Are AVRs really cheap in Hong Kong

Hi,

I am new to setting up an HT system and was impressed with the Denon 1909 in Delhi. I will be visiting Hong Kong soon and am told that the Denon would cost a lot less there. Any one has any idea what could be the price there?

Also, if the price is really less, would it make sense to go for the 2309? How is it better (other than the 100W Vs 90W, which is the only thing I understand ;0)

Rajat

Rajat, prices in India will always be 30 to sometimes 50% more than what you will find in the International market. I am not sure about HK, but being close to the Chinese market, please be careful. You might be handed a refurbished unit with the claim it is new. If you have the time, get the unit demoed, and packed in front of your eyes.

Regarding the specs for 2309 and 1909, Raman has posted a very useful comparison sheet. That should give you the details you are looking for. If you need more specific info, please do come back on this thread.

Please read the comparison at the following link.

http://www.hifivision.com/surround-a...son-sheet.html

Cheers

As venkat mentioned you need to be careful in HKG. There are many high end audio/video shops in HKG especially the Tsim Sha Tsui area (in Kowloon) which is a tourist spot. They dont display prices and just quote any price, basically they will try judge how much they can make from you. Do a google search on DENON authorised showrooms and visit them, they will give you correct pricing. The prices will be much cheaper compared to India.

Yes

No doubt the products are a lot cheaper in HK, or the origin countries of the product...
As they are manufactured out there, and are apart of Customs, Frieght and all...

And same is the case for Denon, they are all made in China these dayz...

so it will be better, to buy from the origin location...

But yes, venkat & others are very correct, the duplicacy of the product is too much in China, as these dayz 95% of the brands have manufacturing unit out there, and you will find alternative with same features, looks, and stickers, of the original product, difference being the inner parts being

Hey thanks Ventak, Mridul & exl,

You guys give me hope.

Venkat,

Not sure I understand a lot of the stuff. But the greens and reds clearly point out that 1909 stands out as best value for money.

All,

The way that I understand off information on the net, I planned to follow these:

1. Be very clear which model you want - HK is known for "bait & switch" especially with people who are just shopping around for "good buys"
2. As far as possible, first go to Fortress. It is HKs biggest Electronics showroom and mentioned in the HKTA (Hong Kong Trade Association) book for "clean" deals. In other words, it is probably what Mustafa is to Singapore.
3. Get rates from Fortress & (only if needed) go to these tourist spots - TST etc and bargain hard.

My results were:

1. The ProFX guys in B'lore told me that in a budget of about 45-50, I should go for 1509 with PROFX Fusion5 speaker set. (They are planning to send a set of the speakers to Delhi for me to check) The 1509 retails at 25K, speakers, though retailed at 40K, are currently being sold at 20K (Diwali Discount). On enquiry, got to know that 1709 is abt 34K, 1909 @43K and 2309 @ 55K.
2. Went to Denon HK website and enquired about the authorised dealers & got a list. They did not mention any prices though.
3. Went to the fortress website and checked out what they have. Unfortunately, only the 1709 model is shown (hopefully they will have the 1509 and 1909 at the store). They are asking for HK$ 3128. That comes to about 21K INR only. So clearly a saving over the 34K cost here


Guess that calls for a buy from there afterall, obviously only from the Denon store or Fortress.

AND

I would really appreciate if you guys could help me with how to choose speakers for the AVR. Frankly, not much tech knowledge abt audio, but having heard Onkyo (2 nos), Yamaha (1 no), Marantz (2 nos), Sherwood (2 no) and HK (2 nos), I was only impressed with the HK.
Pardon my ingorance of not knowing the model numbers etc. But these were all within 25K to 50K.

BTW, the HK was cheapest, sounded the best with JBL satellite speakers, but was told to strictly lay off that set by a "tech guy".

ALSO,

would I be correct in deducting that HDMI up conversion means that the AVR would "amplify" video signal to HD Quality? Doesn't sound lise that can happen, unless I have a HD enabled video player and HD quality content on the DVD. But then, what would the AVR be doing is everything is already HD?

Apologize for mixing all this stuff, but I have been reading up about so much on this site and most of it is simply not comprehensible for me.


Looking forward to your responses.

Rajat

You could be right. The 2309 has 10 watts per channel more and a few additional ports. That is all.

There are a number of threads discussing speakers for AVRs. Once you finalise which AVR, we can sit down and discuss what you should audition. Please remember not to buy any speaker without listening to it yourself.

I don't understand why. Both JBL and HK are good, and if you liked the sound that is all that matters.

Couple of things here. Do not buy a entry level AVR from any brand if you are interested in using HDMI well. We have just realized that entry level AVRS have something called '1080p pass through' in HDMI. In this mode they do not process any audio signals that come in through HDMI. Silly really, but that is what happens. In Denon you should look for 1909 and above.

HDMI upconversion is scaling (not amplifying) a video signal to 1080p that can be displayed on a FullHD TV. When you connect a DVD player to the AVR through any port (component/composite/s-video) and connect the AVR to the TV throgh an HDMI, the AVR will upscale the video signals to 1080p. You need a FullHD (not HD Ready) TV for this with 1920x1080 pixels resolutions.

Only AVRs that are specified to be capable of upscaling to 1080p will do this.

Cheers

Hey Venkat,

I understand this much better now, thanks again.


I have full HD TV and a PS3, so guess have everything that is otherwise needed. I am getting the details of the price of the 1909 in a day or two, so will get back to you with that so you can help me with the speakers.

You have been a great help, thx once again.

Hi Rajat
For your ref some things between 2309 and 1909:

Regards
Raman

For that budget do consider Q Acoustics 1010i 5.1 speaker package as well. It should be better than JBL Onkyo and HK.

also consider KEF KHT2005.3 and KEF KHT2005.2.

What could the below possilbly mean??
-HDMI to HDMI Yes No