Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83 based; site homxb.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxb!mhuxn!mhuxm!mhuxj!houxm!homxb!hrs From: hrs@homxb.UUCP (H.SILBIGER) Newsgroups: net.audio Subject: Re: cd question (Buying in Japan) Message-ID: <500@homxb.UUCP> Date: Tue, 12-Feb-85 09:39:07 EST Article-I.D.: homxb.500 Posted: Tue Feb 12 09:39:07 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 13-Feb-85 03:58:36 EST References: <182@npois.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ Lines: 40 You should be aware that Japan has 100V rather than the 117V which is standard in the US. If you buy in a regular store, where it is possible to get good discounts, you will get domestic Japanese versions. These do not have switch selectable voltages, and have Japanese instruction books. The warranty is good only in Japan. There are also "Tax-Free" Export stores. In these stores you can buy equipment which can be operated almost anywhere in the world. You get multilingual instructions, and the warranty is honored outsid of Japan. While you can also bargain here, the prices typically run 30-50% higher. They actually come close to good discount prices in the US. I bought a turntable in Japan, a Denon DP45, with cartridge, and paid about $135, which is almost half what it costs here. I bought a small transformer, 100V > 117V, for about $ 8. I felt that japanese equipment was reliable enough to take a chance, and that the technology was mature. I decided not to buy a CD player there, since the lack of instructions and risk in my opinion outweighed the money savings. In Tokyo there is an area called Akahibara, which has about a dozen electronics supermarkets, the likes of which don't exist in the US. There are also hundreds of parts and components shops, sort of what the Rector and Broadway area in lower Manhattan used to have. Herman Silbiger, CGE