Why is the price of new tonearms so high

There are various reasons
Marketing
the higher the price the more people think "it has to be good"
Mark up
The higher it is, the more dealers are interested to get it
Quantity
Analog sales are not comparable to those 10 years ago
Quality
Today we have much better machines, more precise and cheaper in production *aehm* did I miss something?

I know most arms, or listened to them, most are not worth their high price (from performance in comparison to other but I am afraid, no one is interested in that).
Analog is on the way to become a "Boutique Product", it's nice to have, the next step of "My Horse-My House-My Boat and it is better to sell 5 units for a very high price than 30 for lower price, less work, less discussions and for final one can say:"Well, you know, it is NOT for everyone"

Price has -unfortunately- not a direct link to Performance.
Marketing has own rules :-)

Unfortunately most do not understand what they "hear", so most discussions are not worth the time.
Most want to believe in something, in something modern, in something expensive, to a "Guide" or whatever. But it is so simple, go out, buy those units, compare them with records before Reissues became a "Standard".
I have those Arms and I did. Others too. It is is normal, some will never get it. NEVER. Not in this life, nor the next. That is normal.
When you don't hear the difference, fine, when you hear a difference, fine, too.
When you need to spend a lot of money, because you feel better that you can afford something the other one can't, fine too. Most do that. That's for most a kind of satisfaction, for showing others "look, I am the greatest music LOVER..."this is the normal business.
It is not necessary to change the world, but sometimes - not always - it can be interesting to go a different route, Hardware is for most a kind of Altar, a secret, a Holy Grail...they pray to it, they want it to look nice, expensive, important etc.
But when this is over and the needle touches the groove...then a new chapter starts....:-)

The "flat Tire" .....

or

HIGH END

:-)

Huh, that hurts

Yes, it is true. Some never get. Not in this life, nor in the next.
Let's go back to the pricing of the new tonearms.
Raul, do you have one?
Or two?
I would like to read something different from you. ewhen possible, something useful on this topic. Enlighten me.
Just a little bit.

All,
does the world need yet another tonearm, I ask?
Me, - I'm not so sure actually.

Hi you,
all is said since Side 1 in this Thread but let's repeat.
You can try it very easily:
you have SME, go out and buy a Phantom Arm with SME mount and do a comparison.
When you hear no difference: great, you save a lot of money in future
When you hear a difference: great, but for what?
In my experience from the last 10 years when I listened to many Systems and spoke with owners I can say, even in very expensive systems it is possible you can't hear a difference between Arm A and Arm B, Cartridge A or Cartridge B, when the System itself is limited all components are stopped at this limit. You can hear a little change but not the whole.
Most of these owners do a kind of description they read somewhere in a magazine, they stored it in their brain and after some time they reproduce it as a quality fact.
Based on that they sit in front of their Altar and want to spend money. They want to move on. But they don't want to sell their overpriced crap because it has got so many "super reviews" and all others "know" this brand and they are a serious audiophile in public.
When owning everything and knowing that it is more or less the same (stop, they don't know it, when they would know they would make a decision to go a real step ahead) they look for the wonder component, the one which makes the whole Systems 3x better than every Live-Performance.
This wonder unit can't be cheap. It has to be expensive. Wrong. More than expensive.
Limited.
And super expensive. Only that gives the guarantee that all others look up to my lips and this makes the audiophile world running.
We want it to, but we can't afford it. but some day, or in the next life, I will buy a Lyra "Olympos" (or Allaerts or a 50K Koetsu) too and I feel good.
Only this can give the real turn around in reproduction.
Ahem, can I do a pre-order (heheh, I am joking...)?

question is..... what does this tell us about the high prices of todays tonearms......
Cheers,
D.

Nothing.
But we don't die stupid.
Audiogon is great.

If a new Top-high-end tonearm is introduced and his price tag is half of the big Continuum, new DaVinci, Air Tangent (still around ?) etc. - no one will take it seriously.
In other words: you introduce the "best universal tonearm" ( NOT my words...) to the market and put a retail price tag on it of US$3890,-.
There are hundreds of potential buyers on this planet who won't take it seriously and will not even consider buying it to test.
No matter how fancy the cosmetics - no matter if its coming in a cherished antique finish wooden presentation box with gold plated dressings.
You put a price tag of US$20 000,- on the very same tonearm and you will sell 3 dozens to the far east market (and to Russia...) in the first 3 weeks.
Why ?
Because with this price tag the tonearm does transport a huge image, status and "face" to its buyer.

This tonearm exists, I mean an actual one, made from a real clever man who tries to move the curtain for years, but from marketing aspects he is too good for this world.
I made all comparisons and when I take as a standard a piece of wood with 2 strings and a magnet which is sold for 7k today and I do a Performance (coloration, true tone, Frequency response, Set up, Alignment etc.)/Price comparison, than this actual Arm is easily worth 20K.
Easily.
But you need a good System to get that result.

Let's wait what happens
I guess, some of you will continue to learn and I'm afraid, D. will have a good time with his wife instead and after that, with his System.
Life is not fair.

Alea jacta est!

Axel, you don't get it.
How about a new hobby?
Watching chinese TV can be very interesting