Not so fast. I am not making the assumptions you assume I am making (can I say that?
I do understand well the structure you outline, I also realize the US is a long way from the UK and gear has to ship far and be warrantied internally to the end market. I wonder however, why the distributor of SME makes such a mark up on this line when it's not uniform across other imported audio products.
But thanks for the welcome, I think I know exactly what you meant by it.