Audio-Technica ART 7

The source of gray market products is easy.  As lewm has written, " I bought it in Tokyo. There is no advantage to buying in Tokyo; price was about the same as eBay. 2juki has a good reputation; I would not hesitate to buy from him."

So a dealer in Japan gets them at a low wholesale price and sells at low retail price.  The US distributor buys at the low wholesale price and marks it up considerably and sells at a high retail price.  He can get the high retail price because he provides service of various kinds and some people feel that is of value.

The Japanese retailer can also buy extra quantity at a low wholesale price and sell it through his gray market distributor friend to US consumers, like through ebay, for a low retail price.  Simple.

@lewm

So 2juki is not an authorized AT dealer, or so I gather. Where then would he source his product? Does he obliterate serial numbers?

He’s not an authorized dealer of anything, his prices are lower than recommended prices and nearly all his stock is a grey market produsts. Fake serian numbers, no support from the manufacturer. I’ve been told by a very well known US distributor, i have checked a serial number of my cartridge, i didn’t tell the distributor where i’ve bought my cartridge, but he noticed fake serial number and suggested it’s from 2juki, he was right. Some manufacturers are mad on him!  

It’s not necessary means that his stuff is defective, many buyers are happy, but not the manufacturers and distributors. The trade off of his low price is no warranty, no support, no service, nothing which every buyer can get from official distributor and manufacturer.

Has anyone had warranty issues with 2juki?  My guess is that if you bought from him, had a problem within the warranty period, and then sent it back to AT/Japan (perhaps through 2juki), the warranty would be honored by AT/Japan. Whereas, the same warranty would likely not be honored locally (in this case referring to the US distributor).  This does not mean that 2juki is shady or that he is selling defective or subpar merchandise that he sells with any attempt to deceive.  The irony is that the US distributor almost certainly sends returned items back to the very same place in Japan for repair or replacement. (A lot of this is conjecture on my part. If someone actually has had the experience of being told that his cartridge is not warranteed by AT at all, because of purchase from 2juki or other foreign vendor, I stand corrected.)

For example, my defective Koetsu Urushi, purchased from an authorized dealer in Tokyo, was replaced by Koetsu in Tokyo, after I sent it back to the dealer with evidence of the warranty.  The difference may be that my dealer was also a bricks and mortar store, in Akihabara.

You might also look into the AT-33PTG/II MC cartridge I have it on a VPI prime with the JMW 10 3D tonearm through a Parasound JC3+ preamp to an Anthem MRX520 connected to an Anthem P2 amp into Paradigm monitor 11V7 speakers, the bass response is smooth and the mids and high frequency is clear and uncluttered, I play mostly rock and classical, flutes come out so clear you can hear each breath and the low bass notes are steady and clear no muffled drones.

@lewm

2juki is from Hong Kong, not from Japan as your trustworthy seller/shop in Akihabara. First thing the manufacturer will check is the serial number of the product, what is the reason for them to support grey market ebay dealers and cartridges with fake serial numbers if they have official distributors to support in each country?

Official distributors suffering from the low ball offers on ebay for grey market cartridges. 

Every problem can be solved via paypal claim or ebay. At least broken items will be returned for full refund (a golden rule of ebay/paypal policy).