Badwisdom... My take on the Accuphase problem was USD/JPY and direction-specific. Japanese buyers of US or European products should actually benefit from the forex forward (though not from volatility, company risk, etc). For trade between the UK/US/Europe, forex forwards change a lot less(which means savings of 15+% vs case of Japan exports to US) and forex volatility is a lot lower historically (meaning the buffer one needs to take is lower). While I laud makers which make efforts to keep prices similar across markets, I might have chosen slightly different words to your question, replacing "practically identical COSTS" with "practically identical PRICES".
Intrigued, and having heard of the Chord DAC 64 and the big amps, I did a quick search. Indeed, it seems as if the price of the SPM-5000 amp, anywhere you go is going to run you the equivalent of $22-23k retail in many places (I checked France, Sweden, UK, US, Germany), and the Chord64 will cost a mite over $3k. I note however that continental European (and perhaps UK) prices include V.A.T. while the US price does not, suggesting that if selling at MSRP, US' dealers' net prices are probably 15+% higher.
I have noticed that UK makers (B&W, B&S' Meridian brand, Linn, E.A.R., etc) are better than others at keeping prices similar across markets (and perhaps as a result, small UK makers sell significantly better in Japan than do small US makers). I do not know if such uniformity is due to manufacturers keeping distributors in line with an iron hand or if the makers simply keep MSRP high and let "street prices" vary across markets [e.g. while B&W speakers have a higher USD-equivalent MSRP in Japan than in the US or Europe, the "street price" is competitive with and in some cases actually lower here than in Europe].
I would tend to think that for certain makers there is a bit of both; but I would also posit that if volumes are not high, then margins are (few build businesses to sell a low volume, low margin product), leaving ample room in many cases for room to manipulate MSRP across cost structures.
Intrigued, and having heard of the Chord DAC 64 and the big amps, I did a quick search. Indeed, it seems as if the price of the SPM-5000 amp, anywhere you go is going to run you the equivalent of $22-23k retail in many places (I checked France, Sweden, UK, US, Germany), and the Chord64 will cost a mite over $3k. I note however that continental European (and perhaps UK) prices include V.A.T. while the US price does not, suggesting that if selling at MSRP, US' dealers' net prices are probably 15+% higher.
I have noticed that UK makers (B&W, B&S' Meridian brand, Linn, E.A.R., etc) are better than others at keeping prices similar across markets (and perhaps as a result, small UK makers sell significantly better in Japan than do small US makers). I do not know if such uniformity is due to manufacturers keeping distributors in line with an iron hand or if the makers simply keep MSRP high and let "street prices" vary across markets [e.g. while B&W speakers have a higher USD-equivalent MSRP in Japan than in the US or Europe, the "street price" is competitive with and in some cases actually lower here than in Europe].
I would tend to think that for certain makers there is a bit of both; but I would also posit that if volumes are not high, then margins are (few build businesses to sell a low volume, low margin product), leaving ample room in many cases for room to manipulate MSRP across cost structures.