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What has happened to (small) speaker prices

Del monaco said:
My wife has Macs. Very nice. But my Dell wipes the floor with them. And I can fix or add things easily. When my wife’s Mac goes wrong, it’s endless disbelief.
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Ha ha ha, yes, buggerd if I can understand it. Years ago my son got a brand new iMac, my sister worked for Intel and Apple had just started using Intel chips so she gave him money towards it. Screen failed, vertical lines, and DVD drive packed in. After a lot of wrangling with Apple it got fixed but the process was enlightening. Realizing the potential cost of sticking with Apple, he sold it and with the money he got built a much higher spec PC.

But meanwhile, back at the ranch. Yeah, new stuff is expensive. You don't need to buy it? Hi-Fi is a luxury few people in the world can afford. Complaining that bread is expensive, justifiable. Moaning that shiny new loudspeakers, which are probably only fractionally better than the ones you already have, are too expensive? Piss off! :0)
 
Mr Pig said:
Ha ha ha, yes, buggerd if I can understand it. Years ago my son got a brand new iMac, my sister worked for Intel and Apple had just started using Intel chips so she gave him money towards it. Screen failed, vertical lines, and DVD drive packed in. After a lot of wrangling with Apple it got fixed but the process was enlightening. Realizing the potential cost of sticking with Apple, he sold it and with the money he got built a much higher spec PC.

But meanwhile, back at the ranch. Yeah, new stuff is expensive. You don't need to buy it? Hi-Fi is a luxury few people in the world can afford. Complaining that bread is expensive, justifiable. Moaning that shiny new loudspeakers, which are probably only fractionally better than the ones you already have, are too expensive? Piss off! :0)
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An observation rather than a complaint. I was more discussing how some manufacturers get to this price point. And in the end there are people who will pay.They know the audience is there ready to part with their money.
 
Del monaco said:
And in the end there are people who will pay.They know the audience is there ready to part with their money.
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A fool and his money. I think that's a least part of it. More and more companies realizing that they can charge more, just because they can. Buyers only have themselves to blame. £100 training shoes that cost £3 to make? And nobody cares.

Like I said, if you think a product is overpriced, don't buy it.
 
Mr Pig said:
A fool and his money. I think that's a least part of it. More and more companies realizing that they can charge more, just because they can. Buyers only have themselves to blame. £100 training shoes that cost £3 to make? And nobody cares.

Like I said, if you think a product is overpriced, don't buy it.
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My son buys lots of those trainers though he does tend to find best prices and waits until they become less trendy.The prices make me shudder. You could buy a whole hifi set up for the prices of some.
 
Del monaco said:
My son buys lots of those trainers though he does tend to find best prices and waits until they become less trendy.
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When my youngest son was about fifteen he asked for new trainers, costing about £100! I said to him 'OK, but that's more than I would spend on trainers so tell you what. I'll give you half and you can put the rest to it?'. He had plenty of money in the bank but he didn't buy them ;0)
 
We’ve always done it like that for our kids. If they save we add in. The pressure to not stand out is massive for kids nowadays. I remember my daughter wanting a certain jacket for school because all her friends had it. It wasn’t the fashion, it was the need to blend in and fear of being different.
 
chartz said:
I agree. Is there something out there as nice and above all as good and durable as an iMac?
No there isn’t. I guess same goes with quality hi-fi.
The difference is that nice, expensive hi-fi can be bought second-hand!
Cosmetic products are all rip-offs. No exceptions.
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Agree re iMac...Apple stuff just works! I have some issues streaming with my windows based tablet my chrome tablet is better..but my ipad mini..just works! No problems.. nothing to annoy.. Big up for Apple.
 
Mr Pig said:
When my youngest son was about fifteen he asked for new trainers, costing about £100! I said to him 'OK, but that's more than I would spend on trainers so tell you what. I'll give you half and you can put the rest to it?'. He had plenty of money in the bank but he didn't buy them ;0)
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Dont worry , when he inherits, hopefully a long time away..I'm sure those trainers will be bought and waved at your headstone! Lol
 
the caretaker said:
Agree re iMac...Apple stuff just works! I have some issues streaming with my windows based tablet my chrome tablet is better..but my ipad mini..just works! No problems.. nothing to annoy.. Big up for Apple.
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Most PCs just work as well. Most Android devices, just work. Apple users like to convince themselves that they've got something special, and there was a time I think it was true, but today they just have Chinese build tat the same as everyone else.
 
