The reason these small companies charge a lot is they have rent, they need to pay employees, electricity, customer/warranty and material. And they don't have the volume to spread that cost over 1000's of speakers. Simple economics.
What Does 80 Grand Get You Nowadays?
A system was playing in a shop. I sat down and pretty soon I thought gosh, I’m glad my system sounds better than this.
That system - just preamp, amp, and speakers - cost about $80,000 new.
I didn’t make the speakers at first, because Sabrinas look far better than the usual Wilson house look. They were driven by one of those new high-end Marantz amps, and I don’t think that was a match made in heaven. The Marantz was driven by a Dan D’Agostino pre that looked like a Minion had been crushed in a hydraulic press. Audiophile music was streaming, but I did not catch whence issued those dulcet ones and zeroes.
I suppose that system constitutes high-end for some. Now, it certainly sounded competent, but it also sounded boring. I thought, this is the Audi SUV of audio: competent and boring.
Conversely, I was impressed and pleased to no end that the end sound of my modest system from the last century could play in the same league as an almost-six figure modern system, and do so in a more engaging and fun fashion - to my ears, at least.
I’m biased, of course; and I am certain many high-priced systems out there leave mine in the dust. Still, I would have thought $80,000 guaranteed a better baseline sound.
How about you, have you heard a lot of gear whose sound was way out of whack with its price?
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The room controls can help a speaker at a level which most cannot even imagine.. But no room can save a speakers from his own design "genetic" flaws... And each speakers must be put in the room which is designed for it ... I bet no Wilson speakers sound the same in different acoustics condition, where is design can be helped or impeded or even made atrocious...
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@tomrk in response to @allenf1963 and my $80K system alternative, and your $125K round the bend world bucket list. Yes it is about economics, conned sumer demand and it’s simple. There are those who are willing to pay. “That will be $80,000 sir, thank you, thank you” |
I had one of the old WAMM up until around 20 years ago.....For its time, it was whatever....but, it had many flaws that were hard to ignore after you put your head in a vise, of course. Nothing has improved since then,...all this material x, material y and the potted crossover crap (depot that crap and look at it) is all some bull marketing. When the IQ is too low to innovate, all you can do is spend more on marketing, get with some D’oggistino guy or whomever (have him scratch your back too), pay the magazines for embellishment and shine your teeth.
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