Why are Wadia amps being discounted?

Wadia is now part of McIntosh and has relocated RD to NY. They are designing lots of new pieces and are focused on flushing inventory to fund new equipment and clear the pipeline for distribution to buy then new goods. If retailers still have old product they will resist buying new. Also, there is probably some desire to get good word of mouth out there as to past purchases of good value. This all came from the local Mac dealer in a conversation a few months ago.

I'm confused on this too. I've been watching Music Direct advertise these for many months (maybe a year or more?) thinking it was a close out but the supply is still there. I was under the distinct impression that the 151 was discontinued a while ago, I think as a part of the sale of Wadia and a change in market focus. I know I went to the Wadia website in the past and the 151 was not a current product, yet I just went to the website again and the 151 is current. Very odd. The interesting part is the price (from Sumiko's website) is now $799. Music Direct is using the old list price of $1200 when saying over 50% off. What is not clear is this old stock or new stock (assuming there is some difference). Also not sure if the country of origin has changed. My 170 iPod Dock is made in China, so I presume the 151 is too. Perhaps they amortized the costs enough to lower the price. Just too bad it's not available in silver to match my 170.