HiFi Expensive in the Rip off UK

[dbbloke]

Just found out my my friends in Australia can get a pair of Usher S520s for £220. This is the bargain of the century. Have prices dropped here?

http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/sis.html?_nkw=Usher+Audio+S520+Speakers+Real+Cherry+Wood+Brand+New+sealed+boxes+S+520+&_itemId=180830850410

Yes we live in Rip off Britain but still, it's a huge difference. People here are having to make do with average gear, biased dealers, paid off magazines with advertising revenue ... yada yada yada ...

That said, when I lived over there, hifi was super expensive. Special luxury tax on everything and always drooling at the numerous offers on used gear I could not ship 20k km. Fortunate China was close to the rescue.

Some things, you just think WTF. And after finding this out I will be more wary for haggling a price.

 

[Frank Harvey]

Is that the retail price there?

Most people I've had contact from in Australia say that audio down there is way more expensive than here.

 

[davejberry]

I wish Spain had similar prices to the UK. Everything HIFI is at least 20% more expensive here. It's cheaper (when possible) to buy from Amazon and take their exchange rate hit and pay for delivery than to buy locally. So many UK distributors seem unwilling to open up to selling into Europe. In many cases, the 'single market' seems just non-existant.

As an example, the cheapest Denon CEOL Piccolo over here (within 30 miles) is way over 400 euros (about 340 pounds). A number of places in the UK are now selling it for 90 pounds less.

And decent dealers are rarer than rocking horse pooh!

 

[ID.]

Is that the retail price there?

Most people I've had contact from in Australia say that audio down there is way more expensive than here.

This. Seeing as it's ebay there's a chance that someone is taking advantage of the strength of the Aussie dollar and those are grey/parallel imports.

 

[chebby]

People here are having to make do with average gear, biased dealers, paid off magazines with advertising revenue ...

Must be amazing in Australia with all that low priced high-end gear, unbiased dealers, magazines with no advertising.

 

[Andy Clough]

I'll ignore that cheap jibe about "paid off magazines with advertising revenue", but here's the thing: as long as I've been involved in the hi-fi business (and that's now a frighteningly long time), the price of budget CD players, amps and particularly speakers has barely budged.

Want a decent pair of entry-level speakers for £200-250? Or a cracking CD player or amp for £300? No problem. And top-notch Blu-ray players below £100 are commonplace, while TV prices keep falling as their manufacturers continue to lose money.

And as for 'average gear', well we must live in different countries as the choice has never been greater IMHO.

 

[Frank Harvey]

I don't recall any sub £100 DVD players 5 years into its lifespan...

 

[RoadieRoger]

Andy is correct, my Sansui AU G30X Amp was £200 just 25 years ago and the Denon 720 PM 720 AE has just come down to £199 . Heybrook Point Five speakers were £109 at the same time .Scooters are definately a rip off in Britain compared with Spain for instance , so are Train fares , but not Hi Fi in my opinion .

 

[Frank Harvey]

I think it depends how you look at it. The cost of building a real quality product properly has gone up, but the price of budget equipment has gone down.

 

[dalwen]

i would be very happy with the UK prices, example.....

CA351A = €499,00 in Holland --> £299 in UK schould be € 347,43 ........... :O

ik know, everbody in the delivery chain needs to earn on it.

There are no UK retailers dat do transport equipment to Holland, (as far as i know)

 

[RoadieRoger]

In Cardiff there are two National Hi Fi chain shops. In one the Marantz PM 6004 is £279 , the Denon PMA 520 IS £179.99 and in the other the respective prices are £229 and £149 . These are budget Amps ,while the Arcam A19 at £649.95 is the same in both shops, they are less than 4 miles apart . One obviously subscribes to the model pile it high sell it cheap and the other, sell less charge high . I don`t know whether you would term it an Inter City rip off ?

 

[chebby]

I think it depends how you look at it. The cost of building a real quality product properly has gone up, but the price of budget equipment has gone down.

So why is the Arcam A19 now £650 - even though is made in China - whereas the A18 was around £500 (often less throughout it's product life) despite being made in the UK ?

Surely the extra expense of any improvements would be more than mitigated by the reduced cost of cheap Chinese manufacture.

