certin speaker makers harder to get dissounts fro

No Manufacturer can tell a dealer what to sell the product for ...period...if they do they are breaking the law, in fact I do believe it was the hifi bus that made this so, I think both B&0 and Pioneer were charged with this in the 70s....anyway If a ML dealer says he "cant discount" because the manufacturer said so...is in stric violationof the law....sure you can ask for a discount and you will probably get one...the more you buy from a store, probably the more they will take care of you on both price and service....BUT they need to make a profit to stay in business and 10-20 percent over cost doesn't cut it...my guess is on any speaker line you can get 10-15% off and everybody is happy

has anyone paid list price for a speaker nad considered it money well spent or a fair price ??

there may be a few speakers which are priced fairly where paying list price is not a problem.

i'm think of one which i may buy and i am having difficulty getting a discount. it's the magnepan 1.6 .

You are mixed up. The manufacturer has the right to pull the line from any dealer who breaks the rules of the ML dealer contract. The rules can include discounting. Dealers can choose to bend this rules (and discount) and in most cases the manufacuter will look the other way as long as no other dealers are complaining. This is common practice in all segments of retail.

No_Money and Herman, you guys simply don't know what you are talking about.

Superhonestben is EXACTLY right!

The Sherman Act first addressed price fixing in 1890 and many cases have been adjudicated since. Case law is very clear and explicit. Do ten minutes of research and you will see how wrong you are.

ML or any other manufacturer CANNOT tell a retailer what they can sell their product for. It is illegal period!

What they can do is give the retailer a "suggested" retail price. If the retailer does not comply with the "suggested" price, then ML can choose to terminate the retailer.

As a PRACTICAL matter however, ML can get away with setting a retail price to dealers as long as dealers are willing to put up with the price-fixing. But that doesn't mean it's legal.

This is not price fixing. "Price fixing is an informal agreement between direct business competitors selling the same product regarding that product's pricing". A method of "price fixing" is for direct competitors to agree to set minimum price contracts from supplier to dealer for similar products. As such dealers such as ML can set minimum price limits for their products and it is not "price fixing". It WOULD be "price fixing" if ML and other companies with similar products got together and had an agreement to set a minimum price level for their similar products.