Tom Adams Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 I saw this HP advertisement the other night where you can buy one of their new widescreen laptop computers with all sorts of goodies for $799. And the thought hit me, "Why that's waaaay cheaper than a Klipsch RT12d". So how in Sam Hills can a wooden box with a driver and some electonics cost $2K and a relatively sophisticated laptop computer cost $800???? Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 I saw this HP advertisement the other night where you can buy one of their new widescreen laptop computers with all sorts of goodies for $799. And the thought hit me, "Why that's waaaay cheaper than a Klipsch RT12d". So how in Sam Hills can a wooden box with a driver and some electonics cost $2K and a relatively sophisticated laptop computer cost $800???? Tom Depending on what income range you are in ,2g to spend on a sub for some people is not to much.The builders and designers from klipsch have to eat to.How they slap to gether those laptops ,I dont know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacksonbart Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 I saw this HP advertisement the other night where you can buy one of their new widescreen laptop computers with all sorts of goodies for $799. And the thought hit me, "Why that's waaaay cheaper than a Klipsch RT12d". So how in Sam Hills can a wooden box with a driver and some electonics cost $2K and a relatively sophisticated laptop computer cost $800???? Tom Are you asking Amy and all those nice people to take a paycut? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Most of the cost is in the motor of the driver. It's expensive to manufacturer the parts to the precision required for sonic fidelity, not to mention the materials themselves aren't too cheap either. Next time you're in a science warehouse surplus store, swing by the magnet section and note the cost... There is also a lot of R&D going into the systems as well...I remember hearing that it costs about $10,000 to build a prototype driver just in machining costs. So when you're building 4 or 5 prototypes, the cost quickly goes through the roof. Normally these costs get absorbed through high-volume sales, but the high-end audio market is rather small. When you build a product that can last for over 30 years, you quickly run out of people to sell to. That said, they're probably making about $700 per unit - and then there is the cut for the dealer as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEAR Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 Most of the cost is in the motor of the driver. It's expensive to manufacturer the parts to the precision required for sonic fidelity, not to mention the materials themselves aren't too cheap either. Next time you're in a science warehouse surplus store, swing by the magnet section and note the cost... There is also a lot of R&D going into the systems as well...I remember hearing that it costs about $10,000 to build a prototype driver just in machining costs. So when you're building 4 or 5 prototypes, the cost quickly goes through the roof. Normally these costs get absorbed through high-volume sales, but the high-end audio market is rather small. When you build a product that can last for over 30 years, you quickly run out of people to sell to. That said, they're probably making about $700 per unit - and then there is the cut for the dealer as well. DrWho, Logical explanation. Now... Do you really want to know how much a subwoofer like the RT-12d that retails for $2000 costs,to the dealer(middle man)... I would be banned like a saltry dog and it would be non ethical to post these figures so i will just say this... Cabinets like the RSW15,RT-12d,...Paradigm Seismic 12,Sunfire Sig..and we add...cost peanuts in material.MDF is dirt cheap.The CNC cutters are what has to be paid(you knew that). Labour in China is cheap so.... the cabinet represents 4-10% of the subs's cost(factoring the machines,material and human labour). The amp/controller accounts for 30-40% of the sub's total cost. The woofer and is used PR's account for 40-50% depending on sub.Here I look at the compact high performance subs.As cheapo subs,the woofer and the cabinet turn around 20% of the total parts cost. Packaging is at under 2-3%,as I have seen from Sunfire (D series)under 1%(bad design of the packaging and crappy quality boxes!). IMO Yes the $700 figure sounds realistic,I would say closer to $500-600 net.Once the production is well oiled and the workers get a few gold stars for good performance. [] Or booted for denting the woofer and PR's 500-600 is pretty good as Klipsch sells a good number of these and alot of other products with even higher markup,as passive speakers bring more.Woofers are quite inexpensive to produce once you have your own facility and can mas sproduce them,even higher quality units. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Robinson Posted October 28, 2006 Share Posted October 28, 2006 I saw this HP advertisement the other night where you can buy one of their new widescreen laptop computers with all sorts of goodies for $799. And the thought hit me, "Why that's waaaay cheaper than a Klipsch RT12d". So how in Sam Hills can a wooden box with a driver and some electonics cost $2K and a relatively sophisticated laptop computer cost $800???? Tom Hey, Tom, hope you're doing okay ... Our room here is finally coming together. The sub is in the cabinet (not hooked up yet) and the floors were sanded out yesterday with a first coat of stain applied. As to your question above, remember to the pricing is not always a "cost plus" model. If you have a widget that costs $5 to make and you can sell it into the distribution chain for $10, why not? They usually mark it up to $20 or so, so a $5 cost translates into a $20 resale price. Contract manufacturing has changed the economics of electronic manufacturing. There are a handful of big companies that do the bulk of the component buying and PCB assembly, and final build into the box. These ODM/CEMs have removed a lot of the profit margins except for themselves, and the CEM business is so competitive that many of them are not doing too well either. Laptops are now a Chinese business for the most part. They make millions of them. There is a lot of scale economies. OTOH, subwoofers are made is relatively small lots and don't have nearly the same scale economies. In the end, they're made as efficiently as possible, but the marginal costs are going to be a lot higher. If sub drivers were made in the millions of units, then we might see $500 subwoofers playing in the high-end performance arena. My Danley's SN is 113. That a lot of coffins but Lenovo's manufacturing partner will make that many ThinkPads in the first five minutes of a shift [] Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Spinner Posted October 28, 2006 Share Posted October 28, 2006 that's true of many Audiophile products ... my Quicksilver preamp is one of the later one's made, S/N 670 try to spread your R&D, Manufacturing, and Sales expenses... over a Thousand unit's ..... not pretty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mas Posted October 28, 2006 Share Posted October 28, 2006 So how in Sam Hills can a wooden box with a driver and some electonics cost $2K and a relatively sophisticated laptop computer cost $800???? Basic business principles... Commoditized components, low R&D, economies of scale, mainstream as opposed to niche market Lightweight & compact shipping for reduced distribution costs don't hurt either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted October 28, 2006 Share Posted October 28, 2006 computers used to be alot of money way back but now as more consumers "need" them the cost and competition is fierce. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEAR Posted October 29, 2006 Share Posted October 29, 2006 computers used to be alot of money way back but now as more consumers "need" them the cost and competition is fierce. The markup on audio is around %50 and on computers %10 and under. Yes competition is cut throat in the putter business. You have to sell a truck load to make good money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest " " Posted October 29, 2006 Share Posted October 29, 2006 ""They usually mark it up to $20 or so, so a $5 cost translates into a $20 resale price."" And a clearance price of 50 cents, since it will cost more than $4.50 to send it back, inventory it, store it, and sell it to a liquidator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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