but ultimately got demoted to the living room.

After a short time my wife and I agreed that although we liked the D3s we would try the 705S2s in the living room using Rotel amplification.  We were blown away with the listenability of the 7's.  They sounded much fuller and more musical without the fatigue we experienced with the 8 series.  We pretty much listen to them every day and have no intention of replacing them.

A few things I have found that all of my B&Ws have in common are as follows.  First, the higher the model; the longer the break-in period.  I have been disappointed after unboxing and initial listening.  After a few weeks I was pleasantly surprised.  Second, toe-in is important.  After endless positioning in several different rooms I have found that only a slight toe-in gives my ears the best result.  Maybe 10-15% in from facing straight forward.  YMMV.