Can someone explain to me why : Accupahse Equipment is that expensive ?

It’s quite simple.  The US importer has chosen to mark up Accuphase at a ridiculous rate.  He is more interested in funding his retirement than promoting the brand in the US.  I’ve owned the E470 and E600 integrated amps but they are twice the price of Luxman and they are just marginally better.  Resale is horrendous so if you are patient, you could score a gently used piece at a huge discount. 

I just checked. The gray market price for the big mono block amp is less than 1/2 the retail price in the US. I suspect there is some wiggle room there, but you are negotiating from a very high starting number.
There’s a piece in 6moons about this where the distributor was quizzed about a certain importer of gray goods. Their position was -not only is it unsupported, but using voltage adapters can affect SQ, can cause equipment failures, and the goods could even be subject to seizure at the border. In terrorem indeed!
I’m sure with a little research you can find they same things I did. I’m not going to diss AXiSS- I’ve bought through them via dealers, and I do know they need some profit to maintain the business here. As to whether they are taking too much, I guess that’s part of the consumer-distributor-manufacturer equation. I suspect if they wanted to, they could bring the stuff in at a lower price to broaden the market. But this is not the kind of gear that is going to benefit from a broad market- it’s pricey, niche stuff.
One thing worth checking is whether they will support used gear that was legitimately sold here. A thread about a year ago involving another manufacturer revealed that any used purchase, even of gear that was legitimately sold in the States, would not be supported by the manufacturer. Crazy.

…..thank you for this information and it all makes sense now and some of this through my travels has come up in the past. I think that I will continue my search and look at other amps. My concern is what Mr Whart has noted about not being able to service if it ever needed.    

Go with McIntosh, its American made and as good as the Japanese boutique brands.

You can buy a 1965 Rolex Datejust on ebay for 2500$ and it will appreciate