Though not in the market for one, I noticed the price for Sprout 100 has gone up by $100 - approx. 17% increase. This is not exactly unsubstantial, percentage wise. I guess the trade war has finally come home.
I was in the market for one, but not anymore after the price increase. I don’t think it is the trade war. The product got good reviews and became popular, a aand they decided to milk the cow, have no respect to companies like this, sorry.
I was under the impression these were made in China, in which case the price increase may be due to import tariff costs. Hen we had the Brexit vote in the UK and the ÂŁ went down in value, imports became more expensive overnight and prices jumped about 15%.
There may be a perfectly good reason. Perhaps Scott can explain.
Looks like their maximum trade-ins on rest of the lineup has also gone down from 40% to 30%. Should’ve pulled the trigger on the BHK Pre last month…
That is disappointing indeed.
I actually went to buy one for my son today… and elected with that price increase I will wait.
Call them up. They may still honor the old price if you ask.
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No, not at all. It’s the newer model with an amplifier twice the wattage as the original. The trade war is killing us on pricing and we’re losing money on each Sprout we sell. If this attack on the US consumer by our own government doesn’t stop soon it will
indeed cause us to raise the price.
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That’s fine, but your assumption is completely incorrect. As I said in an earlier post, this is because of the new and more expensive 100 watt per channel amp.
We got no milk out of the cow.
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Come on guys, put on your grownup pants! PS Audio is in business to make a profit, and profit is not a 4-letter word. Without it you wouldn’t have the opportunity to purchase the products your claim to want and appreciate. In this case forget the reason for the $100 increase (but I do believe Paul when he says it is due to an increase in COG), and let’s say you were going to keep the Sprout for 5 years - you’re talking less than $2 / month! I do not own a Sprout, but I do have plenty of PS gear and it is EXCELLENT value. If you cannot see the value perhaps you’re fishing in the wrong pond.
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@Excelgam
I did not realize that you were comparing the old model price to the newer 100 wpc version. Of course it would cost more as explained above. My bad.
As a qualifier I own two of the newer 100 watt versions. They are a bargain at the $699 price.
No, it’s the same “new” 100 model that went up from $599 to $699 recently, but all is good.
It’s a very competitive point in the market and the gross margin must be minimal. In the UK it’s £20 cheaper than this:
These are made in a state of the art factory in China and I have no idea how they make any money on them selling through dealers. Plus, we’re not in a punitive trade war.
I can understand the business dynamic PSA is involved in and if they have to raise the price, then so be it.
The issue is the draw in factor. I’ve “sold” 3 Sprouts to friends and coworkers (meaning they bought them on my recommendation). And one the the big selling points is: “For the money”. At $600, the Sprout is a killer piece of kit and a stellar (pun intended) way of introducing people to high end audio. But at this price point, every dollar matters, and as it goes up, the Sprout start competing with other products. Not to mention the killer deals to be had used. It’s unfortunate. 
Well Paul, some of that supposed “milk” may be from those of us that started with Sprout, got hooked (crack milk?) and pony up for a Stellar set or higher. So there is some vested interest for PSA in all of this sprouting…
Yes, this was a tough decision to make. With all of the trade BS going on, it was inevitable. If anyone is about to pull the trigger, give us a call. We’ll do our best to honor the $599 price for as long as we can.
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I am a good example of what the Sprout can do - I started out with it, which is why I remember the original price, and then decided to return it to upgrade to the Stellar/M700 stack and now ended up with DSD Sr and BHK250. Would I have jumped on the PS Audio bandwagon had the price been $700? It’s hard to say but I can see people on a tighter budget to be lot more sensitive to a $100 increase than others, thus denying to give PS Audio a try.
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That kind of “milk” is great and much appreciated. Sprout’s our entry level product and we hope it leads to better and greater experiences as folks climb the ladder to high fidelity.
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As a very happy owner of a Sprout100 (very very happy), I am not at all surprised by this and commend you for the price reduction during the holidays (thought a little heads up could have been kind of cool).
A) This is the price of the original Sprout when it came out and was seen in the industry as a very fair price for what it was then.
B) The trade war has no bearing on companies like Apple that can negotiate and had economies of scale. Companies that are niche (such as PS Audio), I would imaging feel this tremendously. Though the majority of their products are made in the USA, parts and components are probably sourced globally. It’s got to be a crush.
C) If I needed to pay an additional $100 for this unit, I would gladly.
I find it rather disappointing that there are people on this forum that think a company like PS Audio would stoop to treat their customers poorly. That said, I find no trouble in a business operating as a business. Supply and demand. With the absolutely stunning reviews that the Sprout100 has gotten I would imagine that the demand has outstripped the supply, and with inventory no at Amazon for Prime shipping I can only imaging that there is overhead and margins to think of.
BRAVO PS Audio, keep up the great work and perhaps the trade wars will settle and prices can stabilize.
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