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Moving to Hong Kong! What to do/bring?

orionspants

orionspants

Starting Out...
So I've taken a job in Hong Kong and will move there over the summer, good-bye winter clothes and cool summer nights!

I haven't posted here for some time, busy looking for the above mentioned job, and being satisfied with my system, Luxman R10150 + Sony SS2250s, now I'm faced with the dilemma of shipping my current system (or another one) or trying to scrape together a new system once there.

While I know HK is a parts mecca for vintage audio I unfortunately didn't get a chance to look around for equipment while I was visiting. Also with the voltage difference (110 : 220) I'm wondering if I should bother? Can anyone comment on bringing their 110V units abroad to a 220/240V country?

I was planning to ship my Paradigm Titans and Minimus 11s since they are compact and decent to get started, could also ship my Marantz 105+1130 (enough to fill our downsized HK home) and also lighter than my Luxman. At the same time, not sure I want to lug all this gear around and in 3 years time ship them off to possibly another new home, the alternative, leaving them wrapped up in storage also has me worried they may deteriorate over time without use (just like good old cars).

Any advice or information would be appreciated!
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Check and see if any of your equipment is dual voltage, it may have a switch on the back or it may automatically switch on it's own. There should be a sticker if it does. If not then you can use it with a step-down device or you can replace the transformers for the proper ones. It may be just easier to buy there and store this stuff until you return.
 
Presumably you will have acquired storage space for other items. Unless that space is freezing, baking, or dripping, I wouldn't think it would hurt much.

I'd be inclined to take nothing bigger than a chip-amp over, and get what you need there. It's not an audio desert, like I've read Saudi Arabia is...
 
Keep in mind that (AFAIK) Hong Kong is 50 cycle - just like the U.K.
This could be an issue with turntables.
 
Another strategy would be to buy 120 volt products and run it through a voltage transformer set to 220/240 while you are working in HK.

When you return home to 120 volt land, you will be all set. :)
 
w1jim said:
Keep in mind that (AFAIK) Hong Kong is 50 cycle - just like the U.K.
This could be an issue with turntables.
Click to expand...

Good to know. However a TT was the one item yet to be added to complete my setup. I just didn't have time and now regret balking at several nice TTs that matched my redwood beauty, now the entire market here has gone crazy, everyone's asking an arm and a leg for anything close to mid-range.

Alas no switches on either the Lux or Marantz, unless they're on the inside like most desktop computers, both are 120V 50-60hz. At least I can bring the speakers and have 1/3 ready to go, use the 11s for outdoor/patio setup.
 
Aloha
Don't take Ur Soundsystem to Hong Kong better buy another
Nice vintage amp there and take it to Canada when mission is finished in HKG
There are several hotspots in HK to find vintage audio material
But it's mostly 100v well don't think you can find bargains easy the honkies know pretty well about what they got in the store and it's very hard to bargaining with them ,carefully check the Amps or whatever you gonna buy
Anyway end of July I'm in HKG for some days
Cheers
:-)
 
you can buy cheap transformers to do the voltage conversion and put everything on a switch
(in the US, UL doesn't allow switchable AC).

I'd leave everything in storage. you are one hour away (from TST east RR to Lo Wu) from
Shenzhen. They have everything in one or two buildings on one of the subway stops. I
once saw a 4x6" sled with a one foot in diameter tube that took, they said, 2 hours to
stabilize.

also, in HK, there are hundreds of stores selling stuff. even one that specializes in
Marantz 7s. see review33.com for a list of all the stores.

try to get CDs from their annual AV show (august), free at the show. starting
at about 2006 and later ones being hybrid SACD/CDs. each is an incredible
sample of a wide range of music from classical Chinese, Classical, and even
hybrid music. and the Taiwanese equivalent shows are also good. check out the Reborn series.

HK is an audiophile center with an emphasis on female vocals and classical music.
be prepared to hear hundreds of others (much more variety than Krall/Jones/Barber/Monheit)
so they love the LS3/5As, etc. CD stores offer SACD versions alongside.

the HK cultural center offers a range of classical music and ballet. seats are cheap
by US standards - dead center orchestra is what you pay for last row upper balcony
at the NY state, Carnegie, Met, and SF Opera. Carmen is coming up in Aug I think.

grancastle commercial building has about 20 stories (start at the top and walk down)
and each floor has one or more stores offering cheap to million dollar systems
(ever hear a total goldmund system?). there's a headphone store nearby with
all the headphones you can imagine.

you are going to audiophile heaven.
 
Leave your stuff in Montreal or sell it entirely.

Consider it an honor and a privilege to have shopping for a replacement system be the lens through which you discover the city. Have fun, and don't forget to buy step-down transformers before you get back.
 
If it were me, I'd sell what I have and pick up high quality small powered speakers (like the Eclipse in my avatar or wireless KEF LS50s), maybe a small sub like a REL T0 and an HDD full of rips and something to stream it.
 
Bob said:
grancastle commercial building
Click to expand...
Seriously? Damn, I was staying just down the road at Knutsford Terrace! Thanks for the low down.

I was too wrapped up in the sights and the FOOD (so good), I didn't manage to get to the analogue camera shop either. Good to know it won't be too difficult to get setup.
 
winters860 said:
Leave your stuff in Montreal or sell it entirely.

Consider it an honor and a privilege to have shopping for a replacement system be the lens through which you discover the city. Have fun, and don't forget to buy step-down transformers before you get back.
Click to expand...

