There can only be so many buyers of $250,000 amplifiers. At that level, a certain level of performance is expected, and appearance, but that isn't all of it. How much better are they than the units that sell for a quarter the price? Veblen goods and all. Limited production, limited availability, exclusivity, visibility. Still, he has to find some buyers, a rarefied few whose business is solicited by more than a few atelier producers. These are buyers who don't need his product. He has to attract them. Maybe he figures the way to do that is to make them even more exclusive: you can have one only if you order and pay for one. We'll call you when it's ready. One doesn't go to a Rolls Royce or Bugatti dealership and kick tires.
What I don't get is the brand dilution inherent in a lower-priced, stock item. He isn't he first to try this in high-end audio. OMA has done the same with the Fleetwood brand. But OMA created a second brand, and doesn't appear to conflate the two. Both brands have similar approaches to materials: milled and torrefied hardwood, iron castings, slate. The Fleetwood line is sold through independent audio dealers, OMA is not. Unless DartZeel creates a separate brand that stands on its own there is risk of cheapening the original brand. He has a problem also with being in Switzerland. Production costs there are very high. Even lower-tier brands like Pro-Ject make their products in lower-cost countries like Slovakia instead of Austria.
