Why is Dynaudio so much cheaper in Europe?

Bill: Exactly right. You nailed each point perfectly. Great post. Allow me to add that the markups in many cases don't add up and or make sense. I know there are bills to be paid, salaries, R&D, and what have you, yes. But, the numbers still don't add up or justify the high price in as you said, the cost of whatever component is to make. I can't help but think there's some greed or a lot of greed involved. It's a human weakness, and has been going on for centuries. There are some "good guys" in audio though that price fairly and make a great product, however.

There are a number of posts here that seem based on incomplete understanding
of the difficulties involved in achieving long term longevity if you are specialty
manufacturer of goods with a limited market. If a manufacturer's parts cost to
retail ratio is 9, I don't see that as an indicator of obscene markups necessarily.
You also have to factor the cost of machinery involved in tooling the parts, the
cost of USA based skilled labor to construct a speaker as complicated as the
Magico line, real estate to house the manufacturing facility, etc. When you have
an informed view of the real costs of maintaining a specialty manufacturing
operation that can stay in business profitably for years, a 9 to 1 parts cost ratio
seems reasonable.

I've been interested in high end audio for forty years and I've seen many upstart
audio companies started with the idea of delivering exceptional value for money.
They start out as a small operation getting by with shoestring margins,
inadequate facilities, and insufficient labor. Word of mouth gets out about what a
great "value" they are and demand builds. Demand outpaces the
ability of the business to deliver products at the initial price point and then
prices have to rise or they go out of business because they can't manage the
transition long term, full fledged viability.

If you look at the long term survivors in this business like Conrad Johnson, Audio
Research, McIntosh, Pass Labs, Bryston, Luxman, Audio Note, etc., I bet they all
will have parts/retail ratios that are similar. Sure, they don't offer the same
seemingly great deals as that new guy building amps in his garage with no
workman's comp insurance, but they'll be here in ten years to take care of your
product (which is unlikely with the upstart "value" model.) I'm not an
apologist for greed, but if you believe in efficient markets, every manufacturer
that survives does so because they offer what some segment of the market
perceives as fair value.

Photon46: I already addressed this: "I know there are bills to be paid, salaries, R&D, and what have you, yes. But, the numbers still don't add up or justify the high price in as you said, the cost of whatever component is to make."

In my opinion, of course. I don't know the exact numbers not being in the internal bowels of these companies, but let's face it there's big big profits at hand here.

That's my take.

Some people do not want to pay what the manufacturer thinks his product is worth and they have found a way to do that. That's fine. But why the need to paint the manufacturers as undeserving or greedy?

With imported components, it has more to do with the middle men than the dealers and manufacturers, really...but the manufacturer sets the initial price, and the dealer can sell at whatever price he or she wants really. Anyway, I personally am not painting manufacturers any which way in particular, most of them are good people with good intentions; however, however, when you start deducting things with some products, what's left? Big profits, or big-ger profits, and let's be honest, the prices, the markup, on high end audio is more than ever. I'm not an economist or anything like that, but something's wrong with this picture, in my opinion. I'm not trying to be Ralph Nader Jr. here, but the consumer is not bring treated fairly, especially when you consider the resale value of most high end equipment. But, that's the way it is, and i am in no way trying to expose the industry, because after all, without the industry, what would we buy? We would have to DIY, of course, which many are doing as a matter of fact.
Of course no one's forcing anyone to buying high end audio, you can just go to best buy and buy a $100 receiver and $200 speakers, plus $50 blue ray player and be done until the units crap out. But when you want the best, it's never cheap, or gonna be cheap, but unfortunately, this shuts a lot of people out who want and appreciate this stuff.