SP C4 and friends in Canada.

A

ambi

New member
I was amazed to realized that at my local long and mcquade store in Canada they have access to more studio projects gear now!

But some of it is outrageously expensive. The VTB1 is $450! The C1 is $400! They said they could order the C4's for about 645, and the computer said "small diaphram pair". So i'm guessing that's with the carry case and shockmounts? The B1's and the C1's they had just came in cardboard and had no cases or shockmounts though...

Is it me or is that a bogus price? What about for the c4's is that ok? Here i'll convert to US dollars to make it easier.
B1 - $110
C1 - $295
VTB1 - $332
C4 - $475

I can get a DMP3 for about 295 Canadian, which isn't tooo bad.
 
A lot of Canadian stores will now match U.S. prices (as long as you factor in shipping). They're starting to realize that they are in a global marketplace and have to compete with american musical, 8th street and places like that. Just bring them a printout from the 8th street (or whatever) website checkout showing how much it will cost you to get a SP in your hands, and I'll bet they match it.

I'm not sure why the prices are not lower to begin with. I actually find that recording stuff is generally a bit cheaper in Canada than in the U.S. (except for the higher-end stuff, where there just isn't as much competition to keep the prices down).
 
Really? Well i've never seen one thing cheaper in Canada than in the US. EVERYTHING is a LOT more. I don't mean to directly argue with you here, it's just always been a pet peve of mine how everything, especially audio, is more expensive in Canada.

Literally everything. MAYBE Yorkville monitors are cheaper because they're made here but that's about it.

I could list every piece of gear i've ever wanted just like i did above for those pieces, and i can gurantee they will all be about 100-400 dollars US more in Canada.
 
ambi said:
Really? Well i've never seen one thing cheaper in Canada than in the US. EVERYTHING is a LOT more.
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Then you're shopping at the wrong places. Around here (Edmonton) most things are about the same price as in the U.S., when you factor in shipping costs they're generally a bit cheaper and ocassionally things are much cheaper (Senheisser 441's for instance).
 
jslator said:
Then you're shopping at the wrong places. Around here (Edmonton) most things are about the same price as in the U.S., when you factor in shipping costs they're generally a bit cheaper and ocassionally things are much cheaper (Senheisser 441's for instance).
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You ever run across a mic tech/explosives expert named Doug Rygalo? An easy person to find when fireworks are launched in Edmonton. He travels down here occaisionally to blow up cars, etc. for the movie industry. Very knowledgeable when it comes to condenser mics and recording in general.
 
Brent Casey said:
You ever run across a mic tech/explosives expert named Doug Rygalo?
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The name doesn't ring a bell, but I'll definately keep it in mind next time I need a mic checked over or something blown up. :)
 
well i'm guessin all of the big places have the same price accross canada. Long and mcquade and Tom Lee i'm sure. The only music store around where i live is Long and Mcquade pretty much, with the exception of one more place that mainly does installs.

Are you talking about small stores? i find it hard to beleive it's that much cheaper. Even in vancouver it's the same. I don't know why Edmonton would be some paradox in Canada and be so much cheaper. And it's every where i've seen, so if i am shopping at the wrong places i don't have a choice cause i'm looking everywhere.
 
ambi said:
Are you talking about small stores? i find it hard to beleive it's that much cheaper. Even in vancouver it's the same. I don't know why Edmonton would be some paradox in Canada and be so much cheaper.
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No, I'm talking about L&M, Axe and Mothers (the 3 big ones here). I'm just telling you my experience. Except for higher-end stuff, I don't find there to be any savings shopping in the U.S. At least that was the case before the U.S. dollar took a nose-dive. Now there might be some savings. An SM-57 will cost you $125 Cdn here. Until recently, that was about $80 US, which I think is about the going rate there. An AKG D112 will cost you $250 Cdn, which is about $160 US, and I think going rate in the U.S. is about $199 US. A Sennheiser MD441 will cost you about $500 Cdn here (about $315 US), and the US going rate is about twice that. Even with some of the higher-end stuff there isn't that much of a difference. I can get a Great River MP-1NV for about $1,600 Cdn (which is about $1,000 US). I can get a pair of ADAM S-3A's for $7,000 Cdn (about $4,400 US). I think those are about standard US rates. Axe music advertises that they will beat any U.S. price by 10% of the difference, and I believe all the others will do that as well. So, if they do that, there can't really be much of a price difference.
 
hmm. well i'll spit out a few prices at my L&M, see how yours compares. Just for fun.
DMP3 - 300
Yorkville YSM1p - 740
shure sm 57 - 150 ( i think)
at 4040 - 500
sp b1 - 200
sp c1 - 400
sp vtb1 - 450
delta 44 - 350
delta 66 - 450
yamaha p80 - 1299

Just a few off the top of my head. Maybe just cause it's a different market the prices vary? I'm on Vancouver island, so there isn't much selection, and i think we have a slightly higher overhead due to ferry's and stuff. Maybe that contributes?
 
ambi said:
Yorkville YSM1p - 740
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That's the same.

shure sm 57 - 150 ( i think)
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I'm sure (no pun intended) that's too high. It's more like $125.

sp b1 - 200
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I'm pretty sure that's more like $160 (I just asked about that one last weekend, and that's the price that sticks in my head).

sp vtb1 - 450
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I think that's about right (way over priced, but that's the exception).

