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Thread: Is it me or is Hi-Fi getting even more over priced ?

  1. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sherwood View Post
    Although it not unusual for manufacturers to introduce a product at a high price to extract maximum revenues from early adopters only to discount that product heavily later on the pretext of introducing a new model.

    Geoff
    But you rarely see this much now outside of the fashion industry. Manufacturers keep very coy about new products and sometimes the new product designed to replace the older unit is brought out at a higher price before the old stock is exhausted making sure the old one still sells and it now looks even more attractive. Once sold out the new product price remains. I can only think of games consoles that lower the price of old models to clear stock.
    David.

  2. #32
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    Quote Originally Posted by swampy View Post
    To be more accurate that particular sector of market they are aiming at will sustain.
    Yeah, it is true of any particular sector in retail in the UK and quite possibly elsewhere on the planet.

  3. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by swampy View Post
    But you rarely see this much now outside of the fashion industry. Manufacturers keep very coy about new products and sometimes the new product designed to replace the older unit is brought out at a higher price before the old stock is exhausted making sure the old one still sells and it now looks even more attractive. Once sold out the new product price remains. I can only think of games consoles that lower the price of old models to clear stock.
    I have heard from various connections that the cosmetics industry for example has a margin frequently around 400%. Pharmaceuticals sustain an obscene margin.

  4. #34
    Join Date: May 2016

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    Quote Originally Posted by swampy View Post
    But you rarely see this much now outside of the fashion industry. Manufacturers keep very coy about new products and sometimes the new product designed to replace the older unit is brought out at a higher price before the old stock is exhausted making sure the old one still sells and it now looks even more attractive. Once sold out the new product price remains. I can only think of games consoles that lower the price of old models to clear stock.
    I'll agree it less common now than it was thirty years ago, but Richer Sounds still regularly sell older models at reduced prices (e.g. Wharfedale Diamond speakers). I remember you could get some fantastic bargains from Richer when they started in the late seventies. I bought a Toshiba Aurex tuner in their London Bridge store for peanuts and very good it was too! Morgan Computers in Tottenham Court Road used to operate on a similar business model but now offer very few bargains as on online site.

    geoff

  5. #35
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  6. #36
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    Quote Originally Posted by southall-1998 View Post
    Three minutes of my life I won't get back.
    Buy Bose...And get your parking validated!.

    https://youtu.be/ZCBe7-6rw4M

    No Highs...No Lows....It Must Be Bose!

  7. #37
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    When will the population at large stop being led by the nose into compulsive consumption?

  8. #38
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    I'm Geoff.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pharos View Post
    When will the population at large stop being led by the nose into compulsive consumption?
    When they run out of money during the next recession, which could be along at any time.
    It is impossible for anything digital to sound analogue, because it isn't analogue!

  9. #39
    Join Date: May 2016

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    I'm Geoff.

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    Quote Originally Posted by southall-1998 View Post
    I think the commentator is a bit confused here. The hypothesis of diminishing marginal returns simply postulates that the price performance ratio is not linear and that after a certain point the incremental increase in performance for every additional pound spent will begin to fall. The commentator accepts this and goes further to say that for him that point is reached very early (i.e. around $300). Of course, with hi fi, performance is ultimately highly subjective, and each of us will differ in terms of how we score a particular hi-fi system. Nonetheless, most of us recognise that beyond a particular price point we have to spend more and more to get increasingly small improvements in performance. The hypothesis also implicitly assumes that we are getting the best performance possible at any given price point. The commentator seems to acknowledge that his $16,000 system, whilst good, is bettered by other $16,000 systems he has heard.

    Coming back to the original thread, I think that the hyper-inflation in hi-fi prices has less to do with price-performance factors than with price-satisfaction factors. No one will seriously claim that a £20,000 speaker is 100 times better in performance terms than a £200 speaker. However, some people will subjectively value the increased performance to be sufficiently worthwhile to spend the higher figure because they can commit those funds without compromising other purchases that they also value. For others, and this is where I think we come back on thread, performance considerations are largely secondary to the satisfaction they get from owning something that boosts their egos or impresses their friends. In this case, diminishing marginal returns are largely irrelevant!

    This has reminded me of when I purchased my Rogers LS3/5a's for £150 around 40 years ago. Although a friend at the time was highly impressed with the sound quality of the LS3/5a's, he was ultimately appalled that I should spend so much on such "piddly shoe boxes" when I could have bought some proper "stonking crates" that would be seriously impressive! I guess we are all different in what motivates our purchasing decisions.

    Geoff

  10. #40
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    Quote Originally Posted by walpurgis View Post
    When they run out of money during the next recession, which could be along at any time.
    During WWII arms manufacturers and black marketeers did very well. During any recession, there are also winners as well as losers. I would guess there are enough of the former to keep the super expensive hi-fi market ticking over! How, many Chinese and Russian billionaires are there now?

    Geoff

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