Hmm..
Scotti - "Over here in Oz, the price of gear has been ridiculous, up until recently certain brand gear was the only option. one day I'll have no behringer gear, but thats the future. It could be worse. "
Just so y'all understand this... the AUD swings wildy in comparison with the USD because of the nature of our economy - mining / resources / produce - we're the world's quarry and breadbasket in terms of things that effect the external value of the currency.
As of this morning $1 AUD = $1.05 USD - our dollar has never been higher since it was floated in the 80s. It's 65p for GT....
Right now, recording gear has never been cheaper in Australia, although, as a small remote buyer in a large world market, it's still markedly more expensive that the US.
I bought a fair bit of gear from 2000 - 2005, when the exchange rate varied from as little as $1 AUD for $0.50 USD to, at most $0.77. Prices for quality gear were outrageous.
Somewhere in there I paid $1900 for an AKG 414 - today, about 8 years later, I can get it for $1425 at the place I bought it from back then, but in the US, at Sweetwater, it's currently $999.
Even now, we pay well over the odds for gear of all sorts - small market... other side of the world etc. Way it is....
Behringer was cheap, and apart from a small 4ch mixer, I didn't buy any of it, because from what I read at the time, it was well known as entry level gear that produced entry level quality, and I was determined to land at least in the mid-level... the other downside of Australia is that there's no real second hand market for this stuff. Low-end stuff has basically nil value.
So Scotti - if you think it's bad now.... maaaaaaaate..... and Behringer isn't "the only option" - you just have to think long and hard about what you want to do, and where you want to play. If you end up with cupboards full of Behri gear that's unused as you drive ruinously down Upgrade Street, then perhaps you'd be better off holding off a bit at the start and lobbing further up the ladder in your first attempt. I've got almost everything I've still bought and use it all. I've hardly bought anything since 2005 in terms of mics / pres etc.
Life has never been easier for homerecorders in Australia in terms of gear prices... incredibly cheap in comparison to how it's been in the recent past. Plus - booming economy, we completely missed the GFC, everyone has a job... it's all good.
**get off my lawn!!!**