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What makes a $20,000 cd player cost 20,000?

Hi,
Listened to a Linn Sondeck CD12 (sp?) a few years back and the thing amazed me.
Was expecting that digital player development would continue to progress and that this level of performance would become available in the 2-5,000 range. It appears to me that redbook cd player development has stagnated, so I wanted to run a couple questions by for a sanity check.
1. Is there anything in the design or manufacture of top notch cd players that neccessarily results in stratospheric production costs?
2. Has anything come out in the last two or three years that really struck you as raising the bar in the price to performace ratio?
Happy listening.
jeff_jones
stehno
1,453 posts
 
To go along with Boa2's statement, I've heard from a very reliable source that there currently is none better than the APL. And apparently it's rather inexpensive in comparison.
aida_w
308 posts
 
Oh - all these "reliable sources" - give me a break. Your question about the price is easy to answer. Part of it is research, part of it is development, part of it is cost no object design, which means material, hand selected electronical parts etc.. Part of it is man power i.e. hand work and part of it is exclusivity and/or hype. But - hey, that all applies to ANY high end stuff, or do you really think that a 5er BMW f.e. is "worth" the money they ask? I'm driving one at the moment because my MINI has electronic ailment. The Beamer is a WONDERFUL car, but not worth 65.000! Ok, and here is my "reliable source": WADIA 270/27ix upgraded by Great Northern - forget anything else.
Happy listening!
tgrisham
1,179 posts
 
Incredibly wealthy people who don't mind spending that much money on one component of their system!
jay_douglas_2879b79
239 posts
 
the marketplace...when they don't sell enough they won't be made, or the same player will sell for far less. such is the consumer electronics industry. redbook cd software is still improving more dramatically than hardware.
pataburd's avatar
pataburd
31 posts
 
More than perhaps anything else, willing buyers make a cd player cost $20K. I personally don't believe that material, production, design and marketing costs warrant such a price to the consumer.

Buy a Toshiba DVD-4960 for about $100, then have Ric Schultz at EVS (www.tweakaudio.com) modify it for $350. This may very well be the end of your upgrade path.
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