Yes RGA has a speaker dilemma - do I upgrade? LOL.

[kexodusc]

Yeah, only Canada/Provincial student loans are deductable, so pay off your bank debts first. Taking the tax credit into consideration, the prime + 2% government charges is actually much lower than prime, making it your cheapest debt burden. And hopefully you've been able to save your tuition credits and not had to use them every year. Tax refunds are cool.
I bought a sweet Rotel amp and had a local friend of mine who owns a DIY-er shop build me a pair of exceptionally nice Vifa driven speakers for my studio.

About AN Japan - There must get to be a point where some of these super expensive speakers built from scratch by bare hand just add cost to the consumer over some large-scale manufacturers like Klipsh or whoever? Sure they sound nice, but when you build 5,000 speakers vs. 100,000 speakers, somethings got to give. I guess on the flipside, some mass-manufacturers probably make the odd compromise or take a shortcut to facilitate production.
Does AN Japan just cater to it's existing AN consumers, and the occasional new-comer?
Do their speakers sound that much better than their UK namesake's?

Oh, and not owning a car saves you $40-$60 bucks a week...I was in Montreal last week, over $55 to fill my Accord. Yikes.

[Bryan]

Keep what you have as that is what you are happy with. Do you want to look at plain, dull, uninteresting black speakers or would you prefer to look at the warm, inviting look of the cherry that begs to be adored. IMO, you will be happier in the long run by keep what you have now.

[RGA]

Yeah, only Canada/Provincial student loans are deductable, so pay off your bank debts first. Taking the tax credit into consideration, the prime + 2% government charges is actually much lower than prime, making it your cheapest debt burden. And hopefully you've been able to save your tuition credits and not had to use them every year. Tax refunds are cool.
I bought a sweet Rotel amp and had a local friend of mine who owns a DIY-er shop build me a pair of exceptionally nice Vifa driven speakers for my studio.

About AN Japan - There must get to be a point where some of these super expensive speakers built from scratch by bare hand just add cost to the consumer over some large-scale manufacturers like Klipsh or whoever? Sure they sound nice, but when you build 5,000 speakers vs. 100,000 speakers, somethings got to give. I guess on the flipside, some mass-manufacturers probably make the odd compromise or take a shortcut to facilitate production.
Does AN Japan just cater to it's existing AN consumers, and the occasional new-comer?
Do their speakers sound that much better than their UK namesake's?

Oh, and not owning a car saves you $40-$60 bucks a week...I was in Montreal last week, over $55 to fill my Accord. Yikes.

Yes I will get to deduct all the Tuition loans on my income. Not owning a car is huge - maintenance gas and insurance. The bus costs me $150.00 for 4 months. Nanaimo is pretty small so cabs to clubs are $10-$15.00 and I rarely go. I don't smoke and I drink socially. $1000.00 bucks to a drinking smoking car owner could be used up easily in two months.

Audio Note Japan can only sell in Japan I believe. They basically make a lot of the same stuff. The OnGaku-On is made by both outfits but AN UK has made a much cheaper version which some say is better. Well Cheap is $49,900 compared to $87,000. LOL.

AN UK makes the exotic expensive stuff but also makes affordable gear which is probably the only reason I have ever heard of the company. If you charge stratospheric prices not many dealers can take it on - only the very big dealers. AN-UK is responsible for the DACs - they will no longer be making Transports though because Sony (who supplied AN) apparently changed their design.

As for price well of course the price goes way up when you make fewer units all else being equal. But all else is not equal as we know. For instance AN uses real wood and good wood instead of plastic, AN does not have a huge workforce to pay or big facilities to pay for. They don't advertise.

The big guys though make their stuff internally so they don't outsource(how much that saves is unknown - and whether what they build internally is better than what a company like Vifa or SEAS can make when that is ALL they do is another issue). B&W not to pick on them because I do like their sound, is advertised in virtually every issue of every stereo magazine all year all the time - and sometimes more than one ad each issue to sell a few different lines.

Plus they come out with a newly designed speaker every 3 - 5 years which costs money whether the speaker is actually better well - compare a Matrix speaker witha Nautilus speaker and I'm not so surethat the speakers didn't get a bit worse.

The other thing is that AN is built in Britain so you are certainly paying a large premium for labour where as say a Quad 21L is built in China. I am not a person who thinks it really matters where it is built so long as the QC is well executed. There is no question in my mind that AN's prices are "HIGH".

But I think they are smart about WHERE they prices are high. The entry level cd players amps speakers don't seem to be out of whack with everyone elses speakers - and indeed maybe a better bargain. Where they make up for this is no doubt in the 30-40k version of the E. I don't care if they use the best grade of silver on the planet or $1000.00 worth of Alnico magnets and Balck Gate caps - the Box is the same with the exception of nicer wood prints and lacquer - and even if they spend an extra 4 hours of labour to match pair everything a bit more can the price be justified to go up $26K to 36KUS. LOL No.

But then on the other hand if the shopper goes in and listens to them against what others $30k-40K speakers are going for it's not for me to argue. They sell them and let's face it when you're speaker looks like the E looks and you are charging $20K --- you had BETTER be making one hell of a good sounding speaker because B&W looks absolutely gorgeous.

The mark-up is way higher on their expensive gear - but there is very little extra sheet metal on a Lexus as there is on a Tercel and the labour is no more than 30hours on any Toyota. So why does one cost 80k and the other 14k? A better example is why one truck is $20K and you add in some power options/Air/heated seats etc and the price goes to $46,000.00 There is no option set that can possibly justify an ampount that more than doubles the price of the base version. But people buy it and it does make for a nicer ride I guess.

Of course I take the bus - biggest engine on the road - and chauffer driven - can't beat that -- it's all in the way you look at it.