I agree with many of the above comments, but would add there are ways around exorbitant pricing, buying second hand, being the most obvious. Speakers seem ideal for used purchase, like cables. They naturally should have a longer life than electronics, with fewer bits to fail. I have had speakers that have worked perfectly well for over thirty years, passed on to family members.
Secondly you must understand the implications of a very small niche market. As others have said, fewer sales mean fewer units to bear the fixed costs of the company, R&D, marketing, Accounts etc.
Thirdly and most importantly, is just where does the seller spend his money. I had a long conversation with a small speaker manufacturer a few years ago, who shall be nameless. He estimated the building and parts costs of a large manufacturer, like say Wilson, as 25% of the total. So an $80000 pair of speakers costs about $20000 to build, which shocked me. Where does the rest go, Dealer and Distributor margins, Plant rent, heating, lighting etc, and so on. A very large part goes on Marketing evidently.
Now take a small one man operation, selling direct. Most of those costs are gone. No dealers, distributors, minimal marketing, just word of mouth and show attendance. The problem, well no massive R&D budget, so he is going to need very good ears to voice the speakers, with no complex, expensive machinery to do the job for him. If he has got good ears and I would say there are a lot of small manufacturers out there who seem to, then everyone can be a winner.