Pinoydiophiles in Bangkok

[Skabyol]

Greetings from Bangkok. I will be away from HK for sometime and will be reporting from thailand. Are there any pinoy audiophiles here in bangkok (besides me)?

Good places to visit for the Audiophile itch, that i have found so far:
1. Deco Home Entertainment
Room 301, Siam Discovery Center
Offers mainly Linn equipment and a nice selection of audiophile CDs and some LPs.
Can be reached thru BTS skytrain: National Stadium Station. For those who have been to bangkok, its across MBK.

2. 3rd floor of Fortune Town Department Store
Several shops selling new and vintage equipment. Lots of CDs and LPs. Jheena Lodwicks LP sells for around 2500 baht (3500php). Dont know if that is cheap or expensive.
Can be reached by Subway: Phra Ram 9 station.

Skabyol

[audiobuds]

pbwy bro. i'm glad that you took sometime visiting audio shops there. it seems to me that these are the places you immediately go to before anything else . please do inform us of any new discovery out there. mp might be traveling before end of the year and for sure by that time you can show him around.

regards

[Skabyol]

Bro. Audiobuds,
Besides the audioshops. I also visited the toy shops here. And I found the collectibles selling for much more. Remember the Matrix 12" figures we got for 100hkd in sham shui po? They are selling the same thing here for 1000hkd. wow!

I did find a Rogers LS3/5A but the shop keeper said that it was not for sale. Several Fischers, Marantz and Mcintoshes but according to one shop owner Dynaco ST70s are hard to find. Parang dami lang LPs both old and new releases.

Skabyol

[bayonic]

Parang dami lang LPs both old and new releases.

Skabyol

hope you can list down the locations of Used LP shops ... i'm pretty sure there must be a few during the Chatuchak Weekend market ... but last time I was there , i was not into collecting vinyls yet .
there are a lot of Americans and Westerners who have settled in Thailand so I think there should be a lot of Vietnam War vintage LPs

btw , where are you staying ? i usually stay at the Siam Square and Silom areas when I visit .

[Skabyol]

Hello Bayonic,
I will try to make a list for you. Marami nakitang mga naka kahon na used LP pero nde ako sure kung binebenta or pang demo eh. Medyo namamahalan lang ako dun sa mga brand new LPs nila dito...pareho lang ba presyo diyan sa hk?

Malapit lang yung hotel ko sa Silom. Sa may Saladaeng.

[jamants]

the world trade center in front of pratunam market, arnoma hotel, gaysorn has a couple of shops (around 5 shops) selling audiophile equipment. nakakalito lang dahil sobrang laki ng mall, there is this one shop there selling software for rock fans. puro rock and roll cds.

[tong2999]

There's another place where there are a lot of audio stuff.

Ploenchit Center - this is between the Pleonchit and Nana station. Actually, it is better to get off the Ploenchit station and walk towards the Emporium. It's about 5 min walk.

Skabyol, how long will you be in Bangkok?

[Skabyol]

There's another place where there are a lot of audio stuff.

Ploenchit Center - this is between the Pleonchit and Nana station. Actually, it is better to get off the Ploenchit station and walk towards the Emporium. It's about 5 min walk.

Skabyol, how long will you be in Bangkok?

Sir Tong,
I will be in bangkok for 1 year. I will check out Ploenchit Center.
thanks,
Skabyol

[Skabyol]

the world trade center in front of pratunam market, arnoma hotel, gaysorn has a couple of shops (around 5 shops) selling audiophile equipment. nakakalito lang dahil sobrang laki ng mall, there is this one shop there selling software for rock fans. puro rock and roll cds.

I will check out the world trade center too. I only saw the b&w shop in Gaysorn. Meron din mga shops dun sa Amarin Center yata. Medyo malayo yung Pratunam sa world trade center.

thanks,
Skabyol

[Skabyol]

Update on the Bangkok Audio Shops.
Ang dami pala!
There is a newly renovated bldg (just openned 2 months ago) just beside the Big C in front of the World Trade Center. The bldg. is called the E Square. So far two floors of audio shops. Magaganda yung mga shops. One shop is called "The best Audio Shop in Bangkok"....and so far i think they are the best nga. Along the small road beside Big C meron din ng mga maliliit na audio shops...parang hardware store ang hitsura.

