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

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.

absolutely. theyre making speakers in china and charging made in usa prices. and the youtuber shills are gushing over it. crazy ass markups. nuckin futz. its a racket. 

What I find questionable are speaker companies that offer a large range of speaker levels at varying price points. Could the cost of components, R&D, cabinet construction truly justify the price difference? Are B&W 706 stand mounts really worth double the price of 606 stand mounts? Same goes for other larger companies such as Focal, Revel and etc.