Why do better MC cartridges cost a fortune?

I can only imagine the hours that are spent voicing a top LOMC design and then they are usually built by hand one at a time. This costs money. These are not a commodity to be judged by weight or only cost of materials, although that is quite high too as all parts are highest spec and unique to that design.

Economies of scale are not in play and amortization of the design cost is poor as not many of a given model are sold.

Dave

inna,

Assigning relative cost structures to equipment is ludicrous. Results vary widely regardless of price and are instead tied to educated equipment matching and proper setup, especially with turntables, tonearms, cartridges, and phono stages.

Dave 

Everything is stupid at its extreme. These threads you start seem to be aimed at generating contempt toward those that can/do spend a lot of money on audio.

I, like many here, don't have that kind of money but have instead spent many years and countless hours assembling an audio system that is not defined by such identity bias.  Maybe start some threads on how that is done...

Dave