 

[Covenanter]

In my youth "cheap" was associated with Japan and now Japanese engineering is rather highly thought of. The world changes and doubtless in a few years China will be viewed in the same way and people will be complaining about cheap maufacturing from Peru or wherever.

Chris

 

[chebby]

In my youth "cheap" was associated with Japan

When was your 'youth'?

In my youth Japan was associated with superior build quality and reliability in electronics, cameras, motorbikes, televisions, bullet trains, ships etc. and their cars couldn't possibly have been any worse than what Rootes or British Leyland were turning out! (Ford & Vauxhall were a bit better but they were American.)

The first Trinitron TVs colour sets were launched before I even started school and a year before colour television broadcasting started anywhere in the UK. Sony Trinitrons became a byword for reliability compared to the junk made over here (mostly for the rental market under many 'badges' by Ultra in Gosport).

Almost everyone rented British made televisions because they were so expensive to fix and so unreliable that TV rental company repairmen almost become members of the average family due to the number of visits necessary to keep their godawful TVs working!

British motorbikes were legendary for unreliability and poor build quality and dated design. I was still a child when the Japanese started winning almost everything in the motorcycle racing calendar.

Name me any decent british compact camera or SLR from the 1960s and 1970s that could get anywhere near Nikon, Olympus or Canon. All of the great British photographers from that era were using Japanese or German cameras.

 

[Frank Harvey]

I think it depends how you look at it. The cost of building a real quality product properly has gone up, but the price of budget equipment has gone down.

So why is the Arcam A19 now £650 - even though is made in China - whereas the A18 was around £500 (often less throughout it's product life) despite being made in the UK ?

Surely the extra expense of any improvements would be more than mitigated by the reduced cost of cheap Chinese manufacture.

I don't know, you'd have to ask Arcam that. I'm speaking generally, which won't be true in all situations.

 

[Covenanter]

In my youth "cheap" was associated with Japan

When was your 'youth'?

In my youth Japan was associated with superior build quality and reliability in electronics, cameras, motorbikes, televisions, bullet trains, ships etc. and their cars couldn't possibly have been any worse than what Rootes or British Leyland were turning out! (Ford & Vauxhall were a bit better but they were American.)

The first Trinitron TVs colour sets were launched before I even started school and a year before colour television broadcasting started anywhere in the UK. Sony Trinitrons became a byword for reliability compared to the junk made over here (mostly for the rental market under many 'badges' by Ultra in Gosport).

Almost everyone rented British made televisions because they were so expensive to fix and so unreliable that TV rental company repairmen almost become members of the average family due to the number of visits necessary to keep their godawful TVs working!

British motorbikes were legendary for unreliability and poor build quality and dated design. I was still a child when the Japanese started winning almost everything in the motorcycle racing calendar.

Name me any decent british compact camera or SLR from the 1960s and 1970s that could get anywhere near Nikon, Olympus or Canon. All of the great British photographers from that era were using Japanese or German cameras.

I'm afraid my youth was well before colour tvs lol.

Chris

 

[Overdose]

Things are generally expensive in this country because the cost of living is high.

High rates, high taxes, high rents and high property prices, all contribute to increased cost at the consumer end, couple this with decreased disposable income and things look even worse.

Online shopping has had a part in driving the prices down somewhat, but things are not likely to ever change much for the better.

 

[simonlewis]

In my youth "cheap" was associated with Japan and now Japanese engineering is rather highly thought of.

Chris

WWII maybe.

 

[Covenanter]

In my youth "cheap" was associated with Japan and now Japanese engineering is rather highly thought of.

Chris

WWII maybe.

Not quite that old! Was thinking of the 1950s. Cheap plastic toys, etc.

Chris

PS Britain made cheap toys in the 19th century, Germany in the early 20th century and so the world rolls on.

 

[jjbomber]

British motorbikes were legendary for unreliability and poor build quality and dated design. I was still a child when the Japanese started winning almost everything in the motorcycle racing calendar.

The Yamaha OW31 was a great racing nike that propelled Kenny Roberts to World champion. It was actually designed by a British engineer, who first took his designs to Triumph. They told him they were busy and come back in 6 months. He flew to Japan and arrived at the Yamaha plant with his designs. They told him to come back the next day. When he returned the following day, they had already built 6 prototypes.

Rip off UK? Didn't we touch on this the other day with the Sonos Playbar? UK more expensive than Europe and America.

