CA prices up significantly, DacMagic at 249

Yes. Found out to-day when I went into RS to buy one. Now going for the v-dac instead.

Exchange rates, I suspect...

We have been warning that such increases were all but inevitable for some time...

I negotiated down to 220 , so a bit closer to the old price, and got one :)

On the RS website. 740 up to £650 a piece, and 840 V2.0 up to £999.99 a piece.

Hardly surprising though and they are not the only ones.

Andrew Everard:

Exchange rates, I suspect...

We have been warning that such increases were all but inevitable for some time...

Suspect that some products will be losing a star then....as the sound per pound decreases.

Depends whether everything else goes up, too. Products will be reconsidered when they are compared again in group tests or supertests, I think.

matthewpiano:

On the RS website. 740 up to £650 a piece, and 840 V2.0 up to £999.99 a piece.

Hardly surprising though and they are not the only ones.

Hmm. I don't see a queue forming for the newly-priced 740s, given that these were being advertised at £300 up until a couple of days ago. £650 suggests a degree of profit margin which would stick in my throat, frankly.

Where is CA gear manufactured then? I guess they must be passing on the increased costs of components. Even in these volatile forex markets 25pc increase in DAC magic seems a like it would expand their margin! I'll be monitoring the prices here in Singapore to see if they're also trying to squeeze more SGD/GBP as that has slid from c.3 to 2.1 in the last 6 months of so.

Cambridge CEO - I believe you post here - do you not hedge your fx exposure?ÿ

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CA gear has been manufactured in China and other countries in that region for some little time now.

Tractorboy,

I can fully understand why you're thinking profit to the retailer. Andrew is 100% correct in that it's to do with exchange rates. Some manufactures will put up prices quicker than others given the amount of stock they shift and new stock coming into the country. Yamaha have also got price increases. Marantz prices will be up soon. Although a lot of equipment is built in China many of the equipments components are made in Japan.

Yeah, I fully understand that a 25% price increase, although it may seem huge at first glance, may well be fully justified by recent changes in exchange rates. Annoying for the consumer, but certainly no indication of cynical profiteering; no doubt the manufacturers and retailers are also pretty unhappy. If I were them, I would be looking sales forecasts nervously. Let's face it, Hi Fi, at the end of the day, is a luxury, rather than an essential, and as people have less disposable income, I would imagine that tough times are ahead for manufacturers and retailers alike, certainly in this country.

I guess my point regarding the 740C was actually a bit off topic. I was trying to say that retailers should be careful what they discount, and by how much, as this can affect the consumer's view on not only an individual product, but the brand as a whole. If RS were able to sell off their Silver 740Cs for £300 a piece, to me that sets the benchmark at which I would now perceive the value of that piece of equipement, and also its peers, such as the matching amp. Once, I might have been willing to pay £500 for it, and considered it good value. Not any more. And certainly not the new price of £650.

I know that nothing has really changed, the equipment is the same, the level of performance and pride of ownership it might offer is the same... but that fact that it *was* available significantly cheaper, does in fact lessen its perceived value for me.

Hope that makes sense - I don't seem to be doing a very good job of explaining myself properly at the moment (cf the Naim Dac thread - hang on, that's starting to look better value already!).

Yes, British manufactured products look good value now, but then I always thought they did..........

tractorboy:

Yeah, I fully understand that a 25% price increase, although it may seem huge at first glance, may well be fully justified by recent changes in exchange rates.

 The GBP fell against the JPY in Sep/Oct 08. Im suprised that the price moves are so delayed. There have been (relatively) far smaller moves since last Nov. Strange timing.

Saying that, I do hope that all manufacturers come out of this unscathed, it would be a shame to lose one. 

 

 

thfcwestlower:

Strange timing.

Hardly - I think most manufacturers and distributors have been watching the rapidly Pestoning worldwide economy over the past six months or so with a mixture of abject horror and grim dread.

They've been trying to hold off the price-rises as long as possible, as they know what the impact will be if they put up prices in an already depressed, recessed or just plain tanked market.

What we're seeing now is that they really can't hold out any longer, however hard they try, as evidenced by some of the losses the big names are saying they'll be reporting when the financial year judders to a close at the end of next month.

It's also worth mentioning that the Pound/Yen rate is just one of the currency issues here. Components for just about every product (inc Chinese-manufactured goods and even British products) are priced in dollars, and the pound only started to really suffer against the dollar late last year.

Secondly, many of the major Japanese companies have their European bases in Germany, with prices across the EU therefore budgeted/planned in Euros - and we all know how the pound is faring in that relationship right now...