The rest I don't know.
 
yea the b1 is 200 at my local store.
God damn hooligans.
I'll see what i can do.

With their monster days deal coming up. i want to get a delta 66, some yorkville YSM1p's a dmp3, and maybe a b1 and some behringer ecm8000's
but i'm dirt broke and i'll have to pay for school in september... Student loans eh...
 
Most likely your prices are more in Canada because of import taxes and duties. Duties differ depending on what type of goods are being imported. (The idea is to get Canadians to buy Canadian goods.....look at the Yorkville prices for example)

The US street price for the C4 (as estimated by Alan Hyatt) should be around $365.00.

Most likely your local resellers are roughly basing their retail prices off of that figure and just adding the duties on top. So those prices probably won't change because they won't make money on the mics if they charge less for them. After all they are in business.
 
Simmons said:
Most likely your prices are more in Canada because of import taxes and duties. Duties differ depending on what type of goods are being imported.
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No, most recording gear is zero-rated for NAFTA members and MFN's.
 
man@work

I purchased a vocemaster pro form these guys. It was a good experience and I got it for less money than if i had gone through the Us (once you figure exchange and the 15% tax they charge coming through the border.


This is what i have found so far (with few exceptions).

If I am buying something that was made in the US, or from a US company, it costs more in Canada, but you can often talk the store down to being pretty close.

If it is something made in the UK, etc, you can often get it cheaper in Canada, because our dollar does better against the pound, in comparason to the US dollar.

I have purchased the voicemaster pro, behringer truth monitors, and even a rnc compressor for less than US prices, but things like grace 101, echo sound card, etc. were better to get shipped from the States.
 
ambi said:
So the sob's are trying to rip us off?
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Well, I don't know. Some prices (like on the VTB-1) are way out of line both here and where you are. Maybe some others are too. I don't know the reason for that. On newer items, sometimes they just go with list price. It's always a question of supply and demand. If there is less pressure in a small market to drive prices down, prices will usually tend to be higher. I don't know whether that's because of a conscious effort to rip us off or merely because nobody has pointed out to them that there prices are out of line with the rest of the world. I've had good experiences dealing with the guys at L&M, and overall I've found their prices to be good. I have no doubt though that if I wanted a VTB-1 and showed them that they were way off what I could get it for ordering from the states, they'd adjust the price to make it worth my while to buy from them (at least for me; I don't know about the next guy through the door).
 
Solafide said:
once you figure...the 15% tax they charge coming through the border.
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This is a myth. The only tax you will be charged coming through the border on the vast majority of recording equipment is GST/PST (which in most provinces is about 15%, so I'm guessing that's what you are referring to). But you will pay that whether you buy it in the U.S. or Canada anyway. So, it's not an additional cost of buying from the U.S. The only additional cost of buying from the U.S. is shipping AND brokerage fees if the shipper charges that. UPS charges outrageous brokerage fees, so avoid them if at all possible.

But there is NO IMPORT TAX on the vast majority of recording equipment manufactured in any country that is granted most-favoured-nation or preferential tariff treatment by Canada (that inlcudes the U.S., Germany, China and Japan).
 
Hey Ambi, never seen you here before, but obviously you have been around a while. I am in Victoria, and I have found mostly the same thing. I keep going to L&M for "research", and then ordering from 8th st or somewhere south of the border, and usually find I save money.

Right now I want to get the Omni Studio, which is C$695 at L&M, but I can get it shipped for US$400 from DigitalProAudio.com, which at today's exchange rate = CDN$540. And L&M is cheaper than anyone else in town. Tempo Trend is always more expensive, and they won't do financing, plus I have never been impressed with their sales relations (on the snotty end of the scale for sure).

I just ordered a SP B3 mic, and have it coming to my door from somewhere in California for CDN $226 (plus taxes at the border, but taxes are the same either way). I think this one was CDN $290 at L&M.

I think Calgary and Edmonton get cheaper rates, likely due to being bigger cities with more competition. I intend to try to talk L&M down on the Omni Studio and show them the prices I can get it for south of the border, but I doubt they will be able to match it.

are you in a local band? involved in the local scene?
 
cstockdale said:
Right now I want to get the Omni Studio, which is C$695 at L&M, but I can get it shipped for US$400 from DigitalProAudio.com, which at today's exchange rate = CDN$540.
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I should mention that I havn't really bought anything of note within the last few months, so my comments should be taken in that light. With the U.S. dollar in the toilet now, there are probably some pretty good deals to be had for Canadians. Four months ago, the exchange rate would have made that $400 US OmniStudio more like $650 Cdn., and the $45 savings likely would have been wiped out by UPS brokerage fees (assuming the vendor used UPS).
 
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