rising audio equipment prices:

reubent, great exposition on the situation,  'The Market' has become so fragmented that one can feed their 'needs' for whatever perceived outcome they desire for the collection of equipment one may want to amass.  When one weighs the opinions of the 'press' vs. an actual listening experience at a show, a vendor, or the home of an associate...the varied responses of posters here and their preferences for amp 'A' over 'D', and all the other variations of that theme...

Yes, there Are differences.  Yes, there Is 'This is better than That'....Yes, that combination of equipment may yield a 'more satisfactory experience' at a lower price point than the more expensive one, despite claims to the contrary...and no resolution in sight...

The skeptic in me notes the parallels between the 'world of audiophilia' and the 'world of digital devices', computers in particular.  The devices we view and post with in this forum have become just as varied, just as disparate.  If you wander through the forums dedicated to computers and the software integration issues people experience, both good and bad, what can be done and can't, even the updates issued by the manufacturers trying to keep it all 'current', safe, and just f'n Running...

I, for one, vacillate between laughing at it all or being terribly concerned for us.  One can apply the 'Tower of Babel' myth...the Placebo Effect...it's variant, today's Kool Aid...religion....politics...taste, or lack of it (subject to opinion, yours, theirs, en mass or singular....)

...and when it comes to sound reproduction, i haven't even mentioned the space that one uses for listening to same.  Another variable into an equation that begins to look like the Drake version for intelligent life.

You still end up back at the start:
What do you like to listen to?
What do you want it to sound like?
How much money do yo want to spend towards that/those goals?
Where will  this occur?
How much effort are you willing to commit to your goals?
Will you ever be happy with the outcome, given that 'perfection' is a moving target?

Satiation is a personal thing....;)

It's the cost of overhead. Germany has three times the electricity cost and the UK has twice the cost compared to the U.S. Germany also has a 50% higher labor cost than the U.S.

I don't think the cost of electricity plays a part in the cost of equipment. Germans typically pay about 85 euros/month which is less than our average costs. They do pay about twice per kilowatt hour than we do but they use a third less power than we do. The extensive use of solar panels in Germany also allows private citizens to generate their own power and sell any excess back to the utility companies. That, and air conditioning is almost non existent. Oh, and about half the costs are in taxes.

I think the real costs are from what the market will bear with paying for quality work and not out sourcing a distant second. Taking as a given that their labor costs are twice ours, what justifies the pricing of American gear?

As for England, a big decline in competition and expensive nuclear power plant construction are driving England to have the most expensive electricity in Europe. They charge about than three times more than some countries. But, complain as they do, does anyone think that they'd not buy something they like because of the power it draws?

All the best,
Nonoise

Fiat money printing nothing else! Oh yea over taxation as well, and I suppose over regulation.

What the sucker market will bear .
Easier to make 50K on one speaker than 5 K on ten etc etc etc .

Economics is the biggest lie taught in any college .