Why is Dynaudio so much cheaper in Europe?

Schubert wrote: 'Certainly a factor Dave, but would it be one if the chumps didn't pay him?'

Whats something worth? What you can get someone to pay.

One way to get easy money is to be the distributor for some high end bit of gear. You wont get it from the manufacturer because he has a distributor and says go to him. He may not even stock the bit of gear and simply gets it in as required and pockets the money. Anything goes wrong - he ships it back to the maker.

As a distributor he should be earning the commission etc by marketing it and providing after sales service. If he does that then that's what you are paying for - and it can be quite substantial. If not then its money for jam. You as a consumer must decide for yourself if you want to pay that for it. Even if he is doing what a distributor should be doing you must decide do I want to pay that for it.

I don't know what margin Dynaudio distributors get but I do know from some reliable sources for Magico the cost is 9 times the parts used. I hear when a new speaker was released in Singapore a Champagne and Caviar breakfast was held to celebrate it - and it was not cheap stuff - it was Bollinger. Guess who pays for that - you the consumer. Only you can decide if that's what you want to buy into - personally it makes me barf and I simply wont have anything to do with products like that - but that's just me. Obviously Magico is still in business so there are plenty of people happy with that sort of thing - or, possibly a lot more likely, don't realize whats really going on.

Thanks
Bill

Hi Dave 72

Thanks mate.

Personally I don't think it's greed or anything like that most of the time. In some cases like with distributors who simply sit there and rake off the cream - yes. But in most cases its simply what needs to be done to make a low volume expensive product. Not many are made, and you need people to spend time and money marketing them so they are known eg send them to magazines for review and buy into all that rot which I wont go into here. Then retailers need to stock them so you can hear them. It all adds HUGELY to the cost so you can actually make enough profit on the measly few you sell so you can stay in business. Then there are makers who don't buy into that model - its all by word of mouth and you hear them by going over to fellow enthusiasts places, not to dealers because they sell direct. It's MUCH MUCH cheaper that way but no one knows about them and you only occasionally see them discussed on forums like this.

Thanks
Bill

Hi Phantom 46

The markups are not obscene - its just what you need to do with the usual model for selling a specialty product. If you do what Magico does marketing wise and selling via retailers its perfectly normal and no one is ripping anyone off or anything like that. Buying a product sold direct is much cheaper, but you wont find them in magazines like Sterophile or at your local Hi Fi store. That's what you are paying for. That's what makes me barf - the massive overhead you pay for the usual way of doing business and why I steer way clear of products like that. I think most people, if they understood the truth would as well - but most people don't.

And its very interesting to see peoples reaction when its pointed out. One guy on the forum I frequent in Australia always goes off the deep end whenever I mention it - you are ignoring being able to buy in bulk bla bla. The fact of the matter is speakers like the Magico and other really high end products are made in such minuscule quantities all these things you would think a big maker could save money on and pass on are non existent. Their major cost is marketing and retailer overheads.

Thanks
Bill