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Is it possible for a high end manufacturer to overprice their goods?

Having just read the interesting and hyperbole laden review by RH of the new Rockport Orion speakers in the latest issue of The Absolute Sound, one thing struck me..

is it possible in the high end for a manufacturer to overprice their product ( doesn’t have to be a speaker, but this example comes to mind)? I ask this, as the Orion is priced at $133k! Yes,a price that would probably make 99% of hobbyists squirm. Yet, the speaker now joins a number of competitors that are in the $100k realm. 
To that, this particular speaker stands just 50.3” tall and is just 14.3” wide…with one 13” woofer, one 7” midrange and a 1.25” beryllium dome ( which these days is nothing special at all…and could potentially lead to the nasties of beryllium bite).

The question is…given this speakers design and parts, which may or may not be SOTA, is it possible that this is just another overpriced product that will not sell, or is it like others, correctly priced for its target market? Thoughts…

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Showing 1 response by jrunyon52

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jrunyon52
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Two things... it's about margin (profitability) and what the

Market will bear. I once consulted for a fairly high-end, reputable and recognized amplifier manufacturer. They were conducting a market study on a proposed $10k pair of monoblocks. The feedback they received was for the quality of amp they manufacturer, most felt that price was "too low" at the time. They decided to price them at $25k and after bringing them to market, they sold quite well.... That said, sometimes it isn't what the may feel is a fair price, but rather what their customer deems fair and worth the value.

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