Why the huge increase in the price of Sonus Farber Amanti G5 speakers.

@jetter

I sure hope the next new speaker system doesn’t have 9 of the same drivers in it!  🤣🤣🤣

The price increase was obviously necessary because SF speakers are being upgraded with higher quality Bose speaker drivers and crossovers.

It’s too soon for it to be 20% tariffs.  I have no idea what the current tariffs are on Italy.  I think they’re still at 2.5% on electronics.  The model I am referring to was new maybe a couple years ago and has had no more R&R put into it, so that’s not it.  They’re not a mediocre speaker and if it was, why would raising the price help sell it? As far as I know, the US is the only country affected by the rare earth feud, so that’s not it.
I’m guessing shipping prices have dropped since the pandemic, so I don’t think that’s it.

I still think it’s a good question and I’m going to keep digging.

@kerrybh 

Why do I find the thought of Bose being in control very unsettling?

but I guess Bose knows best

Just talked with my dealer and indeed she said most of the price increase was directly due to tariffs!

Sigh.

I don’t know.  Something’s changed.  Long ago and far away I had a small gaming store ( when D&D was at its peak).  The markup on the things we sold ranged from 20%-37%. I also managed a restaurant when I was in college and the margins there were similar, except for drinks.  If it wasn’t for that cup of coffee or glass of Pepsi, we probably would have gone under.  We started selling wine and beer later on and the profit was crazy good, but not 100%!  I have seen dealer price sheets on hifi gear and the profit margins on some items are as much as 200%!
They’re saying that there’s fewer and fewer young people coming into this hobby.  I bet I can guess one good reason why. ☹️

I can understand magnets getting more expensive in the states (Tariffs), but Italy has no beef with China.

@gano 

I hate politics!

 And you will never see me post about politics, but tariffs are sometimes non political and have been around for decades. What’s happening in the US today is not political.  It’s one man’s view of taxation being used to control other countries with the benefit of potential income for the US government.  There are people on both sides that love/hate them.  For me so far, they made my car more expensive ( but not 20%) and a few of my groceries more expensive. But if I was in the market for a new pair of speakers, that big of an increase would definitely make me look elsewhere.
Getting back to my original post, I could be wrong, but I don’t believe the US has enacted 20% tariffs on the EU yet and Italy is still status quo with China, so rare earths are not the problem.  So why did Sonus Farber raise their prices so much? Someone from Australia ( forgive me for not remembering who) said that SF  prices went up 27% across the board. Here it’s almost 20%. Someone else suggested it was the new owners being greedy and sadly that might be the correct answer, but it surely can’t be good for their business.

It was asked as a non political question.

@gano 

No worries, you did not annoy me in any way.  I really don’t like where politics have gone in the last few decades. So I do my darn best to stay as far away from them. That’s why I repeated that my question was not politically motivated.

Enjoy the music.

@sns 

I did see that video and I even commented on it.  I don’t think I said exactly what I wanted to say, but he was doing his schtick on speakers from 2018 and that there have been updates to that speaker since that model was released, two I believe.  
It is kinda funny watching him when he finds something Ferris anywhere in or on a speaker. I see Chicken Little every time he points it out.