Yes, the markup on Meridian gear is high at about 40%, at least in the USA. Reason I know:

I contacted a dealer for a quote and to his embarrassment he quoted on his cost prices. Once he realised he had to recind. The difference was about 40%.

Now that sounds a hell of a lot until you start to look at overheads like wages (and that includes time spent on customer service), stock held etc etc. It would soon whittle down to a fraction of that 40%. Frankly, selling Meridian and other high end gear is not an area of retail sales I would choose.

Regardless of this, the price of the 800/861 is steep and something I rarely confess to out of embarrasment. BUT I do like the music it translates from those pits. It has converted me from LPs to CDs and I am no longer a digital luddite. However I find it incredible it has taken 20 years for companies to exploit the potential of the redbook CD standards and it has taken the likes of Meridian to demonstrate, at high cost, how good well engineered CDs can sound.

John