Does anybody know any "Hi-Fi market place" in Shanghai ?
I mean - a place where private resellers sell different Hi-Fi stuff (DVD players and recorders, amplifiers, home theatre components, etc.) and could also bring electronics from Hong Kong, Taiwan and other places.

I found that you can only buy a DVD in places like GoMei, Sunning, big brandmalls - but usually it is very similar assortment and major part of the models are in chinese language only.
Currently I want to buy a SONY DVD-recorder, but none of the mentionned above places sell it (you need to buy a whole home theatre there).

I know some places in Shanghai where you can buy computer components and mobile phones from private resellers - there you can easily find for example an english version of a PDA-phone from Hong Kong, that can not be found in normal shops. Or even you can agree with them and they will bring a special model for you.

But I do not know similar place to buy DVD / Hi-Fi componets.

Does anybody know such a place ?

Xiangyan Lu and Fuxing Lu has a market where u should be able to get what you need

In XuJiaHui you can find a high end stereo equipment. I believe there are SONY components sold there as well as other brands (Dennon, Kenwood, etc). If I remember correctly it is on the third floor of the Pacific Computer City (Tai Ping Yang Dian Nao Cheng).

thanks a lot, I will definitely visit these places this weekend !

yeah, xujiahui is the place for you to be...

you can find actual high-end brands for your hi-fi needs there, such as h&k, marantz, NAD, rotel and others. even saw burmester stuff (if you feel like disching out the value of a car for an amp + cd player). also check upstairs in grand gateway, there is a shop that sells rotel gear and b&w speaker.

prices are in fact reasonable, pretty close to normal retailing prices in europe.

the place on xiangyang/fuxing is okay, but all used stuff!!! you don't know what you are getting... i once bought a cd player there which lasted my 2 months. obviously, no returns here... in any case, NEVER buy speakers there, you don't know how much the membranes already suffered. and there simply is no way of telling.

and yes, a speaker cable should be the same price as the speker itself...ALWAYS!!!

happy listening.

MrPuxi wrote:and yes, a speaker cable should be the same price as the speker itself...ALWAYS!!!

...is that a joke?

I hope Mr Puxi is joking. Cheap speaker wire is noticably worse than good wire, but the real expensive cable is mostly hype. If ALL of your wiring and cabling cost about as much as ONE of your speakers, you are in the right ball park. (and I'm talking about a 5.1 or 7.1 system, not stereo)

I had just finished putting together my hifi system at home- B&W speakers with NAD components (5.1 system) when i got the news of my transfer...

Now I have a very nice and expensive hifi set in my father in law's lounge room at home playing Rod Stewart... i can hear it groaning from the shame from here!

Listening to music from my iMac speakers just isn't the same... : (

Try Qufu Lu, when you come from People square head to Suzhou Creek, when you've crossed it u turn right on the second street. Big block on the corner, below it's a wholesale market for pens, paper etc.. 2 and 3d floor are packed with audio gear.

Most of the brands that you can find in the above mentionded places you can find here too but at cheaper rates since not in a fancy superstore. Nice extra is that you also get to meet with the chinese tube amps like cayin, mingda... and the quite famous Aurum Cantus speakers.
Good place in the above mentioned zhaoJiaBang rd is shop 3009 metroplaza, sell harberth speakers and so fort...

The QuFu Lu mall is at No 111, though I heard it was recently closed down and moved. Is it still there? If it's still there, it's a great place. The real reason stuff can be had cheaper there is that the rents are much much lower than Grand Gateway or Metro City. And once you see the place, you'll see why the rents are cheaper.

Just gave one of the shops a ring, qufu lu is still open, are renovating the streets around i think...

kpmautner, all depends from which side you look at things of course, point is the same however, cheaper...

What's wrong with these people...

They just called me back, have moved to Ganshu Lu 79...

Well, that is what he spelled me...

For those who master more chinese then me... 51066383

Please post for future seekers... thanks!

I was told it was on ZheJiang Lu near NanJing Lu, called Li Ying Plaza. Haven't been there yet, so can anyone confirm that?

So there are at least these two Hi-Fi marketplaces. But Gateway is definitely overpriced. Is there anywhere in Shanghai that sells Hi-Fi at reasonable prices in comparison to US prices? (note I say US cuz I refer to that market when researching AV prices)

After all, a friend I know who knows people in the industry said that Jamo speakers are made in China. As are Samung, Panasonic, I figure Sony TVs too. The only high quality TV I know that is truly imported is Pioneer. So don't take **** from anyone who tells you that Samsung or Sony is imported. Panasonic, I suppose it is probably general knowledge that it is locally made cuz I rarely hear salespeople lie to me with a straight face that it is imported.

