Things you did not know about what is inside your speakers and the Huge markups

Imperfect speaker finishes, small areas of cabinet damage, drivers that don’t pass QC specs, warranty driver or crossover replacement / upgrades, dealer incentives, inventorying large quantities of parts....   Not to mention R&D time and expense manufacturing, employee wages and other expenses..

These are just a few reason why speaker RETAIL mark up is so great.  Unless buyers are going to big box stores to pick up their speakers, they a very likely getting discounts.  Those discounts need to be factored into a lower dealer price.  

I’ve heard from more than one manufacturer that if you want to make a small fortune in High End Audio, start with a large fortune.

Business is business.  I don’t know of any speaker manufacturer that made a lot of money from high end speakers.

The manufacturers who have their speakers shown in that video and have been associated with comments such as 90% being garbage may have a lawsuit to consider. IMO, the video is inflammatory and makes sweeping assertions that are well beyond the evidence provided. 

2 things. @ghdprentice    1.I like the lamp 2. Even better than a DIY speaker, is one bought from the maker who made himself another, and sells it to you for far less than even the parts, just to move it along. One of the best speakers I ever bought, an MTM set. I never really understood the whole high-priced thing, especially for new stuff. In cars or cameras or watches or other gear too. 

With a lot of high end speakers, you're also paying for well crafted furniture. Anything designed to both sound great and look great takes a lot of talent. Great engineers, designers, craftsmen, and most of all, discerning ears all come at a price. The cost of building to precision specs, quality control, and transportation don't come cheap either. 

So you can't just consider the cost of reproducing a design as the total cost of a product. There's a lot of IP and raw talent that goes into the final price. 

Dealer markups double or triple the price, which is why I usually buy used. But if something is desirable, it's what's the market will bare.

Above, Mashif wrote, "With a lot of high end speakers, you're also paying for well crafted furniture."

I've had a career making high end furniture and i can say with certainty some of these high end cabinets I've seen had to be very, very expensive to make, even at volume scale.

By saying this I'm not defending the prices these things are going for but rather to say the price is often much more about style and not so much about fidelity.