Did I Expect too much?

Our need for value has the bigger companies outsourcing to sweat shops to manage costs. There's also companies that invest in themselves, Dynaudio, KEF, Paradigm to name a few that do everything in house that has the benefit of controlling markup, but the current state of high end pricing has put many brands catering to the 1%. It would be hard to take a modern brand seriously that used spring clip wire retainers for their products.

Just wanted to say thank you for all the comments-you saved me a trip to the therapist.  I’ve calmed down and moved on.

@steve59 I don't think need for value is the culprit here, need to keep cost of device lower and/or extract max profit margiins culprit for the labor cost part of equation. Price is the major purchasing determiner for consumer items, value hard to determine or doesn't even enter the mind.

Looks like you got robbed hard man, sorry to hear.

Here’s a speaker made in America, i know something about...with cardas binding posts, mundorfs n all built in...all of it for $2200 new.

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lisbdc6a-tekton-design-epic-15-full-range

When it beats the sonic daylights out of that thing you bought for 15k back to Timbuktu, get your money back and save yourself $15000 - $2200 = $12800

God bless.

o why would such a reputable company use six dollar binding posts?  It makes no sense.  I replaced them with Cardas binding posts and decent 12 gauge wire between the driver and posts.  My system is valued for clarity and clean highs.  The difference was audible.  I know, snake oil.  But it wasn’t.  I don’t think that spending $15K for speakers is nothing.  So yes, I was disappointed.  

 

 

The Charney speakers have maybe 150 hours on them. The AER BD3 drivers are not broken in as yet. So best to hold off on any reviews until about 500 hours. My initial impression of the AER drivers are that they are well balanced single source drivers with whizzer cones that enhance high frequency response. Even now, the immediacy of transitional tones is impressive. Full review to follow.

sure, there's brands that can pull prices out of the air without justification, but they don't get my dollar.