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

It sometimes pays to have a dealer that has a wide range of tastes and experience in music.

Perhaps every good dealer or reviewer should have that?

Great idea, @cd318 .... on a practical level?

Rare.  Anyone who could remember the 'sound, the qualities' of even most of the various speakers and/or the equipment would be considered to be a savant of sorts....

May not be a good salesman for what you came looking for....just saying... ;)

"Freds' great.....but diapers?  On a 35 yr. old....well, whatever....Fred claims to be....today....🙄🤨 "

( Likely to be there all night with Fred as the contrasts/+/-/=/>/</etc. unreels...*L*)

While the news about ARC going into receivership is not really a speaker forum subject, it does possibly connect to this thread.

About a year or so ago, I was at an ARC dealers premier of their new Reference 80s amp. While I was there, the ARC rep was discussing with the attendees some of ARC’s future product line up. It was to include a new flagship model with, if I remember, about 64+ KT150 tubes and slated to be a replacement to the Ref 750SE model. I asked the rep two questions, one was how much heat this beast would give off, and two…how expensive? The rep told me that he didn’t know about the heat, which I thought could be a considerable problem in a hot climate, and that the price was not yet set, but definitely more expensive than the Ref 750 SE! Many attendees said nothing, but the look on their faces said it all.. and it was obvious to all that this new flagship would be a VERY hard sell.

@cd318 The honesty debacle is hard to tackle, especially in the high-end market. It is kind of implied that you're over-spending on High-End equipment. That stuff is either overpriced, overhyped, over-engineered with exotic hard-to-find parts, or all of the above. Everyone is trying to re-invent the wheel in the high-end market. Because the wheel is too basic, convenient and affordable. You're swimming with the sharks in a high-end market. The sharks are the salesmen. Furthermore, high-end equipment can be experimental and unreliable at times. 

In comparison, the entry-level or midrange feels like a safe ball pit with foam edges. In this environment manufacturers use off-the-shelf parts with tried-and-true methods. There is some trickle-down stuff from the high end. Most of the experimental kinks are addressed. 

My position is: avoid the high end at all costs.

This applies to everything: cars, furniture, homes, clothing, watches etc...

@kokakolia You convinced me.  I'll start shopping at Walmart for the best of everything.

@skinzy You can buy the Polk « R » series (Polk R200) on the Walmart website. But it’s from a third party vendor. That speaker is seriously good. And I know you’re joking but I’m pretty serious. 
 

In hindsight I am going against the Audiogon lifestyle of taking the HiFi hobby to the next level. Whatever that means. But it certainly doesn’t imply buying reasonably priced and unexpectedly good mass-produced entry level speakers. I suppose that you guys value exotic components, craftsmanship and brand heritage more than others. 
 

I suppose that I am providing a baseline for all speaker evaluations. If a high end setup doesn’t outshine a humble Polk R200 powered by a humble Denon amp then it may as well be overpriced junk and you should feel bad about yourself LOL. 
 

This leads to another thought: high end stuff seems to be reviewed in isolation and compared to other high end stuff. It is implied that the high end is far superior than the entry-level. But once in a blue moon you can become annoyed by the unexpected performance of modern entry-level gear if you own high end stuff. It’s all relative of course. And craftsmanship plays a huge part in the price, less so in the performance. 
 

Last point: I envy the people who just spend less than two thousand on a Hi-Fi setup and are completely happy. Just look at the people on the internet who spend tens of thousands on Hi-Fi and are never happy. The simplicity of spending $1.5k on a full system at Walmart is alluring.