This is an interesting time in the HiFi and AV industry and we felt it was a good idea to address a question being asked by many customers at the moment.
'Why can't I buy a mid-priced AV amplifier?'
The answer is fairly simple, but with lots of elements contributing to it. The pick of the amps at the moment is, of course, the award winning Denon AVR-X2700H, The issue is that these have been out of stock for many months now, and this has led to many people looking for other options of amps at similar price points, which have all sold out as well.
Manufacturers' stock of imported AV amps has been very messy for some time due to several factors:
1. Covid-19 has caused delays in manufacturing across the world, but also in turn during lockdowns created peaks in demand. At those points manufacturers would have brought forward shipments to meet demand, but this then left a gap in supply later in the products' life cycles.
2. One of the major chip manufacturers that supplies products for cars, appliances and several HiFi products burnt down last year and whilst there was still stock available when this happened, this has now run out and there is a chip supply shortage whilst the factory rebuilds or manufacturers seek alternative chips.
3. Shipping costs have more than tripled in the last 18 months, and there have also been significant container shortages and massive delays into UK ports through customs largely due to Brexit. This, plus the Suez Canal incident last year has just meant that all manufacturers of anything that shipped into the UK have had significant delays, and even though we all wish this would have improved by now, but it hasn't, yet!!!
4. Two of the major players in the AV industry have been missing in action for some time. Pioneer and Onkyo have been through numerous changes in ownership in the last few years and this has lead to them not having any product available to buy, putting even greater sales pressure on the remaining big names in the market place.
In conclusion, the situation has been very messy for some time, however our best advice is just to go to your retailer of choice and get your product of choice on order and wait it out. Products like the Denon AVR-X2700H are due back in to stock very soon, but until the retailers have confirmed shipping dates from any of the suppliers then it's very tricky to know exactly when things are going to arrive. Whoever your retailer may be, they are always going to be doing their best to give you as much information as they have - which may be quite limited.
I really hope this article has shed some light on the situation for these highly demanded products, and we really hope that if you have something on order that you will get it as soon as possible.
Buying HiFi in the current world we live in is a bit different than it was just 5 years ago, but we all hope things will improve soon and we can return to how things used to be.
If you have any questions give us a call on 01507499047 or email us at humans@expressiveaudio.com, or even pop in for a chat and a coffee in our Lincolnshire showroom.
