Expensive !!$$$$$$

marvda1 · July 9

Now I see why some of this stuff costs so much.

verb · July 9

Love the machining! Those chassis are built like tanks!

steveinaz · July 9

The Swiss are amazing craftsmen. Been there, twice.

Clipdat · July 9

Check out the CH Precision monoblocks in this room at Axpona with the realtime wattage display screens:

Joey_V · July 10

I still don’t see why they cost so much
Much of it is mark up
And a lot of it is priced to keep a certain “air” about them.

Willow · July 10

Joey_V wrote: »

I still don’t see why they cost so much
Much of it is mark up
And a lot of it is priced to keep a certain “air” about them.

Pretty much goes for almost everything out there

VR3 · July 10

Way to many gizzy wizzies in that thing

Joey_V · July 10

Willow wrote: »

Joey_V wrote: »

I still don’t see why they cost so much
Much of it is mark up
And a lot of it is priced to keep a certain “air” about them.

Pretty much goes for almost everything out there

To a point, but I believe audiophile products in particular are priced to meet expectation rather than the materials or engineering itself.

DSkip · July 10

Joey_V wrote: »

Willow wrote: »

Joey_V wrote: »

I still don’t see why they cost so much
Much of it is mark up
And a lot of it is priced to keep a certain “air” about them.

Pretty much goes for almost everything out there

To a point, but I believe audiophile products in particular are priced to meet expectation rather than the materials or engineering itself.

I disagree.

heiney9 · July 10

R & D costs a lot these days. As an example Nelson Pass will sit a tweak a design for months even a year by listening, testing, tweaking, listening, more listening and tweaking....that time has got to be worth something especially if it's a higher end piece that might only sell 1000 units or less over it's life span.

Superb materials have become very expensive as well, cases, heat sinks, precision design and machining of products...…..all have a hefty price compared to run of the mill mass produced stuff.

Perhaps not on the level of a handcrafted Ferrari, but somewhere in the middle.....

H9

P.S. As high end gear goes, his is pretty reasonably priced comparatively.

Joey_V · July 11

DSkip wrote: »

Joey_V wrote: »

Willow wrote: »

Joey_V wrote: »

I still don’t see why they cost so much
Much of it is mark up
And a lot of it is priced to keep a certain “air” about them.

Pretty much goes for almost everything out there

To a point, but I believe audiophile products in particular are priced to meet expectation rather than the materials or engineering itself.

I disagree.

Cable prices
Rack prices - an HRS MX is $20,000?
What about high end amplifiers. Is there really a reason a D Agostino Relentless is $300,000?

It’s well known that audio manufacturers cater their pricing to a perceived value from a certain crowd. They know pricing a product at $100,000 looks better to say their big customers in China for example.

DSkip · July 11

No. They build to the price point. There are always outliers but the value in those products is there. You think there is less markup on midfi? There isn’t.

In the case of special edition or top tier products there is probably more profit on paper but less margin after R&D.

marvda1 · July 11

besides r&d look at all the machinery and buildings they had to purchase and upfront cash to purchase inventory in bulk to get prices down. employee wages, utilities, duty fees, distributor markups. and least not forget economy of scale, they are not selling sony quantities.

DSkip · July 11

It is true they don’t build six figure components for the us market. It’s all for Asia. However it doesn’t make them severely marked up.

txcoastal1 · July 11

Why do you think it's called "The rabbit hole"

Just like any other hobby is not cheap...ie golf, and cars

Joey_V · July 11

Definitely a rabbit hole

Joey_V · July 11

Markup is there for high end speakers

For example a Sonus Faber AIDA. 7 drivers I believe? Bigger cabinet but something that isn’t out of the realm for their craftsmen who are already accustomed to building tons of normal and slightly larger size enclosures, cost? $165,000.

And how does a single level rack command a price of $2000?

It’s all craziness

DSkip · July 11

Joey_V wrote: »

Markup is there for high end speakers

For example a Sonus Faber AIDA. 7 drivers I believe? Bigger cabinet but something that isn’t out of the realm for their craftsmen who are already accustomed to building tons of normal and slightly larger size enclosures, cost? $165,000.

And how does a single level rack command a price of $2000?

It’s all craziness

It's what it takes to compete at such levels. There is a TON of technology and knowledge gained through R&D in those racks - the good ones at least. You don't just slap one together. I'm not sure why there is this frustration with racks and platforms costing so much just because they are 'passive' devices.

If all you've got is wood shelving then no, they're completely overpriced.

PSOVLSK · July 11

DSkip wrote: »

Joey_V wrote: »

Willow wrote: »

Joey_V wrote: »

I still don’t see why they cost so much
Much of it is mark up
And a lot of it is priced to keep a certain “air” about them.

