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

@waytoomuchstuff 

Now take those numbers and project a straight line out to 100,000 times that investment ($400k) while removing the word "coffee". Is there some level of consistency in the motiviators?

I guess...yes? This is clearly in your wheel house, so I'm trying to follow out the logic. My guess is that whether the coffee/audio analogy can be extrapolated in this way would depend on empirical psychological factors which someone could study. It sounds like commonsense to me, but the devil would be in the details! ;-)

There is definitely a psychological factor in sales of any high priced and therefore exclusive product. In high end audio, this is absolutely a factor as well.

Probably we have all heard of the dealer rep who has told the manufacturer that their price structure is too low, in order to have a product that has a greater appeal to their consumer base who equate price with quality and ability.

I think this circumstance is most likely getting more popular in high end audio than ever. Which is a somewhat vicious cycle, as it tends to price out those but the most ardent and well heeled hobbyists. Certainly, it is not a good thing, at least IMHO, for the continued health of the industry; as it certainly puts off the young music lover who now looks at high end audio as purely an ’elitist’ endeavor! 

It is called a halo effect. It creates buzz and if successful, increases sales of their lower end lines. A loss leader, unless maybe it is a tiny company hoping for a couple home runs.

Rega makes a $40K turntable and KEF makes $230K speakers.

Technology/design trickles down. I think KEF has sold less that 5 pair of them in the US and Rega about 50 or so WW and won't sell it to anyone who will resell it (Not sure how Roy does that).

They looks sweet and I am sure they sound good. Luckily there are lots of good speakers coming out around the $5k mark for the new younger people if they are interested. While I have not heard them speakers from arendal sound, Mo Fi and even the new marten Logan motions are probably all 99% of what most people need. 
 

I added up my system the other day and I somehow have $50k worth of gear. If you would have told me I would own $50k worth of gear I would have laughed and said that would be dumb…. But here I am. So I guess if you have it you have it and if you can afford $133k speakers the price is not an issue. A $5000 purchase might be a bigger stretch for the average family.  

@sokogear  While there certainly is a marketing reason behind this strategy ( the halo effect), I believe it is also self- defeating in the long run. For the reason I stated in my last paragraph above.