certin speaker makers harder to get dissounts fro

Any intelligent audio consumer shops for price value. Just because someone is fnancially solvent enough to buy 11K speakers doesn't mean it's a smart purchase. Get your tools out and look inside most of the equipment. Very few speakers are hand made start to finish, most are mass produced to some extent (maybe not in consumer-electronics numbers, but assembly-lined nontheless). Like countless others have said, there's this true-ism "it's worth what you'll pay"
Here's my question to people who have Lush's retail phlosophy:
If I have 11K to spend and there's two different salespeople in stores next to each other on a street. They both offer excellent service, are very knowledgable and have quality audio equipment. Do you know what separates them? Think hard. Yep, it's the discount. One sales person is coming to me and one is making me come to him. Guess who gets my money?
Audio retail has, in so many stores, skewed the sales hierarchy. Somehow retailers have placed themselves at the top as the most important and the consumer has tumbled to the bottom. The disgust directed at consumers who don't immediately buy something at their price and on their terms is epic.
So many reatilers have their head in the sand in regard to the competitiveness in the audio world. Unwarranted "sense of entitlement" is one of the most destrucitve human characteristics

Dealer cost of most items they sell, including speakers, is 60% of retail price, generally, not the 40% someone above is implying; lower priced lines like Marantz and NAD may give them even lower margins. Exception is cables, which seem to have a higher markup, particularly at the manufacturer's end. High end dealers generally do not have the volume and profit margins car dealers do, so I'd cut them some slack--remember that they have operating costs that eat into that 40%. My suggestion if you want to buy from a dealer is to buy the dealer's demo speakers (assuming it's a competent dealer that knows how to set them up and doesn't blow them out), you'll save 20-25%, even more if the dealer is desperate, and they'll be already broken in as a bonus.

By the way, in answer to your question at the top of the post, Thiel always used to, at least, try to keep a leash on their dealers to keep them from discounting much. I bought my CS3s as demos when I first got into this hobby, they served me and my friend to whom I sold them well to this day!

Thanks Mt10425 , it took me 2 years of over time to raise that sum and its my entire budget for L,R, C speaker and display Im am ready to wait if i must and put in the hours needed to raise the aditional funds if requried. I understood Martin Logan to be of superb bulid quality and I love the sound at least at the Dealers. My friend who was a Doctor and always got me great deals well the axiom he told me was " Never never pay retail". I as a paramedic have not had such luck. I hope I dont come across as having a Unwarranted "sense of entitlement" .Belive me I have worked hard and just want the best my money can do for me and my children. I hope not to put out this kind of money on speakers again for at least 6 to 8 years. Got to keep them kids in school.

I agree with Lush. Either appreciate the service provided by a dealer, and be happy with a typical 10-20 percent markdown, or buy off the internet and take your chances. Using a dealer can benefit you by being able to listen first (and sometimes even audition in your own home) and not choosing your equipment solely based on reviews and user posts, which can be a big economic advantage in the long run since you are less likely to purchase equipment you don't like. Good dealers can also be very helpful with equipment matching, set-up, and room optimization. But you are paying for that service. If more and more of us choose not to pay for it, then the number of dealers will decline. That is why most of them do better with HT.

Bigjoe and Rcprince are greatly mistaken about the realities of retail. THe higher ticket items are often at lower dealer margins because the manufacturer assumes the higher actual dollar figure taken in offsets the lower margin. Fact.

Brands that have a %60 margin or greater are often from borderline generic companies that do inflate the retail price to make the high percentage discount appear like a great deal.

Please refer to the post by Lush if you want some useful information. If you enjoy this hobby support it. If you don't support your local music scene you will get no good local live music. If you do not support your local restaurants you will have Hardees and Ruby Tuesdays. If you don't support your local furniture/clothing/stereo store you will have Wal-Mart.

For those who will be content with an Audiovox boombox after hi-fi is dead I say "beat those greedy stereo retailers into submission and get your stereo at cost while you can."

Some manufacturers do protect their dealers and their brand by having strict no-discount rules. Many of the brands mentioned above have these rules in their dealer agreements. This is why you will be hard pressed to find them at the same bargain discounts as brands like Pinnacle, BIC, and Cerwin-Vega.

End of rant.