Buying from India or US?

[pp91487]

Surprised that there were no chalk marks-or maybe the guys manning the XRay machines have started recognising AVRs now! I mentioned in my earlier post that the customs guys might just wave you through, looks like that's what happened.

I would guess so :clapping:

My experience was very similar. Bought my Pioneer VSX 1020 last wednesday..had a chalk mark but still no one stopped me.

bought transformer for 2400.

Things connected to the Receiver are:

(1) Tata sky HD - outputs to PAL only??
(2) Hacked UK Wii - outputs to PAL
(3) Hacked UK DVD Player - multi output but I guess default is PAL
(4) I Pod.

Although Pioneer in their official clarification mail said its NTSC only, it seems to accept any thing.

Hooked it up to my existing Yamaha Home theater Sats...realised Left and Right speakers were too tiny...so replaced them with a 15 year old Sony CD Mini system Speakers!!! which proves bigger is better when it comes to speakers.

Again dont notice any appreciable gain from Yamaha receiver...partly because I dont use any of the new features - 3D, internet radio, same old speakers...etc

folks at my house do feel that picture quality has improved a bit...partly becoz I also bought component cables for my Wii in the same trip and Tata Sky HD anyways makes all channels look good.

Will try and get Energy Take Classic in my next visit and hopefully it will make it sound better.

Great going.. I am yet to get speakers.. I liked jamo C605 but cinebells in blr is quoting 43k for a pair which I think is little too expy.. will check few others.. can someone suggest if I can get some cheap spkrs for testing purpose/time being to work with such an AVR may be locally made at sp road.. which shop? which speakers?

 

[arnprasad]

Also people need to take into consideration the cost of transformer and no warranty in India.

I guess the grey market price of 1020 is around 26K.

I paid 18K in US and 3.5K for power transformer..so its within the 20% range which is not big considering there is no warranty.

So is it better to buy here than go through all the hassles?

Also 3.5K for a step transformer is too much?? any good quality ones available for lesser price?

 

[binaya.kumar]

Also people need to take into consideration the cost of transformer and no warranty in India.

I guess the grey market price of 1020 is around 26K.

I paid 18K in US and 3.5K for power transformer..so its within the 20% range which is not big considering there is no warranty.

So is it better to buy here than go through all the hassles?

Also 3.5K for a step transformer is too much?? any good quality ones available for lesser price?

Where in Bangalore we get the grey ones for so cheap .... I don't know I have different sort of feeling for grey market ... I doubt if the components might be original and the performance and reliability will be as good as the ones we import from US ......

But as far as the price is concerned as an example .... I got my Pioneer 920K from US for 13.5K not including transportation ofcourse ... add a step down transformer and it is approximately 16K ..... In bangalore with warranty the same is sold for around 39 K ....

So ...... its better to go through the hassle and get it from US I think ....

CHEERS

 

[arnprasad]

if its such a big difference may be its worth all the hassle...but if the difference is less than 20% which I believe it is for Onkyo 608, then we are better off buying it here..did you get your pioneer fixed in Blore?

 

[arnprasad]

Where in Bangalore we get the grey ones for so cheap .... I don't know I have different sort of feeling for grey market ... I doubt if the components might be original and the performance and reliability will be as good as the ones we import from US ......

But as far as the price is concerned as an example .... I got my Pioneer 920K from US for 13.5K not including transportation ofcourse ... add a step down transformer and it is approximately 16K ..... In bangalore with warranty the same is sold for around 39 K ....

So ...... its better to go through the hassle and get it from US I think ....

CHEERS

This one says 21,200 in INdia!!!! for the 1020:sad:..I now realise after I posted this comment that the price is before customs and other taxes

http://amazonin.tarazz.com/Pioneer-...QQX0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293555398&sr=8-1

 

[binaya.kumar]

Hi,

Yup it got fixed for 2 days .... .....bt its back again to the Service center ... lets see christmas time is all about miracles right ......

