How much will you pay for an exotic cartridge....

In reference to my post above, I made an error. The item that I priced at $6500 at Yodibashi, after all discounts, is the Technics SP10R, the chassis only, which retails in the US for about $10K. “SL1000R” is code for the complete turntable including tonearm and plinth, which is much more costly..

I find this discussion interesting. But what I would like to know, what is the correct understanding of the gray market in audio. It seems implied that the ‘gray market’ in audio seems to ‘just happen’, or perhaps are counterfeit goods?

As a person who likes mechanical watches as well, I was always told that the vast majority of the gray market for watches were actually received/were sold their merchandise via actual *distributors*, who for a variety of reasons, could not sell a volume of ‘excess’ merchandise to retailers, thus cut their losses by selling them cheap to a gray market seller. Some distributors , as I understand, are forced to buy a certain quantity of product from manufacturers knowing they don’t have the retail market to support their overall inventory, and much of that is earmarked for gray market sellers. They essentially make their profit on the retail market they have relationships with and ‘dump the rest’.

I’ve purchased a gray market watch, but not one of incredibly high value, but one from a very reputable manufacturer, which is actually my daily watch. I took a chance knowing that any problems I may have would probably be minor, and was worth the risk.

I’m not sure I would take the same risk on a multi-thousand dollar piece of audio equipment, (or watch for that matter), as a warranty and factory authorized service of that piece may be necessary. That said, I do understand the risk one might take to obtain an actual trusted and reputable manufactured item at a fraction of the cost of retail. Again, it is a risk, but one a buyer may be willing to take. ‘We’ do it with used gear all the time.

I was just curious if the audio selling/distribution chain in similar to that of watches.

I disagree that the dealer has been ruined. Not if you know how to relate to them. If you become a good customer many of them will give you much better pricing than you get on line and you can be assured that you are getting the real deal. The best dealers interact with one another so your dealer can get pretty much anything by swapping equipment with the dealer that has what you want. 
Most music lovers are not audiophiles. They want someone to come in and set up a system for them and teach them how to use it and service it when necessary. You can not get that kind of service on line. 

Oh, the answer is as little as possible.

I have a great relationship with many dealers, that is precicesly why I don't want to waste their time on what would inevitably be a fools errand.  
Fact:  US MSRP is $8995
Fact: EU MSRP is $6995

This i s a music forum in the end so I'll put it simply and quote Kenny Rogers " You've got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away and when to run".   

I don't want to waste peoples time chasing after what, at best, will be their potential to match a price I can simply press a button and buy online from an authorized dealer in the EU.  I wont owe anyone anything for the amazing deal they get me. 

Cartridges are a tough thing to test and buy, hard to demo and short of an install it's hard for a dealer to show value.   I did have a dealer who happened to deal in my turntable once allow me to bring in my turntable and compare it to his with the cartridge I wanted to buy already mounted.   Total dealer effort?  Make room for me to place my TT on his rack.   

Dealers serve a purpose as I've said previously and I wouldn't have been through a few pairs of speakers without them over the last couple of years.  They have helped enormously to trouble shoot and earned high margins on those sales.   I'm simply saying that selling Lyra's to savvy buyers makes the dealer value prop very difficult.   If I was a dealer, I wouldn't be happy with what AQ are doing to Lyra from a price perspective only.   Being a consumer, I'm hopeful my dealer beats the EU pricing but it's not going to be an easy conversation for me to have as a consumer who does value my relationship with my dealer.  Just not to the point of handing over an extra couple thousand dollars.