According to the owner of the "the Best Audio Shop", vintage audio is not popular in bangkok. And also chinese brand audio equipment is still considered as low quality. Kaya puros american and european brands lang ang binebenta sa mga audio shops.

Okay next stop..ploenchit station..

[Skabyol]

Bangkok Hi-Fi Grand Sale

Last Dec 19, I had a chance to go to the Hi-Fi Grand Sale in Bangkok. It was held in Fortune Town. The show was not impressive, after seeing the shops at E-Square and Amarin Plaza, this place looked like a flea market. Pure "high-end" audio systems competing for space and loudness with "entry level" home theater systems.

A few of observations:

1. As evidence of the growing interest of Thais in this field, Thai audio/home theater related local publications outnumbers RP magazines 10 to none. It's a good thing we have Wiredstate.

2. In Bangkok, HiFi Audio is dominated by Home Theater. Yamaha, Denon and Marantz are the most prominent.

3. Tube audio is a minority.

4. Vintage audio is non-existent

5. Chinese brands present were Gtech and Audio Research.

6. There was one Thai brand called Aurist. It sells amplifiers, cd players, line conditioners and a weird looking speaker that looks like an eye.

7. Lots of audiophile CDs and LPs for sale...but they went for 750 to 2000 php each. Not really cheap. But the selections were impressive (to me at least).

8. Jheena Lodwick is quite popular here.

[ichabod]

I know for a fact that TS Audio is based in Thailand. A very experienced amp maker of since vintage days I'm told.

[marty_e]

Audio Research became Chinese? PM PatisPetrus. Although he doesn't reside there, I believe he knows the HI FI landscape there quite well. Not sure if he still goes regularly.

[audiobuds]

good to hear from you bro.

any chance you can promote item nos. 3 & 4 in bangkok?

most interested in item 7 if to explore the other path. mp's influence is becoming stronger and sometimes hard to resist - pls. help. one thing positive, was not able to go with him to audition more than 1 cart of cartridges at the peak. totally different set up coz his host uses horn speaker.

see if we can organize another listening session when you come back for holidays. got new discovery with the real toys. prices keep falling but budget very difficult to justify with wifey.

pls. clarify audio research now manufactured in the mainland or only their audio reaserch dept has moved there?

[Skabyol]

Correction. Audio Space yata yun nde audio research. Sorry about that.

[tong2999]

Skabyol,

Are you still here in BKK during the first week of May? Meron kasing HIFI show sa BITEC during that time. I attended last year's show. Maraming mga high end brands - speakers, amps, cd players. Tapos maraming rin mga DVDs and CDs.

I got the sked - Apr 29-May 1.

[jamants]

any other must see software and hardware shops in BKK? or good jazz clubs perhaps? will be in BKK over the weekend, want to buy some records sana. will appreciate your recommendations..

[Skabyol]

Hi Jamants,
Sorry, i only saw your post today. Hope you can still read my reply.
There is a place called "Brown Sugar" its quite a popular jazz bar. The music is good and the prices are okay. Food is delicious. Its at Sarasin Road, Lumpini Park.

For hardware and software...go to chitlom BTS (Sky train) station. Then go to Amarin Plaza for some high end stuff. Then head over to Big C. Beside Big C there are small shops selling varioius equipment. And beside Big C you will also find E Square. There are several good shops there although empty of customers most of the time.

Have a nice time.

[Skabyol]

By chance I saw this sennheiser promotion at Emporium dept store. It gave me the oppurtunity to finally try out and compare the px100 against the px200. I found the px200 to be more detailed but the base is really lacking. While the px100 has lots of bass although seems like less detailed. With the px200 though i don't have to push my ipod volume near the loudest setting unlike with the px100. i was convinced to buy the px100 but it was out of stock . Pero okay lang..nakatipid.

I also had the chance to try the top of the line HD650 and HD595...wow..really good. You can feel these headphones vibrate when playing deep bass. These are really expensive and great sounding headphones.

Tried the RS120 but after listening to the 650 and the 595 i found it unimpressive.

Took some pictures...

[audiobuds]

hey bro, i doubt if it's the headphones caught your attention

after scrolling down the pixs, i come to believe that those models sporting headphone really convince you to buy a pair.

thanks for the detailed review between px100 & px200. i know i owe you for this.

got lost when trying to attend the previous headphone show here. but definitely not because of the models