But, the 2 days I used it for was Happy with the performance ..... Would love it to be back soon again in my HT set-up .....

When I was dropping it back at the Pro Audiotronics store, I saw 2 sealed packs of 920 K and 1020 K ... Just inquired about the price of 920 K ....

CHEERS

 

[sanjay0864]

It is not just important to take into accoutn the price difference between the US and India in terms of percentage but the price difference in terms of actual money must also be taken into account. What I mena by this is that if there is an item that costs Rs. 10,000 in India and the US price is 20% less, then it may not be worth it to import the item from the US to simply save Rs. 2000. On the Other hand if the item in question, is priced Rs. 500,000, then even a 10% price difference is a huge Rs. 50,000 and it would very well be worth it to import from the US.

 

[bobgalee]

how about purchasing from Dubai...?

 

[aminder]

What i believe is that whatever you are buying from the us should support dual voltages i mean it should be universal voltage(110 and 220). A very nice friend of mine imported a denon av receiver for which he saved a lot of money (about 20000 ) cos it was a higher model . He bought an expensive step down transformer which after 4 months of usage blew up due to a voltage fluctuation and also in turn blew up the powersupply of the avr.As of now after 1 year of that incident that avr is still lying as a dead one and it can just be sold as junk cos we were unable to find a replacement blown transformer and parts here in india.So ppl make sure on expensive things go for dual voltage models.

Aminder, be warned that you cannot SPAM or Solicit your products and/or services to any other member directly or indirectly in any way whatsoever. If you Solicit or SPAM our members in any manner, your account will be disabled. Do not contact anyone to suggest your product and/or service who is not explicitly expecting you to contact them in any way whatsoever.

Cheers

 

[NetFreak]

He bought an expensive step down transformer which after 4 months of usage blew up due to a voltage fluctuation and also in turn blew up the powersupply of the avr.

I can bet that this transformer was not "Isolation Transformer". Most shops sell "Auto Transformers". These would supply 240 as output if it blows up.

Isolation transformer would never supply 240 on output. It would stop supplying power if it blows up.

if some here...

Are you a dealer? If you are, this post might be against forum rules.

Thanks NetFreak.

 

[crewcut]

What i believe is that whatever you are buying from the us should support dual voltages i mean it should be universal voltage(110 and 220).

Almost no electronics that are sold in the US are universal voltage except for products that are meant to travel like laptop and cellphone chargers. Initially I thought this was a poor business idea because companies don't get the economies of global scale. Now I think that the volumes in the US/Canada are so high that this offsets the lack of global volume.

I have blown a few adapters experimenting on whether the product had a 110V label but in reality had 110V / 220V capability. Some products have a 110V / 220V jumper on the circuit boards that are clearly marked and easily changed. But I couldn't find this in my Denon AVR, so I use a transformer.

This is quite a pain because things are so much cheaper in the US. Maybe they keep everything 110V to prevent cross-border arbitrage.

 

[NetFreak]

Most products that work with 220/110 V, would have SMPS based power supply. These power supplies are used in things like Cell chargers, PC and quite a few electronic items.

Since AVRs require a different kind of power supply, its not economical to use universal supply.

Some yamaha AVRs do come with 110/220 V switch. But these are expensive ones.

 

[sharat_chandra]

Yes, there should not be any issue with customs.

What I usually do is:

1. Carry original invoice
2. Declare it at Red Channel and move on after couple of minutes

It usually saves you from lines at green channel too

Hi Netfreak,

I am in the same boat, and need some help/tips on how to carry the receiver that I purchased in the US , when I visit India later next month. My main concern is its a fragile item and want to understand how to carry it with me...

 

[giddavr]

I used to travel almost on a monthly basis abroad....although the customs limit is 25K, it is 25K as in India..which means these customs folks are smart enough to actually search the item you bought on google for an indian price and can harass you as most items are twice the value in INdia. For someting costing 17K you should be fine..but anything above 20K..they will try and harass you to get some money..just be firm if they ask for any money and if they threaten to go to google..its all bluff...

dont pay anything to them as the moment they feel you are willing to compromise they will start demanding.

