Russian Tube Preamp, No Return, Here I go again

Elliot, I'm sure you'll be fine.  But the argument regarding size puzzles me. It would seem that those domestic vintage pieces on the eBay page you cited would be about the same size as the unit you are buying.  Just saying.  A 500C chassis is larger, I grant you that.  But it's all in one and darn nice sounding if properly refurbished.

Did you buy  2-year protection plan from SquareTrade - $39.99
:-)
Keep us informed! 

@ lewm
"In support of what Chak says about expedited shipping, I have purchased various capacitors from Russian vendors on eBay. The shipping time is very short, sometimes as little as 4-5 days. Much faster than buying from Canada, most of the time. I stopped using one Canadian parts supplier because customs was so slow."...............



Its actually your countries customs that delays parcels from delivery.
NOT the country shipped from. That works both ways. From your country to here in Canada , then it’s Canada customs who delays its release for delivering.... sometimes it sails right through after a quick check.....other times not so much....their is a human element to it....literally luck of the draw of how/when package is cleared....
The best experience I have always had is with Royal mail out of Britain to Canada post for delivery.
The US/Canada border...crap shoot and sometimes the bs "brokerage" and other various charges we get burnt for from the brown shirts....

In any event....I hope the OP gets his purchase quickly and it exceeds his expectations. ...
Cheers

My statement stands as written. Why the difference between the two countries is probably explained in your post. I have had some bad experiences with merchandise coming from Canada into the US. In one case, my turntable was delivered to someone in Iowa. (I live in Maryland.)  The remedy for that was to send it back to Canada and THEN to me. One Canadian who wanted to buy something from me (the opposite direction of shipping) asked me to send it to an address in North Dakota. He planned to drive across the border to pick it up, rather than to endure the customs delays (and worse, damage sometimes).

@ chakster.  

You right, It is stupid to say there is no audiophile scene in Russia and nobody tried to say that. High End shows festivals, stores and shops does exist in Moscow and few other sites, but equipment production sector is extremely narrow there, it’s almost nothing compared to what we have here in US or Europe, Japan. However tech guys from Russia does play big role in world industry (BAT, Lamm Industries etc...) probably business climate is just not right there, or government priorities is in another universe:)