...I'm convinced that the $5,000 price of the Kuros at the time was a bias they were unable to shed.
That's what ultimately forced them out of the market. Pioneer was spending so much on R&D, and the building the resulting technologies which came from that research, that the $5000 price wasn't that far off. But the market wouldn't bear it, so they finally slashed prices to $2000 for the 50" TV. Right around this time, the US economy fell, while the Japanese was still strong. So $2000 US wasn't even turning a profit in Yen. So they exited the display market before the losses cut into their other divisions.