Almost all the mid-market loudspeakers are made in a few factories in Guangzhou and Ningbo. That includes Klipsch, Jamo, Kef, Polk, Bose, JBL, most of the B&W line, M&K, Infinity, Mission, and on down the list. The factories are licensed only for export, so almost all of the speakers are exported, and then re-imported into China for sale here. So you get transportation costs, import costs, and VAT. Then most are sold through at least one layer of distributors. Add in the nutso rents at Grand Gateway and other places, and yup, they cost more than in the US or Europe.

If you want something at a lower price, go to the CAV or HiVi shops, or listen to the knock-off brands at Gome and all. Those are China brands, China made, and some of their stuff is reasonably good. I won't vouch for their durability or consistancy (eg, the L and R speaker being the same), but if you shop carefully it will be a decent deal. Also, there are some Chinese brands like ShengYa (sp?) at some of the smaller stores that make pretty nice stuff at the higher end.

Licensed only for export....I wonder how much is really exported then imported back? Heh.

A lot of info (and how much they f*ck you) is to be found in the link below... just to give you an idea (G&W)... 99 $ chinese amp's are being sold under a so called hi-end hifi brand name (Red Rose... M. Livinson) in US for thousands of $....

http://www.xs4all.nl/~viver/chinese%20h ... oknow.html

For the correct address in shanghai, call the number i wrote above if you speak some better chinese then me, he is one of the shop owners

For those who travel to Shenzen, shop there, much bigger choice, much cheaper prices since 1) not overated and overprised shanghai 2) proximity of the factories...

Cheaper in Shenzhen is not due to proximity to the factories. It's due to proximity to Hong Kong and easier smuggling. Avoid the VAT and import duties, and you save about 30% in most cases. If you are getting stuff directly from the factories, it is either knockoffs (usually with cheaper components) or rejects from the production line. Lots of Chinese export factories in all industries repackage their QC rejects for domestic sale.

Quite possible, but why buy a relabeled chinese product, smuggled or not, when you can buy the orinial product for a fraction of that price. Because the foreign brand is a better product... yeah right! If you do some research on audio sites you can find more than enough info on what chinese gear to buy, many times double checked by engineers (who specialy like to compare the relabeled brands with the chinese ones) Also a lot of sites available about direct china import.

Aurum Cantus (chinese brand from which forreign high-end brands use their ribbon tweeters and a lot more stuffed in a different model case at super inflated prices) for example is cheaper there then here in shanghai for a fact. Simple rule, more shops, more competition, better deals. Shanghai dealers are not going to pay the shipping fees for you are they?

Shenzen & HK hifi shopping... from 2005 but still
http://www.stereophile.com/news/040405china/

Don't know Aurum Cantus, so I can't comment on that. I am familiar with the standard international brands, and they work pretty much like I described before.

If you know enough about what you are listening to and buying, by all means go to the Shenzhen audio malls and have fun. Just remember it's buyer beware. You pay more for a brand name because you get a certain level of quality, even with overpriced stuff like Bose. The only things worse than paying too much for speakers is to get a good price and then find that (1) the left and right don't sound the same or (2) they break after a little while.

Aurum Cantus is worth to have a look at:

http://www.redrosemusic.com/rosebud.shtml
Again a so called high-end brand which is selling chinese gear... take a seat before you check the prices.... That levinson is such a rip off...

http://www.aurumcantus.com/aurumcantu-l ... semkii.htm
And here you have the original, just a different case, all the rest is the same... except for the price.... These go for around 3500rmb in china...

That's interesting. Where can I find an Aurum Cantus dealer in SH? I think I have seen one somewhere before, but can't remember where.

The tel number i mentioned here is from the AC dealer...

I think there is an Aurum Cantus dealer on the 6th floor of Grand Gateway in XuJia Hui.

check out this http://www.studio-fh.com seems to be an interesting place to go...

Hi Django, interesting shop, didn't know them. Had a quick look at their showroom hifi clearing. Mingda mc7-r is a real deal and quite a refference pre-amp specialy for tube lovers, have mod plan also if someone is interested.

Only thing is that their normal price is quite high, which is to be expected seeing the website, their target audiance.... Normail price at the hifi market mingda dealer is 2800rmb. So 500rmb extra is a big difference...

very cool suggestion! this www.studio-fh.com, very interesting indeed. so anybody hear these aurum speakers?

This looks like hidden publicity... joined the site like yesterday and today only for this thread, what a coinsidence...

Then again, not my problem if you whish to pay more than actual value. Next hifi thread is going to be one like to overprised rents for laowais and who's to blaim...

Yes did hear most of aurum cantus speakers, top noch for it's price (well depending where you buy of cousre...) Just remember that most speakers you hear in a showroom have not enough play time to sound as they should and the room is most probably very different than your home.

Having said this, the guys might bring the set to your home for a listening session of a day or 2, 3... for free of course, just little higher selling price...

Now that we are talking about Studio FH, they are having a clearance sale this Saturday. Most of their business these days is furniture, but they do have a good selection of (mostly) local brand hi-fi equipment.

http://www.studio-fh.com/page33.asp

so Michaeld, what did you end up purchasing? and from where?