110/220 Amp Onkyo

[doccalamity]

Hi Everyone:

I was out shopping for amps and speakers last weekend. I was at the power buy at Centeral Chitlom with my ipod touch and a 30 foot cable and I auditioned a whole bunch of speakers. The staff there was great letting me take my time and try speaker after speaker, it took about 2 hours. The speakers I decided on were the Warfedale Evo 2-30 and a Onkyo TX-NR807 AV Network amp. The total came to about B 97,000 (the two main speakers evo2-30, a center channel evo2-center and two bookshelf speakers evo2-8 and the Onkyo 807 amp.

I was all ready to buy everything and have it delivered when I thought I should check if it would work on a 110 and a 240 voltage. It turns out that only works on 240V AC. I will move back to Canada in a few years so I don't want to convert 240-110 when I get back. I am going to head to the US in a few weeks and I could probably buy the amp there and bring it back. I have big 2000W power adaptors so I can transform the power if need be. My questions are:

1. Will the transformer mess up the sound?

2. Will the transformer damage the amp if used for 2 years?

3. Are there amps that can drive these speakers that you can buy here that work on both 220/110 V?

4. Also is there a speaker that is a good value here in Thailand that I should look at?

Thanks All!

Edited February 23, 2010 by doccalamity

[doccalamity]

I just saw the link to the Piyanas website. I will go there this weekend and check them out. They look very good. I will post anything I find out for future readers. Anyone know which shop is the best one to go to?

[doccalamity]

I just saw the link to the Piyanas website. I will go there this weekend and check them out. They look very good. I will post anything I find out for future readers. Anyone know which shop is the best one to go to?

After some looking it appears that the Yamaha brand is the only one I can find that has the 110/220V switch on the back. I am probably going to get the YAMAHA : RX-V3900 from Piyanas for 63,000 bhat, Centeral wanted 71,000 for the same amp.

[Benjie]

I just saw the link to the Piyanas website. I will go there this weekend and check them out. They look very good. I will post anything I find out for future readers. Anyone know which shop is the best one to go to?

After some looking it appears that the Yamaha brand is the only one I can find that has the 110/220V switch on the back. I am probably going to get the YAMAHA : RX-V3900 from Piyanas for 63,000 bhat, Centeral wanted 71,000 for the same amp.

To be fair you will have to pay delivery etc... and I'm sure Central will negotiate and they have spent two hours with you, You should at least see if they can match it.

Piyanas are also a good company though.

[pkspeaker]

i brought an amp from the us once and it was 110 so i just bought a converter here and it worked fine, just when you leave it on it's always hot to the touuch and your tempted to keep hitting the kill switch when not listening, much nicer if you have a domestic unit that can plug right into the wall..

the speakers are the same everywhere if they are attached to an amplifier, it's only the computer speaker types that have their own built in amplifier that you have to convert.

[powderpuff]

You will be doing back flips over that YAMAHA. Great choice.

The best Piyanas shop for me is the one on Sukhumvit 101/1. They have a nice little HT room PLUS the full range of PROAC. Ask to speak to Chaiwat, the younger of the 2 brothers. Delivery & set-up - not a problem.

[doccalamity]

I just saw the link to the Piyanas website. I will go there this weekend and check them out. They look very good. I will post anything I find out for future readers. Anyone know which shop is the best one to go to?

After some looking it appears that the Yamaha brand is the only one I can find that has the 110/220V switch on the back. I am probably going to get the YAMAHA : RX-V3900 from Piyanas for 63,000 bhat, Centeral wanted 71,000 for the same amp.

To be fair you will have to pay delivery etc... and I'm sure Central will negotiate and they have spent two hours with you, You should at least see if they can match it.

Piyanas are also a good company though.

I showed the central guys the Piyanas as they told they couldn't move on their price. And a 8000 baht is 8000 baht. I think I will still get the speakers from centeral as Piyanas does not stock them.

