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.