[flargosa]

The most I have seen was $50 off, but it is still $1k+. The prices looks high enough to accommodate discounts. Anybody seen their customs discounted 20 - 30% off?

 

[hockeyb213]

not going to happen really they have no reason to discount as long as their still getting plenty of orders

 

[xz123]

It would be interesting to know roughly what the profit margin for the UE 11 is, for example. Looking at Livewires etc, the mere material+working cost should be much lower than the selling price. Even if the UE 11 were much harder to create than the Livewires. hearyourself, freq etc.

 

[flargosa]

I would think the cost of materials would be roughly the same as other customs. Unless the drivers are custom made specifically for UE, it shouldn't cost that much more. I'm guessing the price is due to brand recognition, first in market, and maybe that little bit of SQ compared to other customs.

 

[mark_h]

UE have some patented driver magic stuf that is exclusive to them!

 

[chef8489]

There is no need to discount them as their primary customers are musicians and use them as monitors. They were one of the first custom monitor companies so why bother. They will always have a lot of business.

 

[ClieOS]

Part of the high price tag is intended for musician. UE uses a special 3D scanning process to keep all their custom mold in digital format. The actual mold making is contracted to another company that specializes in creating mold from virtual copy. Once the mold is made, it is shipped back to UE for the final assembly. Since all the mold are digitized, any musician that loses or damages his/her custom on tour can get one made really fast and deliver to them in no time, hence why UE keeps a high price tag for their service. It is not like we made million dollars a year.

 

[Taikero]

The answer is the price will be whatever the market for a product can hold.

In slightly simpler words: If people will pay for it, they'll charge it!

 

[Signal2Noise]

Are you a Rockstar?

If so, then yes, you will get a discount.

 

[flargosa]

No discounts huh? In Marketing there is a theory which states that the higher a product is priced the higher its perceived quality. This is common practice in the auto industry and also seems like something practice in the audio cable industry as well. I would think UE is using pricing as a strategy to increase its perceived value. Smart for them, but not too good for some of us customers.

 

[hockeyb213]

Well I think most would agree that ue makes the best or one of the best iem's on the market therefore, the quality and sq are somewhat better then elsewhere

 

[bozebuttons]

At last years Can Jam UE offered a 20% discount on customs .Had 7 days to decide after Canjam before the offer expired.
I took advantage & bought my UE11s with the 20% discount.

 

[EyeAmEye]

If recent trends continue, UE may be forced to change its pricing structure. The last year has seen many new companies enter the custom market with excellent IEM that are 1/3 of the UE11 price. The new Westone 3 also proves that universal IEMs can keep pace as well.

I love my UE11, but in all honesty, there is no justification for the obscene pricetag, other than the average consumer getting bled dry so UE can comp the entire US Olympic basketball team.

 

[Taikero]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EyeAmEye /img/forum/go_quote.gif If recent trends continue, UE may be forced to change its pricing structure. The last year has seen many new companies enter the custom market with excellent IEM that are 1/3 of the UE11 price. The new Westone 3 also proves that universal IEMs can keep pace as well. I love my UE11, but in all honesty, there is no justification for the obscene pricetag, other than the average consumer getting bled dry so UE can comp the entire US Olympic basketball team.

At the point UE has to lower prices, I'm sure they will make a new $1000 custom IEM. Their current one is $1000 partly because of the clientele they service. No (real and/or superficial) celebrity/rock star/etc. wants to be seen with headphones that cost only a few hundred.

 

[graj08]

true. I've always seen the UE customs as a sort of 'exclusive' headphone and that you pay a premium for the name. They're not like the 'regular' customs like HY, Sleek, and Livewires. And Freq, if they ever come back.