Moving to Singapore. Help needed


I appreciate some help with my present situation.

I will be relocating to Singapore later this year, and was advised several times that speakers, receivers and amplifiers are SIGNIFICANTLY more affordable in the US. As shipping will be borne by my company, I wonder it'll make sense to assemble a set here and ship them over. I understand the electrical system is different in Singapore (220-240v), compared to 110-120v here.

My specific questions:
1. Is it possible to get 220-240v amplifiers/receivers in the US? Is there any specific brand that either carries models that support the 220-240v or allows one to tweak 110-120v to 220-240v easily? I am not very keen on a transformer, as they are generally bulky and will avoid them if I could.

2. Do the differences in electrical supply have any bearing on the performance of speakers?

3. I understand Iphone/Mac users can stream music to their receiver using AirPlay or adding an Airport Express; so far only Pioneer supports AirPlay (as far as I know). Is this true? Is it possible to play music through my Iphone/Ipad/laptop on these systems with no AirPlay compatibility? Appreciate if you could share some of your experience here.

4. An 804 diamond currently retails at $7500, while used 804S and 804d are selling for much less. Is the price difference really worth the sound quality? I spend time listening to vocals, jazz and instrumentals.

Many thanks for your time to ease my audiophilic dilemma.

SP
av_enthusiast
The speakers will perform the same on either supply, unless they are internally powered. Whether the newer models of a line are worth the difference cannot be answered by anyone save you. I suspect I myself might like the older ones better as I find most metal dome tweeters too "hot" and supposedly the improvement in the diamond line was to increase the treble but you may have a totally different take on it. US made products will be cheaper here but European or Asian ones may not be.
I currently live in Shanghai, but have also lived in Hong Kong and Taipei. So I know the hassle of moving audio equipment.

I suggest that you dump all your current U.S. equipment, and upgrade in Singapore as this will be a great excuse for doing so! I believe Singapore has very little, if any, import duties, as it is a free port, like Hong Kong. So new and second-hand price should be about the same as those in U.S.

In fact, do a search on Audiogon for Singapore
"http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/srch_fs.pl?ZIPC=singapore" and you will see that second hand prices are comparable to those of U.S., and there are a lot of dealers. I suggest that you contact them, and visit their stores.

Singapore is an extremely wealthy "little" country. Last I read was it has the highest percentage of millionaire households, with at least 30% of its households having net assets (other than their primary residence, which are all most likely at least US$1 million since real estate is incredibly expensive in many places in Asia) of at least US$1 million. You will be very surprised at how many people are into high-end audio in Singapore and Asia in general, and what they can afford... So finding what you want should not be too difficult.

Of course, your second option could be to send the equipment back to manufacturer to have the voltage reset, and this will be a hassle and will cost you in service charge and shipping.

In any case, good luck with your move. You will definitely find a lot of audio fanatics in Singapore too!
For such a small place(26 miles long), it packs a lot of audio equipment, great weather(right on the Equator)and some of the most interesting looking women anywhere(saw a girl with bronze skin, pewter colored hair and blue eyes!).
I live in Singapore. If you are going to buy new, I would buy in the US and ship through your company. While there is good selection here, I don't think it is as good as in the US. Plus, the weakness of the dollar mades US branded speakers a good value right now, and you don't want to buy them in Singapore when the shipping could be borne by your employer.

As for amps, look at Wyred 4 Sound as they will do whatever voltage you want.
I am going through a similar search for electronics to go to Europe. Here is what I have found. Most main line dealers with standard brand names will not sell you 240 V gear. There license will not allow it - to protect the overseas distributors. Some of the smaller companies and the direct sale companies (e.g. Wyred 4 Sound) will sell you 240V gear. Some equipment (Peachtree, for example) has a switch to select the voltage. Some equipment has a dual tap transformer that can quickly be changed by a qualified repair person. If it is a single tap transformer, the whole transformer will have to be switched out. Small companies like Wyred 4 Sound, Peachtree, Jolida, Oppo are the best options. If you want want to go used, check if the equipment has a dual tap transformer which can be easily changed.