there's to many very good products on the market to have these ridiculous prices, it has gotten out of hand what things cost or sell for, there will be more companies like this folding or restructuring how they do things and lowering there prices.
Sad news. MBL has filed for insolvency.
- Thread starter Lee
- Start date
As I did not care about MBL, I can't say anything about them. But IMO we could see the Audio Research and Dartzeel problems arriving just reading audio forums many months before.
Around 60, as far as I remember being told at a recent Wilson Audio presentation. I expected more, considering the number of models they manufacture and level of finish. But It seems modern CNC machines don't need a too much attention!
I can't speak for everyone, but your comments, " inflated prices keep buyers away", is exactly what's preventing me from changing speakers. Every speaker I prefer over my current speakers are $80K or over $100K and I just can't do it. It's my value judgement and it has nothing to do with judging what some are willing to pay for speakers or any other audio components.
Elliot G.
Industry Expert
the problem is that this is the only form of promotion by most of the industry and to be honest it hasn't truly worked in many years. Promoting really high end products to a small market over and over and expecting different results is nuts. A previous poster said that speakers turn less than other components and I very much agree with that statement. Speakers generally stay longer in systems than other components.
In a world with more and more people having FU money audio has truly missed the boat since these people who can afford these products for the most part are clueless that any of it is available. If you are only going to show your products to the people who already know about them its truly difficult to grow . This is made worse by the fact that almost every company is making these uber priced products whether they should or not.
I keep asking where do all these products get sold?
Why has audio missed every opportunity to promote and only used the press? IMO being undercapitalized and lacking vision are the two major reasons.
The brilliant Gary Leeds taught me: "Selling loudspeakers is like selling a house. Selling an amplifier or a DAC is like selling a car."
Loudspeakers are the most difficult component to sell.
Loudspeakers are the most difficult component to sell.
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It depends on where one lives. In my neighborhood, houses sell quickly and some do not even hit the market before changing hands. A lot of cars are now just leased, so they do not have to be sold. They are returned.
I wonder if loudspeakers are more difficult to sell than are expensive turntables or last year's SOTA digital gear.
Investing in audiogear is basically dead money thats how i see it and i think most people do .
I m personally willing to spend 12 K max per component second hand and have all the SQ i need.
All those .mounstrous high cost speakersystems (most lose in complexity what they gain in bandwith).
Like is said already companies need to have mid low priced products to build a market base and thrive.
Unless your a high quality cult brand like FM acoustics
I m personally willing to spend 12 K max per component second hand and have all the SQ i need.
All those .mounstrous high cost speakersystems (most lose in complexity what they gain in bandwith).
Like is said already companies need to have mid low priced products to build a market base and thrive.
Unless your a high quality cult brand like FM acoustics
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I wonder if you and microstrip are in a competition to see how many posts each of you can find a way to be contrary to purely for the sake of being contrary.
yes; there are rarified air markets......but not very real world. pockets here and there east and west coasts mostly. ultra scarcity. extreme 1st world circumstances. away from that it's.......different.
the used car market is very healthy since COVID inflation. big gap between used and new car prices. whether leased or purchased. then there is the Government subsidized EV leases which are a reality unto themselves. your tax dollars at work. hope that goes completely away. let the marketplace find it's own level and not have law makers choose market winners.
selling expensive loudspeakers "used" has a double whammy.......big initial cost and then the size and logistics so lacks the relative ease of electronics transactions. so it's a totally buyers market.....gravity of the difficulty holding it back.
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Gee, my current two channel speakers are over 30 years old, Vandersteen 3A Signatures. Have been fantastic and are finally being replaced by the new Quatro CT Evos which will outlast me I am sure. The 3’s will eventually be shipped to another home we have.
Houses can be easy to sell, you can get offers in a week and often make money not lose it. So nothing brilliant about that post. And too brand dependent what the used price is. These are very different markets.
Hifi shops / the market is saturated with loudspeakers they are everywhere in the shop and take a lot of space .
So its kinda understandable dealers are very hesitant to try something new
So its kinda understandable dealers are very hesitant to try something new
I would be thankful if you directly answered my posts and did not use other posters messages to post snarky comments. I contribute when I think I have something worth it to post. I will surely not post on houses prices.
I used to sell more speakers than any other component, they weren't silly money though..
Of course the reason high-end is dying is digitally sourced systems don't warrant the high investment.
Elliot G.
Industry Expert
The point is well taken. I would absolutely try many more speakers if I could lease them for a few months at a time before buying.
I have read some responses on this post. I understood it a little bit different.I agree with what you wrote.
I didn’t look at prices or market demands. Myself I have bought 3 or 4 (if I include our summerhouse) houses / apartments in total and I tried to count the number of cars we bought. Stopped with 15. Isn’t that in line with other comments? We change electronics more often than loudspeakers. In my view the statement is correct.
Sad that MSB has financial problems. Hopefully someone will make them staying in business. Their loudspeakers have always impressed me and design wise also my wife. If I change loudspeakers she would prefer MSB or Oden, the horn loudspeakers. She likes their design.
My background is CFO, so lacking technical skill but I think there are much less production synergies manufacturing loudspeakers compared to electronics. Even between different types of electronics (DAC, amplifiers etc) there should be synergies in components and production. I believe that is not the case manufacturing loudspeakers. So much tougher.
Elliot G.
Industry Expert
So lets look at that. If you could rent a pair of speakers lets say per month what would you be willing to pay for that. Just to be interesting lets say the speakers have a retail price of 100,000.
delivery and pick up?
I think this is an interesting point to discuss
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