Good place to buy? Should I import?

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jpollock

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#96850 5-Feb-2012 08:21

I'm looking at getting a receiver, but I'm choking on the prices that I'm finding for equipment when compared to the US. Is there someone in NZ I should be going to? I really don't see the reason why I should spend NZ$1800 for something that lists for US$550, and has online pricing for US$400.

I'm currently looking at the Denon AVR-1912, Pioneer VSX-1021K and Yamaha RX-V671, since the reviews for those models seem pretty positive.

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HowickDota

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#577449 5-Feb-2012 10:06

I've never really had a problem importing from overseas. But as none of my purchases have required me to consider their warranty I guess I've never experienced probably the major problem that is how international products warranties are dealt with. It should be okay if the product is also for sale in New Zealand as you could just say you bought it here when dealing with the manufacturer.

You should also consider when buying that the voltages are international 120-240v so it can be used here and I will also say that a lot of US sites don't allow NZ credit cards, so I usually look for sites that have Google checkout which normally bypasses this problem.

Final thing you will have to take into account is the tax/duties on expensive imports, the only thing I have ever had to pay tax for when bringing into NZ from the States was a $1200 USD laptop which attracted customs attention and I was charged GST for it.

edit: Sort of ignored your thread title a a bit here, but I will say a good place to buy is bhphotovideo.com they ship internationally from their site and accept nz credit cards and are also a very reputable seller as well, bought 2 ATH-M50's from them and both arrived in 4 working days.

sen8or

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#577811 6-Feb-2012 12:01

there is also hivizone.com, a Hong Kong based seller, good pricing and the added advantage of 220-240v power supplies.

Downside is definitely warranty support, or lack of it. Most warranty's on av gear is country specific, and you may find it difficult to get any support locally if something goes wrong. In saying that, I imported a few Denon 3805s back in 2005/2006, sold 1 and kept the other, its still going strong today without any sign of trouble so warranty may or may not be an issue

HotDogBreath

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#577841 6-Feb-2012 13:37

I asked myself the exact question on the same devices last month. I ended up getting the Pioneer 1021 (we must have been reading the same reviews) via Noel's with a 10% discount. My reason for the local purchase was mainly due to the warranty issue and also the "I wan't now!" feeling. If took them about 5 days to get in.

But I do agree that the price difference really does need some calafication from Pioneer. We have a strong exchange rate, and the mark up in New Zealand is very nasty.

On a side note, the 1021 is something very special. It's my first network amp & mainly control it Via the I-pad app (it looks the part) and I really enjoy the built in air-play (audio only) which is stable in Zone 1. There is a great review at Amazon in regards to it's network options.

jpollock

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#577894 6-Feb-2012 17:13

Thanks for the information everyone.

I ended up going for the Yamaha, and I bought it from Harvey Norman (NZ$996). They were on sale, and I managed to convince the salesman to throw in a Panasonic bluray player and a HDMI cable for $54. :) With the sale and the player, it brought the price down into what I would expect to pay self-importing (NZ$6-700+GST+Shipping).

Now, all I have to do is convince xbmc (ubuntu) that it is perfectly capable of using the optical out for plain old audio, instead of only passthrough. :)

Just to let everyone know, I chose against the Denon because I need two optical inputs and it only has one. I also chose against the Pioneer purely because the price was so outside of the international price. I figured that I would have a much better chance of convincing a salesman to get close to the price I wanted with the Yamaha.

I am very, very happy with the Yamaha. Even though I've got junky little speakers, it sounds immensely better than what I had before.

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Dunnersfella

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#577969 6-Feb-2012 21:16

The 671 is a great amp, you'll enjoy it.
And as it comes with no power supply or warranty hassles - it should be a great purchase.