Do you remember?

The disappearance of Sonic Frontiers always intrigued me as their products are still popular in the used market and still sell for fairly decent prices.

John, you have that back asswards: they don't gouge the buyer, so they don't reap the rewards of the fundamental equation of high-enders, that is more money always equals better sound. Designing, manufacturing and marketing hi-fi electronics is not what high-enders make it out to be. That people can't comprehend economies of scale and that they believe that companies who can only build things in small runs, and consequently sell at prices that are way too high, produce the best sounding equipment is what normally kills companies offering products with a superior price/performance ratio. The other outfits have latched on to this reality and are only more than willing to inflate their prices to sell their stuff to people who need to inflate their fragile egos.

As a follow up to my first answer, now I think I know what caused the demise of Sonic Frontiers: I was looking at the new listings for the day and there was one for an SF preamp, looked at the pictures and now I'm certain I know what done it: the ugly gold faceplate! Why would anyone not want anything but the beautiful black faceplate I will never know.

John, no what I am saying is that the price that was asked for the product was probably correctly set to enable the manufacturer to make enough money to stay in business. But all this hinges on how many units the manufacturer can sell. You are saying that their lack of staying power only results in having set their prices too low, had they done otherwise they would still be in business. I'm saying that the fickle nature of audio buyers is what kills them. Using your logic, cars would still be the province of royalty and the moneyed and would still be made by hand by Rolls-Royce, Hispano-Suiza and Dusenberg. I am sure there is a different story behind the demise of each of these companies or of these brands and that too low a selling price is not necessarily the issue.

The company still exists from what I can tell, and has concentrated on its Anthem line. Correct me if I'm wrong.

John, all I'm saying is that there are obvious things that have to be done and covering all your costs and adding a margin for profit is obviously a basic requirement. What you seem to be saying is that the price of a product can never be too high since it assures the producer a long life. What I am saying is that there are various price points in the market, so that one has to be able to hit the target squarely and then to have enough volume for a long enough period for things to work and to allow you to develop newer products and continue the cycle. The problem appears to me that these companies initially seem to be on the right track, but that they hit a rough patch with sales going down due to how quirky the audio market is.