Good discussion. And timely for me as I’m in the market for new speakers too. Looking at Harbeth, Spendor, and Magnepan 3.7s as well. One issue is that all of the speakers I’m looking at want to be three or four feet out into the listening space and that’s sometimes hard to achieve.
It’s the same with high-end Japanese amps: the US dealer prices are sky-high compared to overseas (Europe even). My guess is that the dollar remains strong and especially the US economy remains strong. This results in tremendous ’effective demand’ domestically which means that dealers can take profits.
Buying in Canada is tempting, though when you cross the border there can sometimes be dues to pay to the customs agent. You don’t want to be caught not declaring something.
You mentioned Canada which was interesting as they seem to be getting the equivalent price to what you would pay in the U.K. as opposed to a pretty stiff mark up in the States. For example, last I looked the 30.2s are $6,950 in the US and $6,400 CAD in Canada--at current rate $4,840 US!
I wonder why US import is getting such jacked up pricing?
It’s the same with high-end Japanese amps: the US dealer prices are sky-high compared to overseas (Europe even). My guess is that the dollar remains strong and especially the US economy remains strong. This results in tremendous ’effective demand’ domestically which means that dealers can take profits.
Buying in Canada is tempting, though when you cross the border there can sometimes be dues to pay to the customs agent. You don’t want to be caught not declaring something.