Product, Price, Shop & Purchase:
1)NAD D 3020 SGD 699
2) Wharfedale Diamond 220 (black, they had white and walnut red) SGD 400
3) QED QX0 75 speaker cables SGD 40
I decided to buy everything from Lenbrook Asia when I left India but due to time constraint and improper planning, Had to settle with shops in Adelphi.
Audionote blew me away with their Avantgarde setups & eventually proved to be out of my budget this time around. The owner suggested Alpha audio in floor 1. Immediately googled and found only negative reviews about them but the shop in sim lim square. Couldn't really find anything good/bad about the Adelphi shop.
Alpha Audio:
Told the rep there that I was looking for budget friendly speakers and the NAD D. He suggested marantz stereo amp as it was SGD300 cheaper than the 3020. I didn't want to waver with my decision. So, I stuck to my initial purchase decision of the NAD D 3020. He demoed the unit with Diamond 220s. Hard luck, I didn't have my fav music on my phone. Had my X3 loaded with 30gigs of music which I didn't use
So, I handpicked few CDs from the store collection and couldn't satisfy myself 100% He brought few more CDs from which I found Dali demo CD. Samb Adagio by Safri Duo was enough to test the capabilities of the combo. I felt the bass was a little less with the diamonds. Alan, the rep immediately suggested Qacoustics 2020i. Although the bass improved, the price was 140 SGD more than the diamonds. I asked him to connect a ported sub which he had. He obliged immediately and it didn't take me long to feel the difference. The wife was sleeping all along after we entered the shop. I decided it was time and asked for any discounts
Alan said he can't reduce anything on the combo, However, he said, the cables will be free. I was ok with it. Billed and packed, took a taxi to my relative's apartments Happy overall.
Baggage, Customs & other hassles:
I packed the NAD inside trolley bag. Diamonds couldn't be done the same way. Didn't throw the box with which it came. Instead, I packed the box's sides with my clothes to fill the gaps, to avoid(hopefully) any damage to the unit. Then used cloth tape to pack it. Few fragile stickers & finally winding the box with packaging rope ( not too sure about the name). I made it a point to go with Air India (30kgs/person). Ended up with 51kgs.
GST claim:
Claimed SGD 60 after check-in & immigration. Shopped in DFS for liquors to my friends as promised
Chennai-Arrival-Baggage-Customs
As usual, Air India was an hour late. The luggage was further delayed by an hour. My patience was running out, so was the wife's. At last, after nearly an hour and ten minutes, got all the luggage. Customs didn't ask a thing. Came home, opened everything and checked for any transitional damage. To my relief, none
Immediately went out to shop for speaker stands. Volumate had pre-owned stands. Gave 6k and took them home. Readied everything to place the setup. All done, started listening for a week now. Next on the lookout is to buy a sub woofer to make it 2.1
That's all folks.
tl;dr
Shopping was a success, thanks everyone
1)NAD D 3020 SGD 699
2) Wharfedale Diamond 220 (black, they had white and walnut red) SGD 400
3) QED QX0 75 speaker cables SGD 40
I decided to buy everything from Lenbrook Asia when I left India but due to time constraint and improper planning, Had to settle with shops in Adelphi.
Audionote blew me away with their Avantgarde setups & eventually proved to be out of my budget this time around. The owner suggested Alpha audio in floor 1. Immediately googled and found only negative reviews about them but the shop in sim lim square. Couldn't really find anything good/bad about the Adelphi shop.
Alpha Audio:
Told the rep there that I was looking for budget friendly speakers and the NAD D. He suggested marantz stereo amp as it was SGD300 cheaper than the 3020. I didn't want to waver with my decision. So, I stuck to my initial purchase decision of the NAD D 3020. He demoed the unit with Diamond 220s. Hard luck, I didn't have my fav music on my phone. Had my X3 loaded with 30gigs of music which I didn't use
So, I handpicked few CDs from the store collection and couldn't satisfy myself 100% He brought few more CDs from which I found Dali demo CD. Samb Adagio by Safri Duo was enough to test the capabilities of the combo. I felt the bass was a little less with the diamonds. Alan, the rep immediately suggested Qacoustics 2020i. Although the bass improved, the price was 140 SGD more than the diamonds. I asked him to connect a ported sub which he had. He obliged immediately and it didn't take me long to feel the difference. The wife was sleeping all along after we entered the shop. I decided it was time and asked for any discounts
Alan said he can't reduce anything on the combo, However, he said, the cables will be free. I was ok with it. Billed and packed, took a taxi to my relative's apartments
Happy overall.Baggage, Customs & other hassles:
I packed the NAD inside trolley bag. Diamonds couldn't be done the same way. Didn't throw the box with which it came. Instead, I packed the box's sides with my clothes to fill the gaps, to avoid(hopefully) any damage to the unit. Then used cloth tape to pack it. Few fragile stickers & finally winding the box with packaging rope ( not too sure about the name). I made it a point to go with Air India (30kgs/person). Ended up with 51kgs.
GST claim:
Claimed SGD 60 after check-in & immigration. Shopped in DFS for liquors to my friends as promised
Chennai-Arrival-Baggage-Customs
As usual, Air India was an hour late. The luggage was further delayed by an hour. My patience was running out, so was the wife's. At last, after nearly an hour and ten minutes, got all the luggage. Customs didn't ask a thing. Came home, opened everything and checked for any transitional damage. To my relief, none
Immediately went out to shop for speaker stands. Volumate had pre-owned stands. Gave 6k and took them home. Readied everything to place the setup. All done, started listening for a week now. Next on the lookout is to buy a sub woofer to make it 2.1
That's all folks.
tl;dr
Shopping was a success, thanks everyone
