Everybody reducing prices except audio importers ?

[Mr Ed]

If you can reduce prices dramatically for any serious amount of time, you will either go bust or it indicates that the previous price charged was 'having a laugh'. You really can't work for nothing for very long, clearing out stock below cost is called a closing down sale.

Ed.

[Togil]

Didn't the Japanese sell below cost in the 1960s ( called dumping ) in order to increase market share ?

Actually, to stay in the context of high-end : rightly or wrongly it's probably the case, even if a cynical one, that if someone wants highly regarded item X from the US, then whether it costs £ 12,000 or £ 15,000 doesn't matter too much.

[Mr Ed]

You can only trade below cost until your reserves of funding run out, if you are a substantial country, your credit is somewhat higher than a one man and his dog outfit.

Put simply, you can continue to trade below cost until your savings run out and the Banks won't lend you any more. That point is called 'going bankrupt'.

Ed.

[Filterlab]

...or it indicates that the previous price charged was 'having a laugh'...

Anthony Michaelson's shenanigans being a prime example.

[i_should_coco]

Most of the prices in high end hifi are a laugh.

[Filterlab]

And this will be the time of its undoing. The real prices should be gently revealed over the next year or so as manufacturers become more desperate for sales.

[Mr Ed]

Ah, the Sages are up and about. Time for me to remember why I don't post on forums and open a beer.

Ed.

[i_should_coco]

Ah, the Sages are up and about. Time for me to remember why I don't post on forums and open a beer.

Ed.

So you think "hi-end" hifi is good value for money or that the price reflects the material value? Get real.

The prices charged in high end bear very little resemblance to the material cost (either in parts or R&D). The prices are what the market will bear to create the market for exclusivity and status.

If most of the crap that sells as "high-end" disappears because of this, the better the market will be for it, a clean out is way beyond due.

[Steve Toy]

Ed, open that beer and consider that Rob said 'real' costs - whatever they are. We all know that being a hi-fi dealer is no way to get rich. The rich ones either made their money elsewhere or during the long-gone 'golden age.'

[Marco]

Importers (such as Absolute Sounds) will always be the ones making the real money, not dealers, who in general have to work very hard to stay afloat these days and (perhaps, if the wind is blowing in the right direction) earn a decent living.

Marco.