[patong]

amps do get hot they be should fan assisted, and no less than 100 watts a channel, SONY amplifiers are very good,

speakers warfedale are ok. i know lots of speakers they make today are long and skinny, the bigger the bass the better.

Edited March 26, 2010 by patong

[doccalamity]

You will be doing back flips over that YAMAHA. Great choice.

The best Piyanas shop for me is the one on Sukhumvit 101/1. They have a nice little HT room PLUS the full range of PROAC. Ask to speak to Chaiwat, the younger of the 2 brothers. Delivery & set-up - not a problem.

Just wanted to check back in with the group and let you know how it all turned out.

I took powerpuff's advise and went down to the Piyanas place on soi 101. Chaiwat was not there but I think it was his brother I dealt with. Super nice guy, with very limited english, however his english was better than my Thai so he is ahead of me on that one.

I decided to listen to a bunch of different speakers there to see if something grabbed me ... and one pair did. I ended up picking up a set of bookshelf B&W 685 speakers for the fronts and the YAMAHA rx-3900 for about 100,000 Baht. Then I picked up two speaker cables for another 7000 Baht. and finally a Clef powerbridge 6 line conditioner for another 4000 baht. There was a center B&W HTM-62 speaker I wanted, but they were out of stock so I will pick it up when it comes in. For the rears I have a old set of Bose 161 which I will use for now.

I brought the whole kit home and set it up and turned on some Joplin "Me and Bobby Magee" and wondered why I waited so long to make this happen.

Thanks for all the advice! If there is anything else I missed please pass it on.

[powderpuff]

Great News.

Couple of things.

First It's Suk Soi 101/1.

Chaiwat doesn't stay at that office but ask the office staff to call him & he will come in 10 minutes.

His older brother is Piyanas who also speaks good English.

Glad to hear you found some things you like. For sure have to audition & buy by "ear". Forget what some reviewer thinks. Some components will really touch your soul.

Edited April 2, 2010 by powderpuff

[hawaiiman]

Most of these are auto-switching between 240/110 , also one major issue is if they process the video, thailand runs pal system and north america runs ntsc--not compatable. I have owned an onkyo for 5 years, they do run hot, but that's because of the huge power supply. this is one reason they out perform. mine has a cloth cover on the top, which pretty much prevents air flow, and it never overheats,so don't worry about onkyo getting hot. you want a cool amp, or really cool sound??

[sezze]

amps do get hot they be should fan assisted, and no less than 100 watts a channel, SONY amplifiers are very good,

speakers warfedale are ok. i know lots of speakers they make today are long and skinny, the bigger the bass the better.

A Sony isn't bad . For Thailand norm it is very good but unless you got the highest ranking ( ES or high QS ) series they are no match for a Yamaha or Denon .

As for wattage , do not worry about it . It varies from many different things . A 2 watt ( yes 2 watt , not 200 ) can be plenty if your speakers are sensitive ( Klipsch horn goes well above the 100db/watt ) . Many valve amps have a power rating from 10 to 30 watts and provide plenty of power for most speakers . Transsistor types , if high quality then i should say , at least 50 watts is enough ( class A you can get away with less , or with sensitive speakers ) . Class D amps work different and i lost track on them but i think they need approx the same power as a transistor type .

Bigger bass isn't everything . The bigger the woofer , the slower it gets and more power hungry ( more cone mass to control ) . In general , big speakers are for big rooms and small speakers are for small rooms . Do not put big floorstanders in a 20m2 room . Wharfedale is decent , but do not forget speakers like B&W , Totem ( very nice bookshelves ) , Dynaudio , JBL , JMlab , Klipsch , etc .

If you return in a couple of weeks , i would say , buy them when you are back . There is no point to buying a set in Thailand and bring back because they are more then probably a lot more expensive in Thailand then back home . Nice music is fine but only buy it if you can keep it there . If you cannot wait , buy a 2th hand installation . It is cheaper , for better quality , but you have to see whats in the store .