Has High-End Audio's escalating MSRPs gone off the rails?

[tdelahanty]

Super expensive gear is interesting and is fascinating to see what can be done. It may be more difficult and a greater achievement to create something extraordinary that is affordable for most people.

[Audiophilehi]

Yes, way off the rails and down in a ditch! Im very happy with what I have now and the direction that the industry is going will make me stay this way.

[miner]

I, too, agree with all that has been stated above. For most of my adult life (40+ yrs) I have had a new car every two yrs., and this is for two cars, so essentially one new car a year. That has changed - my Acura RLX hybrid is 6 yrs old and wife’s 540i is 5 yrs old. As I get closer to my retirement the newest is less important. With that said I have bought more audio in the past six yrs than I care to admit.

[Famester V1]

Most of my equipment is pre-owned, or if new, then I bought it on sale/discounted.
If it wasn't for my meeting several individuals that deal in used equipment, I would still be playing my college system.
There are a few items that warranted purchasing new, but the depreciation is unreal.
Yet, prices for new items keep going up until they don't sell.

[tima]

Yes, prices have gotten out of hand.

There are lots of excellent values in older or used components.

Top-of-the-line versions are used to attract attention to the manufacturer and get press coverage. For some items the manufacturer only needs to sell a handful. If the price for a given component is unjustified for whatever reason, it will have low sales and/or low interest. I'm inclined to let the market work.

I always think about resale value.

[clpetersen]

This seems to be true for many items - often about exclusivity. Watches, cars, audio, and (if you're Saudi), golfers and footballers too.

[SCAudiophile]

Yes,...prices are definitely out of whack, and far too many seem to be stratifying in certain bands very conveniently, a clearly suspect occurrence.

"This seems to be true for many items - often about exclusivity - " cars, watches, etc.

Plenty of that here, too.

[SCAudiophile]

"I recall a thread where Charles mentioned various manufacturers charge stratospheric prices for their offerings but lack the performance/value compared to their segment competitors..."

Absolutely agree...