Will S. said:
If it were me, I'd sell what I have and pick up high quality small powered speakers (like the Eclipse in my avatar or wireless KEF LS50s), maybe a small sub like a REL T0 and an HDD full of rips and something to stream it.
Click to expand...

I just sold my Sansui 6060 to a friend and was reluctant, such a nice receiver but I wasn't taking it with me and am happy he's now loving it and has joined the vintage audio club. I can't sell my Marantz 1030+105 or my Luxman, I'm the 2nd owner on both,both in pristine condition, gotten for a bargain, and sweet rigs. The Lux especially with its lovely rosewood...and velvet sound.
 
put the Marantz and luxman into storage and when you get back, power cycle every so often and
save it for when they sell for 5K each.

if you ever get a chance, watch Infernal Affairs (three movies but the first is the best), there's a
scene where there's a female vocal and they talk about the sound. the store that it's
filmed in is on apliu St. they are the official distributors for AudioSpace. they have about a
dozen tube amps and they welcome people to stop in and listen with NO sales pitch.

you can also get whatever is state of the art in HK. I heard a local speaker company called
Volent. Jaws dropped, pants wet. this is long before it made it to Stereophile for a review.
at the same time I listened to the next version of the LS3/5A built there or in china. NO
comparison. volent apparently used the same bass unit that went into early Magicos
before they went in-house.

be prepared. there are CDs selling for 60USD - these are the Japanese CDs with their
high-end experiments using Red-book basics - XRCD is one of them.

and you can get DACs there also.

there's an audio store selling CDs in TST east (I recall its the building next to Empire Center)
in the basement - they have a B&W speaker system playing classical music. heaven.

there are distributors that have first access to stuff that sometimes doesn't show up in
the US- I got a pair of earphones from Nuforce that didn't show up here.

Oh, and expect to pay less for your stuff. all the major high end brands are there
KEF, B&W, Stax (headphones - best in the world). and many have the universal
AC switch on the back - just look for it. that way, if you ever return from
audiophile heaven, it will work on US AC.
 
couple more things. speaker cables can be made custom. Shenzhen has stores that will
custom make them of silver, using connectors of your choice, and in lengths with ground
cables, and your choice of cable wrapping, etc.

Shenzhen also has stores that can custom make you a cell-phone with 1,2,3,4 sims
that works simultaneously (four calls coming in at once, you decide which to pickup),
even Samsung sells their multi-sim card phones there (try finding one here in the US).
and the dual sim phones start at 10USD.
 
I have lived in Hong Kong now for 6 years. To be blunt there is a lot of really nice tube audio here for considerably cheaper than what you pay in Canada or the States - the same brands for less money - especially the Chinese brands. I just bought a tube amp that in all honesty will probably trounce what you currently have and has a superb headphone amplifier as well. I submitted my review of the amp but it is not on the website yet.

By the time you pay for shipping and voltage converters it's probably not worth it. And the tuner part - well unless you understand Cantonese that is probably never going to be used - BUT Marantz is desirable and so if you ever go back to Canada - I would not sell it. It really depends on you - but I would nto take the risks of shipping and the expense. Leave it with family until you get back home.

Here is the amp I just bought (and best of all it has a voltage switch on the side - and you can bring it back to Canada with you! http://kingkoaudio.com/en/pages/KINGKO-AUDIO.html This is a recent thread on this amp http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/kingko-ka-101-experiences.673633/

It is a tube amp BUT it is autobias so you don't have to do anything - just change the lightbulbs when they go out (which will likely be 5-10 in years). But there are other less expensive amps I just like the sound of this one a LOT.

Hong Kong has it all - one building of 20 floors of brand after brand of audio gear from the affordable to gobsmacking outrageous.

Why not discover the modern stuff? Stereo equipment has come a LONG way since the 1970s and early 1980s.

Turntables biggest issue not the voltage but the frequency. Forget the name brand speakers from Canada - you will find better here for less. Plus lots of second hand places in Mongkok and Sham Shui Po. ALthough you have to be careful with some of the shops who try to gouge foreigners.

You can put together pretty awesome affordable stereos here. The big advantage is the buildings are solid concrete (walls floors and ceilings and not plaster boards or insulation) No insulation is bad for keeping warm of course but a nice plus for the stereo since the walls don't vibrate along with the music the way wood and plaster does.

I am heading back to Canada over the summer but in later months when the humidity subsides send me a message if you need help finding stuff. I have not been to all the shops but I know a number of them.
 
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Excellent - I was going to suggest a tube amp (so many to choose from) and the LS50.

compact and should be good sound quality. only variable is the music you listen to.
 
Hmmm....tube amps? I hadn't really thought of getting one, there have been so few on the 2nd hand market here I just plain forgot about them. Those seem pricey but nice, I do love to hunt for bargains though....

I listen to everything (classical, jazz, trip hop, folk, 60-70s) but have very little in terms of a physical collection (maybe 100 CDs and a few dozen LPs). Thanks for all the useful info, looking forward to being spoiled for choice!
 
My understanding is that while HK is still an audio destination, the great vintage scene that Arkay describes is just a shadow of its former self. The great pre-80's gear just isn't coming out of US and western homes the way it used to, and the great stockpiles have flowed out of HK into the hands of owners and collectors in mainland China and the rest of Asia.
 
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