MBL Insolvent

@kerrybh 

"..Raises an interesting question though- I suspect we all agree with the wisdom of selling "affordable" gear, but what is that price point? Is it $1,000 speakers, $5,000? I don’t know, but an interesting question."

Yes. Absolutely, An important aspect is that an audiophile company cannot sell an inferior product. I have been in this for fifty years. Every time I have purchased and audiophile product, it has performed at a very noticeablely higher level... not subtle. Never subtle. If and audiophile company produces something that is mid-tier then their public image gets confused. Then communicating I have a Boulder amp... suddenly means nothing... your have to start asking if it is a consumer one or one of the good ones. 

It’s one thing to have a consumer company stretch up... but there is real danger in an audiophile company making products that are not audiophile grade. Let's not get hung up on the word audiophile... the bar that sets the great stuff from the good. 

@kerrybh

but what is that price point? Is it $1,000 speakers, $5,000? 

 I think it's about turning the music lover into an audiophile. It's hard and not that hard. 99% of people will never become audiophiles for $5000 no matter how wealthy they are. Significantly better sound for a $1000 than what the subject has ever heard before? Absolutely possible. Even a $500 active speaker, placed correctly can drop jaws. 

I remember when I stumbled onto the Upscale website before my audiophile (mid-fi) days. I was angry. 10K for a turntable!? It's all about the perspective. You get what you pay for but it may be meaningless if you don't know what you are doing.

Of course the house sound of equipment varies greatly... so while it might be of the right quality and one does not  like the house sound. Also, there are differences in how well designs are executed among companies. But I would say the lie between mid tier components and audiophile (or maybe call it high end) at this point is around $10K and up per single function component or $15K and up for speakers. No, there is nothing absolute about this... just a generality. The higher you draw the line the safer the conclusion. 

I was in business for 45 years.  If you want to sell ultra high end products, you must realize the air is pretty thin up there.  Maybe someone can take that wonderful technology and try to make a more affordable product.

Sad to hear but the ultra high end 2 channel market is so minuscule and the prices they are asking sometimes costs more than an Audi SUV or even a Rolls Royce, it is not surprising.  The economics is just tough...