High end dealers in Frankfurt

greg: i was speaking of lp's. they're much more affordable on ebay or at our local indie shops. in my experience, cd's in london are generally about 1.5-2 times the price charged in the usa (at current exchange rates). last time i was in london, my wife and i stayed on picadilly, close by tower records; it was fun watching the young worldly customers in the latest styles of dress and attitude, but i didn't buy a thing. -kelly

About five years ago, I found London was the most expensive European city (for LP, and most everything else), nowadays Paris, Rome, even Vienna, and Zurich are more expensive than London. All of France is extremely expensive for CDs, and the LP prices in and near Paris can be astronomical--although I know Parisian dealers who are inconsistent on pricing, and/or who will discount on large orders or "for friends" (you must speak French, though, and charm them). Prague, and Budapest have the best CD prices, followed by Germany (much better than France on CD). --The problem with London is that, yes, for DECCA, London, Lyrita collectors, the city is a goldmine. I have also found some extremely sought-for (by me, anyhow) 1960/70s free jazz in Camden. What got out of control in London, however, was my visiting the high end stores in London.

Budapest *used* to be good for LP also -- primarily (then) "Eastern bloc" labels. Athens also has reasonable cd prices and titles availability for classical. Classical, 70s and jazz LPs are, also, still reasonable -- but as many French and German collectors have "discovered" B/pest, Athens, etc, I doubt prices will hold anywhere!

I find s/w in Europe generally more expensive than in the States.

Cheers!

Budapest ist still good for lps, especially Mikrokosmos on Dob Utca, but don't expect to make the find of the year there, they are knowledgeable. Paris is medium as far as prices are concerned, for the rest, forget about it. Good stuff is much cheaper to be had on ebay. CD prices are atrocious. Do bargain, when buying hardware in Europe. Discounts up to 20% are sometimes possible, 10-15% the usual thing. The high end market is a bit in the doldrums over here and dealers tend to want to reduce stock.
Cheers,