World's best midrange Blind Testing - Need your help.

source? what's the ratio of DIY driver prices to wholesale?
at the other end of the spectrum I see lots of very good complete speakers for less than the cost of DIY components. bespoke Vs economies of scale.

DIY driver prices are quite misleading in terms of how much things cost at a wholesale level. This gets even more pronounced when drivers are made in house by the company itself, such as B&W and KEF.

The 10:1 scale is usually the one that is quoted time and time again for most reasonably expensive pairs of loudspeakers. So if it costs $10,000, then it cost the company $1000 to actually make. Half of this flat off comes from the retailer. From what I've been told the retailer will double the wholesale price straight off the bat. So if they are charging $10,000 for a pair of loudspeakers they will have purchased them for around $5000. The other $4000 goes towards peoples wages, marketing and shipping.

When you think of it in those terms you realise how cheaply a company like B&W can actually make a pair of their 800D2s. And also when looked at in these terms it isn't so surprising to find that the YG acoustics loudspeakers cost what they do. Setting up aluminium tooling, such as they use, is phenomenally expensive. Their Carmel 2 costs around $25,000. To them $2500. This is actually in line with what you'd expect.
 
audiophile dealer markup ( split) for 50% is the same as " fine art" dealers. LOL
Thx I just wanted the OP to give a source for his numbers.
I reckon it's sort of like asking the painter how much a tube of oil paint is haha


Sources are very good. 😉

But don't take my word for cash, check by yourself. Many manufacturers are using public available drivers. You can do the math. Wholesale discount vary from 25% to 60%.

In-house drivers can be cheaper if made in very large volume, but most of the time the R&D costs makes it the same or more expensive. But since the design is exclusive, it has marketing value.
 
It can vary a lot from manufacturer/distributor/retailer to another, but let's put a realistic example here:

Manufacturer's cost: 5,000$ /pair (total: including packaging, R&D but NOT overhead fees)

Manufacturer's sale price: 10,000$ /pair

Distributor sale price: 15,000$/pair

Retailer sale price: 25,000$/pair

----------------

That's an example only. Numbers can vary.
Keep in mind that ALL of these companies can have only 5-15% net profit at the end of a typical (good) year. And bankruptcy awaits if sales volume is not good enough.
 
Distributor sale price: 15,000$/pair
Retailer sale price: 25,000$/pair

I don't know about today but 15-20 years ago the profit margin on cheapo mass-market speakers was very high. I worked for a big electronic retailer in Canada and i have seen speakers retailing for 899$ with a cost price of 250$.

Usually, higher is the retail price, the less % profit margin is. You probably won't see 50% margin on 100k speakers....

Also, notorious manufacturers can reduce the gap. I wouldnt be surprised to see B&W 20,000$ speakers with a retailer cost of 15,000$ of even more. Because the B&W brand alone can drive traffic in the shop...
 
Audio retailers in the high end typically markup up 100%. (ie double) the price they pay. If you think that is a rip off ask who is getting wealthy. There are more dealers on the verge of broke than wealthy. Compared to the mass consumer market volumes are small. Same as other luxury markets... fancy yachts, cars etc.
 
Sources are very good. 😉

sorry your credibility is sinking further n further.

Many manufacturers are using public available drivers.
that's not to my knowledge except for maybe the tiniest no name brands.
FWIW Any large orders >1K and you can customize just about any "standard" driver to your specs. There are what, about less than a dozen major OEMs left in DIY land and the big boys have all theirs in house or captive manufacturing.
you cant generalize like yer doin, there are just too many market segments. jeeze some of you guys pullin dumb numbers out yer butts.
 
sorry your credibility is sinking further n further.


that's not to my knowledge except for maybe the tiniest no name brands.
FWIW Any large orders >1K and you can customize just about any "standard" driver to your specs. There are what, about less than a dozen major OEMs left in DIY land and the big boys have all theirs in house or captive manufacturing.
you cant generalize like yer doin, there are just too many market segments. jeeze some of you guys pullin dumb numbers out yer butts.

🙄

yours just reached zero.

...why do i even lose my time giving you an answer ? no, seriously...

Scan-speak, ATC, Audio technology, Peerless, SB acoustics, etc... Do you really think these company relies only on DIY market and ''tiniest no brand name co.'' ?

Now, please, there is a lot of threads you can go. Leave that one for the adults.
 
look yoScan-speak, ATC, Audio technology, Peerless, SB acoustics, etc... Do you really think these company relies only on DIY market and ''tiniest no brand name co.'' ?
u wanted me to do the "math" based on your silly statement that speaker designers use DIY sourced drivers, now yer flipping it around. sheesh
Leave that one for the adults
boy when the youngsters use that as their argument against a grey beard they reached the bottom.
 
exactly like my mothers basement
k

this is dumb
high end market is NOT driven by components costs. only the dealers know what they can sell to their client... its like the fu fu art market ( and they split the prices 50/50 exactly the same deal )
> you cant price fine art paintings by pricing artists oil paint and the coverage / sq in
 
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k

this is dumb
high end market is NOT driven by components costs. only the dealers know what they can sell to their client... its like the fu fu art market ( and they split the prices 50/50 exactly the same deal )
> you cant price fine art paintings by pricing artists oil paint and the coverage / sq in

Size-based painting pricing is very common; square inch or linear inch

Maybe you have another topic to discuss ? What about Bordeaux and Bourgogne wines this time ? 🙄


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