Increase price for Vandersteens

You might want to call Vandersteen and ask Richard. Could be costly upgrades or materials at the wholesale level have increased or his overhead including labor is higher or he simply wants to make a greater profit or a combination of all the above.

every biz has to somehow raise prices to justify and match necessary profits. for that they must show improvement to the previous model. weather or not there is actual performance improvement, the price must rise to keep model in business. rising prices also due to the demand more than the factor of improvement have any degree of magnitude. every business owner including richard vandersteen have personal interest in increased price and therefore will find sufficient vocabulary to convince regardless of improvement.
statistically in most of cases the improvement is very slight compared to the increased price.

COGS - cost of goods going up in every industry that I am aware of...

He's been doing some big upgrades in both over the last year or so I believe. Newer trickle down drivers that really make them sound better.

Materials, labour, overhead ... You name it .... It all goes up eventually even in a low inflationary economy. You should expect it.

I would only be worried if the prices started to go down. Putting aside any thoughts of downward price changes with an erosion of quality (this is quality kit ) from the typical cheap POS Chi-fi race-to-the bottom-price race,

That is when deflation hits and catastrophic economic fallout commences. Discretionery spending in deflationary times nosedives. High discretionery items like audio equipment sales cratering triggering the demise of the suppliers will be high on the early casualty list as their sales quickly start to circle the drain.