 

[The_Lhc]

Well you claimed the Euro price was cheaper in the comments to the Playbar news story but as I pointed out at the time the current exchange rate actually makes the Euro price 3 pounds MORE than the sterling price...

 

[Captain Duff]

To be honest I am more often surprised how cheap many things are now compared to the past, although some things are also clearly more expensive.

In 1983 I got a new drum kit (Premier Resonator for any hitters that may be interested!), and it cost me £1,200 (drums only, not inc stands and cymbals, and I still have the invoice somewhere, sentimental value and all that). I swapped and changed kits a few times over the years, but I know I could get pretty much get the same quality level of kit for exactly the same price 30 years later. Using an inflation calculator I should, all things being equal, be paying and extra £2,000, but no, and that is an indication that for things like drums the cost in real terms has fallen by fully two thirds in 30 years.

In terms of technology, some (and probably most) electrical items are massively cheap now compared to what they used to be, and for better products (TV's computers etc.). I suspect that in many cases that is also true for lower end hifi, although I'm pretty sure I paid around £70 in 1980 for a NAD 3020A amp which equates to £280 in today's money, which is not far off its modern replacement the 316BEE at around £250.

Of course don't even get me started on beer and petrol, neither of which is remotely cheaper than in the past!

 

[Johnno2]

despite general price hikes over the last few years with vat etc, there are some very good deals on some new electrical stuff in the uk, the marantz cr603 at £329 for example, and a third been slashed off some midrange denon stuff, Just picked up some diamond 10.2 brand new for £150 with a denon dm 39 at £189, it all sounds and looks far more expensive,

 

[dbbloke]

Wow, storm in a tea cup! I'm based in the UK now btw.

Generally HiFi in Australia is at least Double UK (luxury import tax supposedly) but sometimes and in this case it's not. So we all end up at chinese websites etc. or spend the earth in hifi shops.

I have some friends who I said - hey, get a pair of Usher S520 is you can afford they are great small speakers, they went out and bought and I just found out the price! I think rrp is closer to $500 which lines up to the UK, ended up getting mine from NZ cheap somehow even with shipping!. But seems they are sold under RRP due to competition / maybe?

But seriously, and I imagine being a hifi retailer is a really expensive and annoying business, and I don't know the answer/solution.

I would love to know markups though, and there are forums here where you can get group buys (mostly not hifi), rockgrotto aune DAC springs to mind. There a load of online sites which seem somewhat impartial although they seem to have advertising. And you can buy online nowadays.

So are hifi shops just waiting for some smart guy to stock the good stuff at minimal mark ups and kill the market, will it be happening in the UK anytime soon. I mean, some things are so obviously good at great prices it's a bo-brainer to buy. Is there a forum where people phone up Usher, say... how much if i order 10/25/50 monitors then get people to pay on a forum. It's just you really see your mates in a country where its traditionally expensive and getting bargain deals and you think... why not here. Am I going to read in 12 months that sevenoaks / Audio T went the way of comet etc..

Jibes at magazines... I have it on very good authority, the A400 was a paid off product review / success. And I read somewhere else the front of this magazine is £80k. Yeah, I imagine its hard with advertising, but then you lose credibility when people with their own minds and ears go and hear something and its not good sounding and they think .. hey, why did it get 5 stars! I guess if you are inexperienced you will think - must be these speakers are not to my ears liking / difference of opinion. Well, it's not, its fact, NOT opinion. People are always going to buy magazines though, I often think this when I see torrent pdf's of mags. Just for something to look through, even if they ignore the advice. It's nice to look at new gear.

 

[chebby]

Jibes at magazines... I have it on very good authority, the A400 was a paid off product review / success. And I read somewhere else the front of this magazine is £80k.

How do we know how good that 'authority' is? How can you convince us of the veracity of that claim?

It's just hearsay until it's qualified. There have been many such claims against WHF? (on a weekly basis I'd estimate) but not one has ever given a credible source.

£80K sounds a lot for some of the companies whose equipment i've seen featured on front pages over the years. Some of them would be lucky to make that in annual profit let alone be able to stump up such a sum just for advertising in one magazine.

Are you saying What Hi-Fi? S&V make over a million pounds a year (13 issues x £80k) just from advertising on the cover alone? I find that highly unlikely.