jay@npois.UUCP (Anton Winteroak) (02/11/85)
A friend of mine is going to Tokyo on business soon, and has offered to buy something for me there. My interest is in getting a new cd player. I ask all of you, is there some cd player product which is available in Japan now, which is not available here, that is somehow better than what I could get here in the states? Please post responses on the net.
hrs@homxb.UUCP (H.SILBIGER) (02/12/85)
You should be aware that Japan has 100V rather than the 117V which is standard in the US. If you buy in a regular store, where it is possible to get good discounts, you will get domestic Japanese versions. These do not have switch selectable voltages, and have Japanese instruction books. The warranty is good only in Japan. There are also "Tax-Free" Export stores. In these stores you can buy equipment which can be operated almost anywhere in the world. You get multilingual instructions, and the warranty is honored outsid of Japan. While you can also bargain here, the prices typically run 30-50% higher. They actually come close to good discount prices in the US. I bought a turntable in Japan, a Denon DP45, with cartridge, and paid about $135, which is almost half what it costs here. I bought a small transformer, 100V > 117V, for about $ 8. I felt that japanese equipment was reliable enough to take a chance, and that the technology was mature. I decided not to buy a CD player there, since the lack of instructions and risk in my opinion outweighed the money savings. In Tokyo there is an area called Akahibara, which has about a dozen electronics supermarkets, the likes of which don't exist in the US. There are also hundreds of parts and components shops, sort of what the Rector and Broadway area in lower Manhattan used to have. Herman Silbiger, CGE
mike@asgb.UUCP (Mike Rosenlof) (02/18/85)
> The question was asked about if there is some CD player available > in Japan now, but not in the US, which is "better" than US available > models. Don't hold your breath, one problem you may have if you bought a CD player for the Japaneese market is that they're on 50hz power. If the player isn't or can't be set for our 60hz, you're out of luck. (At least such was the case when I lived there 1965-1968.) However, the models for export are definitely available in the 60hz version, and may be available for a better price. But I wouldn't expect it to be too much less than an officially imported version bought in the US through a discount house (or mail order). Mike Rosenlof ihnp4!sabre!\ hplabs!sdcrdcf!-bmcg!asgb!mike { ihnp4, ucbvax, allegra }!sdcsvax!/ Burroughs Advanced Systems Group Boulder, Colorado
karn@petrus.UUCP (02/21/85)
> Don't hold your breath, one problem you may have if you bought a CD > player for the Japaneese market is that they're on 50hz power. If the > player isn't or can't be set for our 60hz, you're out of luck. (At > least such was the case when I lived there 1965-1968.) I can't imagine why a CD player should care about the line frequency. All of the internal timing is based on a crystal oscillator, not the power line frequency like a conventional turntable. I bought my Technics SL-P7 in Germany, and tried it out on 220 volt 50 Hz power. Took it back to the US, cut the plug off, put on a North American version, and switched the transformer from 220 to 110 volts. It has worked just fine since. I suspect that a player bought in Japan for 100 v power might well work as is in the US, since the electronics are probably all powered from regulated DC supplies. The transformer or the regulator transistors might get rather warm, though, unless the unit was specifically designed for operation at 120v as well. On the other hand, given the Japanese motto "export or die" I can't imagine that US-operable models wouldn't be readily available (as they were in Munich.) Phil