Clayton’s decision I am sure was done with much thought and deliberation. All of us that have had the pleasure to talk to him know that he is very customer oriented. Businesses don’t just arbitrarily raise prices without weighing in overhead, profit margin, potential impact on future business etc.
I do know one thing though - whether you buy the m5 or the lumina or anything in between you get exemplary customer service that is always available. I can’t say that about a lot of companies and that alone to me is worth a lot. In addition you are getting products that are well reviewed and sound fantastic. Also don’t forget back in the summer he was more than willing to accept his older M3’s as trade in. Try doing that with other companies that come up with newer speaker technology.
Thank you John - you are correct.
Can we all get real about this topic? Most of us are at least in our 50s or 60s and here we have the same old complaint I have heard about pricing for most of my life. Man walks into a breakfast diner and orders the 3 egg omelet special. Later, when the check arrives for $6.90, he loudly complains "This is ridiculous !! - I can buy 2 dozen eggs for the price you are charging for just 3 eggs". It's seriously hard to believe that we still have to listen to this childish nonsense. If you don't understand how for-profit businesses function, then please don't embarrass yourself online and waste everyone's time. Go LEARN something about business. I find it humorous that these low-information, hater types don't have their own audio company. Talk is cheap as they say.
I would second the idea that everyone watch Sean's podcast segment on this topic since it covers the topic very well and I won't have repeat it all. Suffice it say that pricing is complicated and a moving target and nobody is getting rich doing this. We certainly don't want to raise the price. The X5 intro price of $5950 was the best estimate we could produce about a year ago when it was developed. After manufacturing it for a while, we were able to better capture the actual cost - "all in cost". Guess what? - the X5 costs more to build than we originally estimated. No need for conspiracy theories. Once a company understands it true costs better - what do you think it should do? Lower the price, keep the price the same, or raise the price to maintain a sustainable business? Spatial, after all, is a business, not a home hobby. We have poured our lives into moving the art of speaker technology forward with only a modest financial reward. We have hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in bringing this dream to reality.
Our approach has always been to keep the pricing as minimal as possible. If we were at the luxury end of the scale ($50k up for example), then price theory can change substantially. Ultra-low volume markets like that with a wide price tolerance are different. In prestige markets, raising the price many times increases sales volume because it may appear to be more valuable. We are not in that end of the market and I feel the combination of high volume and modest margins are the best strategy for the sub $10k market, where most business is conducted. It pains me to have to raise the price, but again - its a business - one a many tough decisions we make all the time. The market decides if the price is fair or not -period.
Best,
Clayton Shaw
Spatial Audio Lab
www.spatialaudio.us@gmail.com
