2. speakers
  3. 183964-976

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…

128x128daveyf

Showing 1 response by redlenses03

redlenses03
87 posts
 

The manufacturing process of the Rockport enclosures are pretty insane compared to many and if you're not familiar with their design, research it.

Although at this upper end, there are many which are impressive for sure (engineering/manufacturing).  Whether or not that equates six figure prices isn't my point, just that these aren't some MDF boxes slapped together.  Also I believe they now manufacture their own drivers (not 100% sure though).  Not many that do (Dynaudio, Focal etc..), which just adds to the overall R+D costs.

More to discover