Would any UK dealers ship Harbeths to the US?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by thesisinbold, May 28, 2015.

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  1. Jasonb

    Jasonb Forum Resident

    Whaaaat! Have to admit I haven't heard Harbeth since the mid/late 80s, but they blew away the Mission, Castle, and Mordaunt Shorts I used to listen to in a friend's hi fi store. Can't remember the model. Just a 2 way bass reflex design but I can remember the effect they had on me. To me they were beyond my budget but I think I was a poor student at the time.
     
  2. martinb4

    martinb4 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Irvine, California
    He's voicing his concern over not using a US dealer, not the quality of the speakers.
     
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  3. thesisinbold

    thesisinbold Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Camarillo, Ca, USA

    30.1
     
  4. Jasonb

    Jasonb Forum Resident

    Gotcha. Don't know why I thought the OP couldn't get them here
     
  5. Bubbamike

    Bubbamike Forum Resident

    A few years ago, I bought a pair of SHL-5s from someone in the Czech Republic off of Audiogon. While I was trepidatious about the possibility of fraud, I felt that using Paypal would help. I had nothing to worry about. My rosewood '5s arrived within a week in the original boxes, as perfect as if they were new. I had to pay customs dues and brokerage to a broker, but the broker delivered them to me at work and helped me load them into my car. It was a great deal and I was able to order a pair of Skylan stands and still come out ahead of what used ones in the US were being sold for then.
     
  6. Burt

    Burt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kirkwood, MO
    The question of course is why someone would want to do this and the answer is obvious, the retail price is substantially higher here.

    As someone pointed out the reverse is generally true with US made equipment in foreign countries. This is not peculiar to this industry. My father was a camera repairman until the 1980s, and he often found that the price and availability of cameras and their parts varied widely far beyond any excuse like transportation or tariffs. He always thought that it was funny companies felt like they had a right to buy on a global basis from the cheapest vendor at the lowest rate they could arrange but the buyer who dodged their arbitrary schemes was "the bad guy".

    At least with the UK there isn't too much language barrier and a dealer may sell you a unit that is "used" even if new sales off market are verboten. There are also some very discreet freight forwarders who do this sort of stuff all the time. I needed some car parts ( an engine swap kit for a classic Brit car) from the UK and the manufacturer refused to export to North America on the alleged grounds of product liability. In fact, the vendor specifically wrote and told me that he would not sell them to me or any American or Canadian (because Canadians could, you know, drive over the border) even if we came over there so don't bother. I found a company that would have the item ordered by a local, picked up and they sent it over for a fairly small fee.
     
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  7. countingbackward

    countingbackward Forum Resident

    Location:
    Montreal, QC
    Nailed it with this one. I have no idea about Harbeth's supply chain (maybe they only buy British), but the large majority of manufacturers that try to protect sales regions from one another do not act the same way on the purchasing side.

    If the "middle man" isn't adding any real value (e.g. - local importer still has to send your product to the manufacturer's home country to be repaired), then it certainly seems like a shady practice to have an exclusive distributor for a region, whose only added value is to the manufacturer - allowing them to have 1 customer for an entire region rather than having to deal with individuals. It's up to the distributor to add enough value to justify the seemingly unreasonably higher prices. If they don't - then it's a free world, and people will try to buy from the vendor that provides the lowest possible price, even if that means buying from a different region. It's basic economics.
     
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  8. Jim T

    Jim T Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mars
    --------------------------------
    His website is odd and does not show all the Harbeth models. Makes little sense if there are no other "dealers". Carry the full line would be a must I would think.
     
  9. demisemiquaver

    demisemiquaver New Member

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