Pretty much goes for almost everything out there

To a point, but I believe audiophile products in particular are priced to meet expectation rather than the materials or engineering itself.

I disagree.

I agree with your disagree.

mhardy6647 · July 11

PSOVLSK wrote: »

DSkip wrote: »

Joey_V wrote: »

Willow wrote: »

Joey_V wrote: »

I still don’t see why they cost so much
Much of it is mark up
And a lot of it is priced to keep a certain “air” about them.

Pretty much goes for almost everything out there

To a point, but I believe audiophile products in particular are priced to meet expectation rather than the materials or engineering itself.

I disagree.

I agree with your disagree.

hard to argue with that

kharp1 · July 11

mhardy6647 wrote: »

PSOVLSK wrote: »

DSkip wrote: »

Joey_V wrote: »

Willow wrote: »

Joey_V wrote: »

I still don’t see why they cost so much
Much of it is mark up
And a lot of it is priced to keep a certain “air” about them.

Pretty much goes for almost everything out there

To a point, but I believe audiophile products in particular are priced to meet expectation rather than the materials or engineering itself.

I disagree.

I agree with your disagree.

hard to argue with that

I agree with your hard to argue with his agreeing with his disagree of the original disagree.

audioluvr · July 11

kharp1 wrote: »

mhardy6647 wrote: »

PSOVLSK wrote: »

DSkip wrote: »

Joey_V wrote: »

Willow wrote: »

Joey_V wrote: »

I still don’t see why they cost so much
Much of it is mark up
And a lot of it is priced to keep a certain “air” about them.

Pretty much goes for almost everything out there

To a point, but I believe audiophile products in particular are priced to meet expectation rather than the materials or engineering itself.

I disagree.

I agree with your disagree.

hard to argue with that

I agree with your hard to argue with his agreeing with his disagree of the original disagree.

Agreed?

nooshinjohn · July 12

I can agree with Skip on this... the cost to develop new product is crazy.

Joey_V · July 12

I will disagree with your agree to agree to disagree.

decal · July 12

So let's leave it alone 'cause we can't see eye to eye
There ain't no good guy, there ain't no bad guy
There's only you and me and we just disagree

mhardy6647 · July 12

kharp1 wrote: »

mhardy6647 wrote: »

PSOVLSK wrote: »

DSkip wrote: »

Joey_V wrote: »

Willow wrote: »

Joey_V wrote: »

I still don’t see why they cost so much
Much of it is mark up
And a lot of it is priced to keep a certain “air” about them.

Pretty much goes for almost everything out there

To a point, but I believe audiophile products in particular are priced to meet expectation rather than the materials or engineering itself.

I disagree.

I agree with your disagree.

hard to argue with that

I agree with your hard to argue with his agreeing with his disagree of the original disagree.

Well put.

BlueFox · July 12

The market for this gear is so small that there is no way to reduce the price and make a profit. I have visited Magico’s factory, and it is clean and functional, not luxurious. The employees seemed content, but I doubt they make more than other manufacturing employees in the area. Also, Magico is in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is one of the highest cost of living areas in the country.

JayCee · July 12

BlueFox wrote: »

Magico is in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is one of the highest cost of living areas in the country.

I've traveled extensively in Switzerland. Also, been all over the world and have to say Switzerland is uber expensive in comparison to even the neighboring countries.

With respect to CH Precision, this has to significantly affect their production costs. Definitely a high end audio company but would be interesting to know what they'd be priced at if not based in Switzerland.

USD to CHF is about even; $1.02 to 1.00 CHF ....

"Average salary in Switzerland: The average salary in Switzerland is among the highest in the world, but so too is the cost of living..."
https://www.expatica.com/ch/employment/employment-law/swiss-minimum-wage-and-average-salary-in-switzerland-995110/

Median annual Swiss salary is 114,084 CHF
http://www.salaryexplorer.com/salary-survey.php?loc=210&loctype=1

In comparison, the US median annual income is $46,644 (includes seasonal adjustments).
https://www.thestreet.com/personal-finance/average-income-in-us-14852178

Move production to China?????

High end audio for the masses at an affordable cost. LOL.

joecoulson · July 12

A greed

daddyjt · July 12

BlueFox wrote: »

...Also, Magico is in the San Francisco Bay Area...

Wow - unless they’ve been there for decades, I can’t imagine why they would locate there. From a purely business standpoint, it would seem that production there would add significantly to both the cost of production, and the end price.

Clipdat · July 13

As far as I know, Magico has always been located in Hayward, CA.

Expensive !!$$$$$$

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