Only good thing about our customs folks is that they are pretty cheap when it comes to bargaining and hence they can let you go with small bribes when you get stuff more than 25K.:yahoo:

u r wrong about the duty limit being the indian price. if u r told that u r being conned by the customs officer trying to get some money from u.
as per the rules the allowance is based on what u have actually paid for the item. if u have the original bill and u r within the duty limits, u can simply stand ur ground and tell them u know the rules, demand to meet the officer in charge. u will be waved through very very quickly.
i have paid customs duty at various rates for the past 50 years. starting from 350% + fines in the beginning the duty is now some 34%. and i have seen a great change in the attitude of the customs officers too.

but i will tell u this, in the current scenario, if u are sure u r within limits, u dont have to pay a damned paisa. just stand ur ground. i usually carry with me the latest print out from the official site with duty free allowances.

if they know that u cant be threatened they wont try any thing. but then if u r bringing in extra....

 

[GeorgeO]

+1 to giddavr.

My experience over the past 12-15 years mirrors what he says.

 

[Nagaraj S]

I have bought a Pioneer amp (VSX1015), a Mitsubishi projector (HC 1500), an Onkyo DVD player (SP 502) in 2006-2007 in the US while on a business visit, and all are performing very well even though all these are well out of warranty. The projector (I was lucky to get a "Made in Japan" :yahoo performs as good as new though I am sure the lamp is wearing out, and there have been no problems with any other gadgets that I have bought in the US.

Voltage is not a problem, I got a step-down transformer for under Rs 1000 for the Pioneer amp. The bottom line: I would not hesitate to buy from the US - but custom issues and shipping costs puts me off some times.

And of course, the US has the strong culture of customer support (the projector seller shipped me the higher version of the product, when its price dipped the next day after I placed the order - I was so pleasantly surprised!!)

 

[prankey]

Most products that work with 220/110 V, would have SMPS based power supply. These power supplies are used in things like Cell chargers, PC and quite a few electronic items.

Since AVRs require a different kind of power supply, its not economical to use universal supply.

Some yamaha AVRs do come with 110/220 V switch. But these are expensive ones.

Most of the INTERNATIONAL models come with universal power switching and has NOTHING to do with higher or lower end! My RX-V440 is an example. You might be able to get such models (though chances are thin) even in the US.

 

[giddavr]

Most of the INTERNATIONAL models come with universal power switching and has NOTHING to do with higher or lower end! My RX-V440 is an example. You might be able to get such models (though chances are thin) even in the US.

chances r not thin at all. whatever product u want in 220v version is easily available in the very many indian stores and online speaciality 220v stores.

long long ago there was a time when nothing like today was available in India. if u wanted to own a hifi stereo u had to get it from abroad or buy it in the blackmarket, no gray markets in those days. and in the early 70s, there were quite a few indians living in theus and we used to get such things through them. all indian stores, mostly located in jackson heights in newyork and edison in newjersey used to stock all these gizmos for the visiting indians.

even today they exist, but i have found that buying the regular 110v goods meant for the us market was better, because the costs were way lower and the quality tends to be higher, because of the consumer movemnt. it is no longer worth it to buy from the 220volt stores, u can get anything at less price in the gray market supplies from bangkok, singapore etc.

and a good 110v. transformer will serve u well. i still own various Delta transformers ranging from 50w. to 3000w. rating bought many years ago.

the actual equipment meant for them have gone phut but the transformers still perform well.

 

[marsilians]

... i have found that buying the regular 110v goods meant for the us market was better, because the costs were way lower and the quality tends to be higher, because of the consumer movemnt. ....

Better quality in US stock is a very debatable point. What facts do you have to support this? In fact there are larger rates of failure since the US buyers tend to be early adopters for many technologies. Some examples that come to mind are Parasound, Anthem, Outlaw, Emotiva (still has some niggling issues), ...