Shouldn’t this be posted in the open baffle circle? Sort of like brown bagging it to a restaurant discussing another brand in the Spatial Circle.
Those are Acoustic Elegance drivers (formerly Lamba) around $400 a pop so $120k is a tad bit step unless you got more $ than brains. Not bad drivers and yes I have used them.
R&D cost, limited sales for sure, but like ultra-expensive gear, sometimes you pay as much for design and overkill and over-the-top built quality as much as sound to justify the asking price. Looking at a lot of reviewed gear nowadays days they need to call it the lawyers, doctors, and millionaires audio magazines. Because they no longer have interest in me for gear, I never would be willing the pay the prices for I make very good money and I still could not justify it. 15K gear called bargains, speakers 2-way at 20K, and on and on. But that is the market, so the aim is towards those with the ability to pay, that is where the sales are and magazines just reflect that. This is no longer the 70's & 80's where the middle class could swing high-end gear. What I made back then is what many middle classes make today.