Most overpriced audio component made

Your friendly neighborhood urologist lives in 3.5 million dollar house, drives a $70,000 car to the office which has $250,000 a copy test equipment. He spends $250,000 on a home theatre set-up because all his friends have and friends dealer recommends vidikron, revel, levinson, etc. You think he'll be happy with $100 interconnects? NOT!
The $1000/foot cable guys are filling a need. The cables may or may not sound great but the doctor isn't going to compare, he wants to feel that he has the "best". Call it perceived value or conspicuous consumption, either way, if you know what you're doing and don't have money to burn, you are free to make your own choices. even though I am a professional woodworker, I only took enough time to cut 4 mdf shelves and stack them on 5/8 threaded rod with nuts and washers. Very solid and sounds ok. My cost, $41. I've thought about building the same rack with 1 1/2" thick maple shelves and 1" supports. The maple alone, 28 board feet is about $120 unsurfaced. Time spent at the saw and planer makes it about $240. Add another $100 for the supports and finishing. Somewhere I read that retail equals 10 times manufacturing cost in high end audio. I don't get that for my antique repros or repairs. Would you give me $3400 for the above rack, no matter how beautiful? I guess not, but the doctor might. Where did I put the yellow pages...?

Well Snook2, you have me there. I'm not sure how any speaker cable could cost that much, but I'm not the guy with 20 plus employees, and the operating expenses either. I doubt that, at that price, they sell much quantity. If there were more people involved in audio, (within the demographics of the perspective buyer), it would seem possible that there might be more sales. Yes, even at $23,800.00. This may be out of my budget, yet I don't resent those who CAN afford it. There are many variables to this whole topic to truly answer it within a paragraph or two. You must admit though that within larger market goods, big screen TV's as an example, that the price has dropped considerablly over the past 15 years as the market has broadened. This was my point.

Check out the cover of Feb Sterophile. The Accuphase SACD transport and separate digital processor. Yeah, I going to run right out and spend 28K on the combo when the format may never get off the ground. Now that's overpriced! I wouldn't mind parting with the cash if you get what you pay for. SACD could turn out to be the Sonybetamax of the new millenium. I remember when everyone was saying how Betmax was so superior to VHS, and on and on. But look what happened there! All the folks who went out and got a Betamax got screwed. The folks behind VHS knew the secret to success. This is a software driven market baby and if you don't get the software out there FAST and priced CHEAP, SACD doesn't have a chance. Mark my words.

I would love to see how many of you are in business for yourselves. If you were, you would see that Whbg's comment @ 6-11% profit is pretty close to the norm. All you see is what the dealer paid for the item and then what he sells it for, and you think you've been ripped off. You haven't got a clue as to what expenses are incurred when running a business that buys @ wholesale and sells @ retail. Maybe all the dealers out there should only mark up the items 10% from their purchase price and sell it to you. Get real, do the math, or better yet, open your own audio busines and run it that way, and see how long your doors are open!

Right on Joysjane. I became self employed about 2 years ago and still find it hard to believe how much I have to make just to cover expenses. This insight is why I rarely take up a dealers time if I do most of my shopping hear on Audiogon. There are overpriced products and then there is the dealer's requirement to make a profit.