isnt the bottom line, what is the actual quality of the product? any piece of audio gear is more than the sum of its parts, ive heard pieces that had all the best components but did not have the sound. some large companies gear is well worth the price, yet with others you get the impression you are paying more for their marketing etc than for the sound quality. we could make arguments about economies of scale vs low overhead all day long and the bottom line is still how does it sound? i think Aktchi has summed it up pretty well and one of the real benefits of the small maker is the personal attention. this makes me think of guitar builders. ive been a boutique amp builder in the pro world for many years as well as a player, hence i personally know a lot of guitar builders and manufacturers. i can say that while the manufacturers do benefit from scale and resources, in general the best guitars are built in small shops and usually for comparable prices. but and heres the big but, you have to know what you want.
in general the economies of scale and resources are pretty much offset by marketing costs and extra markup. few if any high end speaker companies are churning them out by the tens of thousands and CNC machine time is readily available to small manufacturers. and yes im sure some small builders are putting their prices at the same point as larger companies products which you can hear at a brick & motor store while others try to keep their prices as low as possible reflecting the lack of dealer/dist. markup. again bottom line is the actual sound and quality.
this brings up another facet of this issue that i occasionally hear. sometimes people talk about the cost of the parts that go into a unit as if that should be the sole determining factor of the final price. yes it should play a large part but there is also the cost of developing the product and often that entails many years of work and sacrifice. large companies include this as development costs and there is no reason for boutique builders to be expected to work for nothing. sometimes when prices jump that is precisely what has happened, the company had been charging based on costs and overhead and then realized they needed to recoup some of the development costs.
well, back to making sawdust ; )
lou
in general the economies of scale and resources are pretty much offset by marketing costs and extra markup. few if any high end speaker companies are churning them out by the tens of thousands and CNC machine time is readily available to small manufacturers. and yes im sure some small builders are putting their prices at the same point as larger companies products which you can hear at a brick & motor store while others try to keep their prices as low as possible reflecting the lack of dealer/dist. markup. again bottom line is the actual sound and quality.
this brings up another facet of this issue that i occasionally hear. sometimes people talk about the cost of the parts that go into a unit as if that should be the sole determining factor of the final price. yes it should play a large part but there is also the cost of developing the product and often that entails many years of work and sacrifice. large companies include this as development costs and there is no reason for boutique builders to be expected to work for nothing. sometimes when prices jump that is precisely what has happened, the company had been charging based on costs and overhead and then realized they needed to recoup some of the development costs.
well, back to making sawdust ; )
lou