Why has focal raised their prices so much on Sopra line

Sopra 2s sound very good. Poor value to me. There was a used white pair with a center here for months in Vegas I think they wanted10 grand.  No takers for a long time. New way over priced in my opinion. Prices are spiking on goods world wide right now , now is not the time to buy .
odds are most of you have good systems already
New speakers are wants not needs. Exercise your power as a consumer a sale cannot take place with out you. Something better may be just around the corner. I always wonder who the people are who buy stuff for  full list price on the internet.

Sopra's price increased before covid, for all you justifying their actions with your "shipping" and "material costs" theories, which isn't remotely true. They bought a distribution company and as a corporation, instead of saddling the costs and innovating their way out of it, they want the people to pay for it. Buy used, people haven't been gouging bad yet and you can still find deals. They're good speakers, but not worth 20k. 

Also, lumber spiked and has been steadily getting crushed the last two weeks. Futures down from 1600 highs to 650s yesterday. So the prices for gear will equalize. 

Business 101.

Supply and Demand.
COGS are increasing daily.

Wait the fun has just begun. .

Focal raised their prices dramatically soon after former President Trump put 25% tariffs on goods imported from the EU.  So did many other European suppliers. The UK was granted exceptions as the administration liked Boris Johnson’s politics, so UK goods didn’t go up in most cases.  Rega just put in some modest increases, nothing like Focal’s.What I don’t know is whether the Biden trade policy will remove the tariffs and if prices will drop in consequence. 

Fasten your seatbelt. This is going to be a regular thing in the coming year or two. There are a whole list of cost increases that manufacturers have had to cover and the latest one is shipping. Container rates have gone up over 400% in some shipping lanes. Speakers are particularly sensitive to shipping costs because they are large and heavy.  I just ordered a DAC and shortly after my order I saw that the retailer increased the price 12% in one jump.

Another factor is exchange rates. The dollar has significantly weakened compared to the Euro in the last several months which means that it takes more dollars to buy a product made in Europe.

My advice is that if you've been planning a purchase and you have the funds you should pull the trigger quickly. I'm old enough so that I've seen this movie before and I think we are going to have stiff inflation over the next couple years.

Lastly, there is no such thing as "price gouging" on a luxury item like a high end speaker. In that price range you have well over 100 choices of excellent quality speakers to choose from so simply move on to another brand unless you can't live without the Sopras. US made speakers should be somewhat less prone to large price hikes but I'll probably have to eat these words in the next few months.