I couldnt help but notice this past month, that in the worst of times financially for me (and obviously the country) that the bargains in HT seem to be changing or dissapearing. I was shocked to find out the M60s crossed the 1k barrier today, and the Paradigm Monitor 7's which were around 700 when my friend purchased them not too long ago have jumped to 950. On top of that the amazing Oppo BDP-83 is mysteriously discontinued out of the blue along with the bdp-80. The legendary SVS-pb10 has also been discontinued out of the blue. These are a few examples Im citing, but there's more out there. I have this strange, bad feeling about the world of audio, anyone else? What do you think the future holds for making quality systems acessible to the average person?

A few months ago, I saw the Behringer A500 for between $150-160 USD...a lot of places are looking for $250++ now. I believe overall, the bargains in most products, not only audio, are slowly being reigned back as the economy(albeit, very, very slowly) recovers.

You also have to wonder if the weakness in the USD is affecting some of the prices out there(inc Axiom).

Personally I am noticing a bridging of the gap in value between factory direct and b&m especially in the "budget" market.

A new model is on the way with more features that will replace the BDP-83 at the same price point.

Will it be as good is the questions however, as the tried and true BDP-83. I hate when I see companies like Marantz push out newer and newer lines with more "features" at the expense of a solid, durable product. More features does not usually mean better to me, and when a product is good at what its supposed to do, I absolutely loathe when companies change it for the sake of "change"

I would suspect, no doubt, the Paradigms have increased significantly in price to its US customers because of the growing weakness of the US dollar compared to the Canadian along with other currencies AND they sell through dealers who are probably passing on the extra cost of importation to their customers. Because it sells direct, no doubt Axiom, can hold the line better on its US prices because it doesn`t have to deal with distributors and retailers and their additional markups. Keep in mind, with anything imported in to the US because of that steadily weakening dollar, it is going to cost YOU the customer more and more money. The vast majority of anything electronic is made overseas, hence, same story, imports will be more costly. SVS seems to be going through design changes and it has been pointed out elsewhere recently on this forum they changed their sub amps(Made in China?) since, I assume, the Bash amps, coming from Canada, were getting too costly to import.

Although Oppo has discontinued the 83 and 80, we have a couple of resellers in the area that still have the 83 and 83SE in stock. I must admit the introduction of the BDP93 came right out of the blue and you have to give them credit for being able to keep it pretty quiet. If the price is close to the 83 with all those extra updated features, they will probably sell boatloads of them.

Check out the "LA Music" website on the Lakeshore in Mississauga. It goes for $228(Can.) and you probably could get it for less if you went right to the store.

It sounds to me like Oppo had problems sourcing the ABT video chip in the 83 and/or a few other pieces, so they had to make adjustments. Not sure why they had to drop the 80, but I bet it was due to the same sourcing issues.

Yes, LA Music, Axe Music and Long and McQuade all seem to be around that price but I've noticed that many of the really good deals on that amp(and others) have disappeared south of the border.

Some places are still selling them for $170-180 USD, but places like Parts Express and similar, have hiked the $$ up.

Interesting video showing increased distortion of an A500 .

Yah, I remember seeing that Cam. It seems to distort when the gain is turned up but not if you leave the gain set at one particular level as I understand it.

Here again, no doubt, because of the weakening of the US dollar related to other currencies and the Behringer stuff is made in the Far East, thus, it is costing them more money to import the equipment. Even despite this, I would gather because of the weak economy a lot of these sellers "bit the bullet" attempting to hold prices down, in turn, eating a significant part of their margins along the way. I guess they just can't do it anymore and the recent price increases show it.

The professional audio crowd love to hate Behringer.

Wow, 2/π zero-cross distortion in a solid state AB amp these days? That's not confidence inspiring.

I thought this chip was the bestest of the best. If they change it, does this mean that the DVD up-conversion will now be inferior?

It was the best at the time. People are preferring the Qdeo chips from Marvell now.

Guess what the 93 has in it?

Some wonderful, high end speakers (Thiel, Focal) can be had at 50% off. Look around for bargains, you'll find them.

Pricing is not a function of a recovering economy. It's not recovering. It is a function of the devaluation of the dollar, and the relative rising costs of imports and commodities.

It takes more cheap dollars to buy a dollar's worth of foreign made product. The US is threatening a trade war against PR China because of their currency manipulations. China will strengthen the Yuan and make Chinese imports more expensive.

On the other hand, manufacturers are getting pretty squeezed and are cutting deeply into their margins so they can move product and stay alive.

Seek a bargain and you will find.

I can't say if it will be as good or not, but Audioholics lists "increased performance and improved build quality" in their first look, and they note that the unit is the same height, same width, half the depth, yet has a bit more heft to it.

Needs more piano black, but I do think it is a step up in looks over the first BDP. http://oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-93/images/BDP-93.jpg

Looks nice but where does the disc go? I also hope to see at least a few USB2 ports on the front and rear.

From the Audioholics preview:

"The new player is beautiful, with a brushed aluminum face plate and flush buttons. The tray even retracts so tightly into the front that it is virtually hidden when closed (note photos below)."

I'll tell you guys what, Im taking advantage of this and selling my BDP-83 on ebay for 500 or more as some have sold, get all my money back and I ordered the SE, I want to go all analog from now on. Sold a few blu rays to so I can do the 900 pricetag. I guess people who want the legendary 83 are freaking out and paying more than retail for used ones since they aren't available from Oppodigital.com anymore, and mine is absolutely mint.