Uncle Erik
Uncle Exotic
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2006
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Quote:
It's all about buying used. You can go to four times the price with anything, my point is that you can bring in a speaker system, amp and all, for less than a HD-800 or a PS-1000. I did. An EL34 based push-pull amp might smell musty to the audio fashionistas, but it works. Same with cables. I don't want to get into the cable wars, but there is no denying that 11 cent per foot lamp cord will deliver power to speakers. I mean, the speakers work if you hook them up with the least expensive stuff you can find. I don't hear or measure any deficiencies with it, either. Maybe the $500 cables add something, but $5 cables will deliver music. My point is that you can piece together a functional and excellent sounding speaker setup for less than a HD-800. Heck, even new gear costs less. A pair of Magnepan MMGs for $600 and a $200 receiver with Radio Shack cables will give you the detail, a lot more soundstage and real bass for about half the cost of a HD-800. Why pay more for less?
The sad thing is that there's no justification for the prices of the HD-800 or PS-1000. They're just massive profit centers, trying to trade on exclusivity. I think Wayne's numbers are in the ballpark for costs - that's about what I come up with, too. Maybe the headphones are excellent, but you have to recognize the luxury marketing beast when you see it. The philosophy there is to put enormous pricetags on stuff knowing that the less technically inclined will associate price with value. If it costs that much, then there must be something to it. Right? Think it over. Look at the costs.
I'll tell you what Sennheiser did. They hired a luxury brand consultant, said that they had new headphones and asked for a way to maximize their margins. The consultant probably nosed around here to figure out the maximim that people would pay for a top-end headphone and went with that price. The price has nothing to do with costs. Then they choked back on the dealers, promised them a load of points (difference between wholesale and retail) and are now floating stories about false shortages. There is no shortage, that's bull. False shortages are created to make a product appear more desireable. Same with the wait for them to ship. The luxury brand consultant is probably having them hold off to whip up hype, build anticipation, and so on. If people got them immediately and a few didn't like them, orders would crash. This way, the early adopters will order and make 2,000 post threads fanning the flames. Rumors of false shortages prompt more to preorder. You are being manipulated for profit.
If you think this is just conspiracy theory, go pick up a marketing textbook. This is all marketing 101. Basic stuff that everyone does. Riding the hype rollercoaster is fun, but you'll feel empty a few months out. The only reason companies do this is to drive profits. Again, read some marketing books. The focus is on profit. Only profit.
| Originally Posted by SleepyOne /img/forum/go_quote.gif That would be nice but somehow not very likely.... Before I ordered my hd800, I did have to consider whether to get speakers or not. And I came to the conclusion that if I do get it, the total cost, including a power amp and cables, would be roughly 4+ times the cost of the hd800 
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It's all about buying used. You can go to four times the price with anything, my point is that you can bring in a speaker system, amp and all, for less than a HD-800 or a PS-1000. I did. An EL34 based push-pull amp might smell musty to the audio fashionistas, but it works. Same with cables. I don't want to get into the cable wars, but there is no denying that 11 cent per foot lamp cord will deliver power to speakers. I mean, the speakers work if you hook them up with the least expensive stuff you can find. I don't hear or measure any deficiencies with it, either. Maybe the $500 cables add something, but $5 cables will deliver music. My point is that you can piece together a functional and excellent sounding speaker setup for less than a HD-800. Heck, even new gear costs less. A pair of Magnepan MMGs for $600 and a $200 receiver with Radio Shack cables will give you the detail, a lot more soundstage and real bass for about half the cost of a HD-800. Why pay more for less?
The sad thing is that there's no justification for the prices of the HD-800 or PS-1000. They're just massive profit centers, trying to trade on exclusivity. I think Wayne's numbers are in the ballpark for costs - that's about what I come up with, too. Maybe the headphones are excellent, but you have to recognize the luxury marketing beast when you see it. The philosophy there is to put enormous pricetags on stuff knowing that the less technically inclined will associate price with value. If it costs that much, then there must be something to it. Right? Think it over. Look at the costs.
I'll tell you what Sennheiser did. They hired a luxury brand consultant, said that they had new headphones and asked for a way to maximize their margins. The consultant probably nosed around here to figure out the maximim that people would pay for a top-end headphone and went with that price. The price has nothing to do with costs. Then they choked back on the dealers, promised them a load of points (difference between wholesale and retail) and are now floating stories about false shortages. There is no shortage, that's bull. False shortages are created to make a product appear more desireable. Same with the wait for them to ship. The luxury brand consultant is probably having them hold off to whip up hype, build anticipation, and so on. If people got them immediately and a few didn't like them, orders would crash. This way, the early adopters will order and make 2,000 post threads fanning the flames. Rumors of false shortages prompt more to preorder. You are being manipulated for profit.
If you think this is just conspiracy theory, go pick up a marketing textbook. This is all marketing 101. Basic stuff that everyone does. Riding the hype rollercoaster is fun, but you'll feel empty a few months out. The only reason companies do this is to drive profits. Again, read some marketing books. The focus is on profit. Only profit.
