Price, I remember that people could not believe how great Crown International home stereo and Bob Carver sounded for the dollar back in the late 70s and 80s. Great audio, low cost! It can be done. Side by side either of these were competing with audio 3X the cost or more.
The death of ultra hiend audio
Verity and DarTzeel last year, now MBL, ultra high end audio manufacturers are facing their demise and they have nobody but themselves to blame. What do these companies have in common: too much investment in creating the very best and when that fails raising their prices bottom up to recover their losses and inevitably charging 2x what the same product cost just a few years ago. Ego, greed and poor management can only result in one thing!