WILSON AUDIO/ cost vs. value

Warren...
It has been said that people generally stop spending money in their early fifties, so maybe we all revert back to being frugal like the young only now with a different reason.

If you are not wild about the sound, which is not your cup of java, why have you not sold the puppy's yet?

As for picking on Dave Wilson, I believe that once you get sucessful, or high profile in the media eye, the masses start to notice and take sides, we all need hero's to embellish, and villian's to debase.

PS...nice looking system, bet there is a lot of time in front of it.

I meant the Wilson's I have "listened" to. Not ownership "have." Sorry for the confusion...

Given the value is utltimately sound quality which in turn is quite subjective, whether pricing/perceived value again is subjective and is also based on one's wealth (the marginal value we put on each incremental dollar spent). As such, I find these debates rather useless...including the cost mark up way of thinking: it doesn't matter in the end. Each to his own in tastes & budget and thus perceived value.

Thanks Holenneck for sharing that link to the Wilson business program. I filtered out all the business crap and just listened to what Wilson had to say. He said some very interesting things. He pays full benefits to his employees. He doesn't like the vocabulary of "growing a business." (Thank god that someone is standing up against such perversions of the language). And he's not that concerned with having a greater profit margin, even though he probably does well financially. I respect his speaker line. They're not to my taste but I'm pretty sure they're priced fairly for what goes into them, including his labor costs and overhead. I'm not opposed to having equipment built in China and Bangladesh, assuming the workers are treated well and they aren't underpaid too badly, but I like the fact that Wilson wants to do it all in-house and according to the costs that are specific to the US.

Anyway, thanks Holenneck for passing along that link. Seeing it leads me to respect Wilson for not making profit his primary concern as opposed to his love for audio. I get a sense that he's genuine about that. I'm sure he makes a good living. and I think his speakers are well-made and appropriate for a certain audience that has the ears for them. I think its important to remember in all of these discussions that we all have different ears and preferences. Some people are going to really like Wilson products and others not so. I think that Wilson has done a service to a certain corner of the high end audio audience. I respect that, even if I'm not part of it and don't want to be.

I beg to differ. Dave by his owm admission declared his company profit driven. Declaring he cared little for audiophiles and only cared about those who had $10k to purchase the Watt/Puppys. That was what they were selling for at that time. Now that all the Saudi shieks have made their purchase, he now wnts to return to his base.
I for one am always happy when the prodigal son returns home. But let 's not re-write history. Now that he is home we do not owe him any special treatment. He has to compete with his siblings for the attention and love of his parents like everyone else. After all he left on his own. We did not drive him out.
You should buy the Wilson's because you like them and not to help Dave out.