ML to raise prices soon?

I told my ML dealer that I just bought the Stage from that I was probably going to upgrade my mains to Vantages in 4-5 weeks. He advised me to purchase them before Jan 1st because they were going to increase the price by $400.

Does this sound consistent with what you've all heard or do you think the dealer is pressuring me to purchase sooner for some reason?

My dealer, who knows that I'm not in the market to buy anything, told me that prices are going up 10% Jan 1st.

Well crap. Can anyone else confirm this?

Albertan said:

Well crap. Can anyone else confirm this?

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Same here in France :-(

I already thought prices went up on the Summits, does this mean there's an additional price increase??

Wouldn't be anything to do with the new management? Same thing happened at Plinius very shortly after the aggresive takeover they suffered.

Kevin

Not sure if it's new management, but B&W are also raising prices this first of January.

I think it's the weakened dollar that's the root cause.

Joey_V said:

Not sure if it's new management, but B&W are also raising prices this first of January.

I think it's the weakened dollar that's the root cause.

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I would have thought a weakened dollar would be good for an American exporter. Still waiting to see price reductions commensurate with the relative strengthening of the Aussie dollar although it is on its way down again.

Kevin

Joey_V said:

I think it's the weakened dollar that's the root cause.

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While the idiots we elected in D.C. tell us otherwise, inflation is ever present. While most folks on the forum drive gasoline powered vehicles some of us drive diesels. The price of which in my area averages 30-40 cents a gallon more than reg gas !

Diesel fuel "drives" commerce, meaning the transportation of the worlds goods and services, so with Fuel Surcharges hovering around 30%, mfg can only absorb for so long before increases have to be passed along.

Dave-

I've never figured out how to use the 'multi-quote' feature (help!) on this forum, but to remark to your last comment:

I've received around nine shipments this week where we were charged a fuel surcharge. Some of the charges are excessive, such as the shipment of boxes/packaging materials that came from a local supplier ($7.00 fuel charge). Other invoices have multiple fuel charges attached as the packages require several modes of transit to reach our shop.
Now, we build labroratory instruments, which are then shipped out where the carrier man/may not charge a surcharge. Most of our accounts ask us to pre-pay & add the shipping. We wound up in a situation where we werent able to figure out which products were most affected by the fuel costs (and plainly did not have the manpower to even try) so we increased the prices of all products with the hopes it will 'even out' somewheres along the line. The result was an average increase of $5.00 on a ~$300 instrument, where in the past the shipping itself only estimated to around $5.00, give or take depending on weight/destination/insurance.
Who ultimately pays for all of this? You, me, everyone here. When I approached some of the customers and mentioned the necessary increase, most simply stated that they understood and would pass on the costs themselves.
I could rant on and on over the fuel situation but I wont. I will simply state that due to the phenominal profits associated with the oil industry, there is NO motivation in Washington to fix this.....

Tj

Our Singapore ML distributor advised there is a US$2,000 increase on his Summit cost from Jan 1.

Didn't ML prices go up by about 10% last year too? I know the Summits jumped up about 10%.

Craig said:

Didn't ML prices go up by about 10% last year too? I know the Summits jumped up about 10%.

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I'm beginning to think that I bought into a mutual fund rather than a speaker. Early adopters ftw (for the win!)!! J/K!

Craig said:

Didn't ML prices go up by about 10% last year too? I know the Summits jumped up about 10%.

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Vantage's MSRP hasen't moved since day one.

Craig said:

Didn't ML prices go up by about 10% last year too? I know the Summits jumped up about 10%.

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To be fair, though, the Summits price started where the Prodigies left off. That is pretty unusual for a new model. So it is not surprising they raised prices on that model pretty quickly. This sounds more like an across-the-board price hike to keep up with inflation.

Joey_V said:

........
I think it's the weakened dollar that's the root cause.

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That's what my dealer told me. Summit prices are about $1,000 higher in Canada BTW.

Does this mean the price of the Stage s going up too? I recently bought the Motif at Tweeter and was thnking about upgrading in the Spring.

Not all of ML's line is going to have the price increase. I was able to talk to my dealer today and from what I got:

Summits: No
Vantages: Yes
Vistas: Yes
Grotto i: Yes (all other subwoofers, no)
Motif: No
Stage: Unsure

I am not sure, but I do not think the increase will be hitting the design series and the summits will be staying where they are because of the previous increase. This is what I could remember from our about 5 minute phone conversation.

Tj Bassi said:

I could rant on and on over the fuel situation but I wont. I will simply state that due to the phenominal profits associated with the oil industry, there is NO motivation in Washington to fix this.....

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Washington can not fix this...
1) there is NO motivation, as you point out, but more importantly
2) the price is ultimately driven by world wide supply and demand, and demand keeps rising, (US, China, and India) As soon as WE stop buying the price will drop. If you think the profits are phenomenal then my question to you is have you 'gone long' on oil or oil companies, you can profit along with them, just by stock, most of the oil companies (large and small) are public.

Burke said:

If you think the profits are phenomenal then my question to you is have you 'gone long' on oil or oil companies, you can profit along with them, just by stock, most of the oil companies (large and small) are public.

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Burke,
I did that almost 2 years ago.
I sold all my Walmart stock and invested everything in mutual funds that invest in only energy and utilities.
Laughing all the way to the bank.