buying vintage hifi on ebay from usa - advice appreciated

entrails

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Jun 1, 2010
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I recently had a lot of fun making up a cheap retro "ipod dock" for my teenage daughter getting a Trio KA1500 amplifier and Trio KT3300 tuner combined with my old mission 760i's. It looks quite sweet, certainly more appropriate for a girl than black 90's stuff and gives a really nice warm 70's sound; giving me nice fuzzy memories of hearing similar kit from when I was a kid at my mates houses. I've kind of caught the bug for collecting more Trio/Kenwood gear but at the slightly more high end for myself; but have noticed that the Uk sellers on ebay tend to have mainly similar entry level to my daughters kit compared with the US which usually has a lot more exotic higher end "Kennie" kit.

Does anyone have any experience of buying similar kit from the US? If so is it a good idea or full of additional pitfalls? My inclination is as I'm in no major hurry to keep looking for the occasional UK based item but I wanted to ask for a few opinions in case I'm letting some really cool kit go by which I could be bidding for.
 
T

the record spot

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The same pitfalls as buying vintage gear anywhere else really, barring the additional distance to ship involved and the cost that brings. I'd stick to buying from reputable sellers would be one tip - Service55 is one that springs to mind. They specialise in 70s gear from the likes of the high end Sansui, Accuphase, Luxman stables and the like. They also strip out and fully service the equipment they sell, which is worth the money alone IMO.

Stick to guys like that and you won't go far wrong. And take out full insurance for the cost of the item and the additional postage too, so you'll get all of your money back in the event you do buy a dud, or something goes "bump" on the way over.
 

Inter_Voice

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One thing you should bear in mind that anything like electronics costing more then 18 GBP will be imposed with 20% VAT by the UK Customs including a few pounds more admin. cost. Make a calculation and see if buying from the US is worthy or not. Sometimes it comes out to be more expensive :doh:
 

Mr. Iceman

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I never bought anything from US off the internet but travelling overseas over the years I did bring home a few 'electricals'. The obvious thing to check is if the voltage is switchable, unless there is an auto voltage switch which is unlikely in case of vintage hi-fi.

There is a great deal more Japanese 70s and 80s gear to be found in the US than the UK but the showstopper in some cases is the shipping cost (think heavy weight monster amps) and import duties.

I bought some vintage gear online from Germany and the Netherlands (that auction site) and found the Continent to be a viable alternative to the US, including reasonable delivery costs and the amount/diversity of available gear.
 

lindsayt

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I bought a pair of monoblock power amps from the US eBay for £1200. Cost me about £400 in shipping costs and import duty. They're heavy amps. There was a switch on the back to convert from 110 volts to 220.

I bought a set of four speakers from US eBay for £5500. Shipping costs and import duty were considerable. Total weight of the speakers was about 420kgs. They required a 175 cubic foot container. If I made a similar purchase again I'd fly over there, hire a van and bring them back on the Queen Mary 2.

I bought a 75kg record player from German eBay for £2250. Collected it during my summer camping holiday to Europe.

I bought my passive pre-amp for £310 new direct from the Australian manufacturer.

I've been delighted with all my foreign hi-fi purchases.

If you want to buy the very best hi-fi components it helps if you think internationally.
 

lindsayt

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The speakers are two JBL's in custom made cabinets plus a pair of EV Patrician 800's.

I first got interested in EV Patricians after reading a single anecdote about them on an American Hi-fi forum. A bit more Google research indicated that they might be better than the speakers I already had. So I decided to try them if I ever had the chance.

The Patrician designer wanted to create speakers that could play all types of music well, including organ music. He ended up with 30" bass drivers in a 4 way corner horn design to get bass extension and efficiency. The high weight is a side effect.

I've never seen EV Patricians for sale on UK eBay.
 

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