Did I Expect too much?

I recently had the owner of a very good audio retail store tell me that a speaker manufacturer will spend $10K to build a speaker.  They then wholesale that speaker to the retailer for $20K.  100% mark-up or 50% margin.  The retailer then puts the speaker on the floor for $40K.  Again, 100% mark-up or 50% margin.  I have no reason to think he was not being truthful.  My takeaway is the retail price has nothing to do with the cost of manufacturing or my expectation of highest quality components.  Cheers. 

The speakers are beautiful and the sound exceeds my expectations (after a minor upgrade).

It's not easy to build a pair of speakers that are beautiful and sound beautiful for people with high expectations for $15,000.  Running a business today is not cheap or easy.  Anyone who thinks it is probably hasn't run one.

Please share the name of the company and the speakers.  It would be helpful for prospective buyers to know.  Quality parts throughout is one of the reasons I bought Arendal and Revel speakers.  My subs have some lower quality parts but I expected them to at their prices points.  They still sound excellent.  

@bigtwin That's about right.  Most manufactures spend 20-25% of MSRP to build their speakers.  

It you opened up your speakers and checked out the crossovers, 97% of us would probably find electrolytic caps, sandcast resistors.  At best, you might find a generic polypropylene cap on the tweeter.

It's called maximizing profit margin.

You want to know where you will often find the best quality/value?  Speaker KITS!  Heck, I was just looking at Parts Express, the Solstice kit.  It sells for $1500/pr., the woofers alone are $360 Morel drivers x 4.  Talk about value.  And you can tweak those crossover parts, wiring, posts, at will.