Del monaco said:
These types of products are marketed as ‘covetable’ or ‘enigmatic’. Once you can ‘market’ the product into these echelons, sound quality is no longer the priority. It becomes a ‘pride of ownership/status product’. Linn, Apple and B&O have all managed this and it seems that once you do, the price is your oyster. That’s not saying they are bad products. They aren’t. The question is whether they are good enough to merit the price hike over other very capable products.
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You use a lot of nice words..by the time I have looked them up? I had forgotten the amusing response i was going to use...look , could you use simple words? please..as I feel excluded by my ignorance.and nowadays if someone wants to be known as they or it! That's quite ok..then surely my pig ignorance should be celebrated? Lol
 
the caretaker said:
You use a lot of nice words..by the time I have looked them up? I had forgotten the amusing response i was going to use...look , could you use simple words? please..as I feel excluded by my ignorance.and nowadays if someone wants to be known as they or it! That's quite ok..then surely my pig ignorance should be celebrated? Lol
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I will try to use words that will help you more.
 
Mr Pig said:
Na, he'll have plenty of his own money by them. He got a good job in the defense industry last year so, all going well, he's sorted.
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Brilliant..hope he looks after you when your old..I mean older..ancient! ( now we brexited, we need defense more than ever..I hope your son will save us from those european devils...) ps I'm trying to be funny..please don't take a fence..coz once you take one fence..another will surely follow and those european devils suddenly swarm in..aaargh!
 
Mr Pig said:
When my youngest son was about fifteen he asked for new trainers, costing about £100! I said to him 'OK, but that's more than I would spend on trainers so tell you what. I'll give you half and you can put the rest to it?'. He had plenty of money in the bank but he didn't buy them ;0)
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I had an argument about trainers with my daughter many years ago. She was forever slagging off the USA, capitalism, blah blah blah, then said she 'needed' a certain type of Nike trainers. I pointed out to her the profit made by Nike on every pair made (in the Far East, using cheap labour), how the price and thus Nike's profits were driven up by people like her 'needing' a particular design, and that, moreover, Nike was a US company! That settled her hash.

In fact, we found the pair she wanted and bought them. The next evening, she trod in some dogshit, and left the trainers on the doorstep to dry and air. Some bastard stole them, and, to add insult to injury, left a pair of no-mark shoes in their place!
 
Harbeth’ s share capital has gone from £1.7m to £4.3m in five years. That could be because they are selling a lot more stuff (Alan Shaw has said sales are up 30% since they launched their anniversary series and carried it through to their XD series) so at least an appreciable fraction of that increase is due to increasing sales.
They have also successfully positioned the value premium of their product in the minds of their customers so I imagine they will be charging more retail price per £ of cost (cost plus pricing) than previously. Unfortunately you can’t know for sure because they have complete exemption from report filing with companies house so you cannot see their P&L, which is how you could be sure they are charging more, proportionally speaking, for the same product.
Alan Shaw has been making an annual income of about £120,000 a year from Harbeth (salary of £70k & dividends of between £40k and £50k) though he also owns 100% of the share capital valued at £4.3m. it doesn’t look at all like he’s milking the buisiness. That kind of salary is enjoyed by a lot of far less propductive people.
We do not know the EBIT but I would be pleasantly surprised if that company was making much more than 12%. At an outside bet it might be making 20% and if it is fair play. The opportunity cost for being a UK based entrepreneur in highly technical field like speaker design and manufacturer is huge as are the risks. It’s amazing that Harbeth, Spendor, Graham’s Audio et al even exist at all.
The only fools on this thread are the ones too ignorant to understand how hard it is to be a small manufacturing business anywhere in the world let alone the UK.
 
Joe Hutch said:
I had an argument about trainers with my daughter many years ago. She was forever slagging off the USA, capitalism, blah blah blah, then said she 'needed' a certain type of Nike trainers. I pointed out to her the profit made by Nike on every pair made (in the Far East, using cheap labour), how the price and thus Nike's profits were driven up by people like her 'needing' a particular design, and that, moreover, Nike was a US company! That settled her hash.

In fact, we found the pair she wanted and bought them. The next evening, she trod in some dogshit, and left the trainers on the doorstep to dry and air. Some bastard stole them, and, to add insult to injury, left a pair of no-mark shoes in their place!
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Sounds like the bastard had a sense of humour and a poor sense of smell..
 
Mr Pig said:
Most PCs just work as well. Most Android devices, just work. Apple users like to convince themselves that they've got something special, and there was a time I think it was true, but today they just have Chinese build tat the same as everyone else.
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No...Non...None are as good! A apple a day keeps annoyance away..granted you can see out of a window, but windows get dirty and they need to be washed, so you can see better..never washed my apple? Just turn it off and then on again..works a treat..
 
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