A few years ago I read an interview with an amp manufacturer. He had just introduced an extremely expensive amp. When asked about sales, he stated he expected to sell maybe 3 a year for 3 or 4 years worldwide...
Is it possible for a high end manufacturer to overprice their goods?
Having just read the interesting and hyperbole laden review by RH of the new Rockport Orion speakers in the latest issue of The Absolute Sound, one thing struck me..
is it possible in the high end for a manufacturer to overprice their product ( doesn’t have to be a speaker, but this example comes to mind)? I ask this, as the Orion is priced at $133k! Yes,a price that would probably make 99% of hobbyists squirm. Yet, the speaker now joins a number of competitors that are in the $100k realm.
To that, this particular speaker stands just 50.3” tall and is just 14.3” wide…with one 13” woofer, one 7” midrange and a 1.25” beryllium dome ( which these days is nothing special at all…and could potentially lead to the nasties of beryllium bite).
The question is…given this speakers design and parts, which may or may not be SOTA, is it possible that this is just another overpriced product that will not sell, or is it like others, correctly priced for its target market? Thoughts…
- ...
- 215 posts total
| Post removed |
@jl35 That business model is common. Question is whether a product in this hobby can be so high priced, that the result is zero sales? Or,not enough sales to justify the product and its cost to come to market? |
I think long standing, big time companies like Rockport are well aware of the sales dynamic, not that they always guess correctly...and for some, it's almost an advertising statement product, not one they actually expect to sell many of...questions of "value" become irrelevant with so many super wealthy potential customers...I like seeing these products, though with no expectation of ever hearing one... |
- 215 posts total