Expensive or Insane? Where to draw the line.

[jrhymeammo]

I'm suprised to read this from a person who used to be a VP of Marking department.

Those flagship products are used to display their technology to the consumers who will ultimately purchase their entry-level products, such as the Emotion, Solution, and Champion. But instead, we ought to be grateful that they offer $150K turntable cuz 99% of learned techs and gizmo are trickled down to their $3000 TT. If anything, the Statement is just a prototype they chose to sell.

[emaidel]

I'm suprised to read this from a person who used to be a VP of Marking department.

.

At all the various companies I worked for, unless we had outrageous sums of money we chose to waste on the engineering, design, development and manufacturing of a "statement" product, we'd use those funds instead for products people would actually buy and use.

When I first joined BSR (who owned ADC and dbx at the time), I was horrified to realize the amount of design and engineering $$$ that were spent/wasted on the development of the dbx Soundfield one loudspeaker. Regardless of how successful that speaker was (and it wasn't), none of the sales of it, or any of the other speakers in the dbx lineup ever justified the initial expense. While the concept of "soundfield imaging" was novel (a perfect stereo image anyplace in the room, including next to and behind either of the two speakers), the world simply wasn't clamoring for such a design concept and reacted to it with a huge yawn. dbx never recovered that money.

I would have to feel much the same towards a $150,000 turntable, unless the manufacturing cost of that turntable were a mere fraction of its purported selling price.

Arguably, the Mercedes S-500 is one of the finest automobiles made in the world. It offers one of the quietest, and most serene rides of any car manufactured anywhere, along with a combination of driver/automobile involvement that has few peers. The fit and finish of the car is flawless, and it's a stunning looking car as well. Last time I looked, a reasonably equipped S-500 sold for just over $72,000. Fully loaded models were in the high $80,000's. One could purchase two of these 'statement" vehicles for the price of the ClearAudio turntable. That's something I just can't accept, though I can understand why others can.

[E-Stat]

Last time I looked, a reasonably equipped S-500 sold for just over $72,000. Fully loaded models were in the high $80,000's.

The *entry* level one is now $89k and the high end S65 is $198k. Now, if you want the top-of-the-line Mercedes product, that would be the Maybach S62 S which goes for a cool $432k.

rw

[audio amateur]

Arguably, the Mercedes S-500 is one of the finest automobiles made in the world. It offers one of the quietest, and most serene rides of any car manufactured anywhere, along with a combination of driver/automobile involvement that has few peers. The fit and finish of the car is flawless, and it's a stunning looking car as well. Last time I looked, a reasonably equipped S-500 sold for just over $72,000. Fully loaded models were in the high $80,000's. One could purchase two of these 'statement" vehicles for the price of the ClearAudio turntable. That's something I just can't accept, though I can understand why others can.

Pardon me asking, but what is so exceptional about an S500? If anything, the S65 AMG is better and although neither of them aren't fine, I wouldn't classify them as part of the finest.