Does the target market dictate the price?

[Bob Santos]

I was doing a little thinking today about Pre/pro's, and Flagship receivers.
If you look at the B&K Ref 30, and thier 305, and 307 receivers the price differences just dont make sence to me.
The 305, and 307 use the Reference 30 as a pre/pro section. The 305 retails for just $200 more than the reference 30, and includes 5 channels of 150w amplification. The 307 retails for $500 more than the 305, and only offers 2 more channels of amplification ontop of the 305.
So 5 channels cost $200, and 2 channels cost $500.
Now looking at the Ref 30 could it be that they look at the target market for the Ref 30 as people who are into the higher end of the hobby using seperates, and willing to pay a high price for good quality? And for the receivers they figure the target buyer is looking for high quality, but also the most bang for the buck?

Now look at the Denon 5800. That has a extremely feature packed pre/pro section, offering more than any stand alone pre/pro I have seen to date. Yet the cost is considerably less than that of many comparable pre/pro's.
If the preamp section of the 5800 was available seperately would it cost much less than the reciever?

As far as build quality at least on the B&K stuff it is obviously the same as thier pre/pro.
Is the Denon build quality of the same caliber of the B&K , and other comparably priced preamps?
If so then you have a $3000 pre/pro.

Just something that popped into my mind while I was slacking off at work today

[John Holmes]

I have always believed this to be true. Electronics are no different than any other industry. If there is a "target" group for a product be it homes, cars, etc, a company will build and price to that group accordingly.

Two identical five bedroom, three bath, two car garage homes will not fetch the same price in the city vs the burbs. Yet the same material and quality was used to build them. Now granted you get a few "other" things by getting the one in the burbs but, the cost difference for what you get can be major! But, the powers to be know that the "target" group will pay it for their own reasons.

It seems to work for most involved because, the dollar that I own vs the dollar that say...Bill Gates owns, do not carry the same relative value.:B




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[Bing Fung]

That's capitolism at it's best Bob.

I remember a while back I was killing time at a car dealership, this was at the crest of the SUV craze. At the GM dealer's show room, they had a fully loaded Z71 4x4 extenda cab truck,~$34k, right beside it was a Jimmy Blazer 4x4, ~$37K, feature for feature they had comparabile options, except the Z71 had a bigger motor, more metal,etc.

The point is I thought the Z71 should have cost more, how ever the market for the Blazer was what drove the price.




Bing