Importing Sony STR-AZ5000ES or Sony STR-AZ7000ES from the USA

[Stefan H.]

Importing Sony STR-AZ5000ES or Sony STR-AZ7000ES from the USA
Who has practical experience of importing these Sony AV receivers (Sony STR-AZ5000ES or Sony STR-AZ7000ES) to Europe?
Who operates this in the 220V 50Hz power grid?
How have you done this in practice?
Just via a 220V to 110V voltage converter?
Or via a voltage and frequency converter that converts 220v 50Hz to 110V 60Hz?
In which country of Europe did you import the receiver?
I'm very interested in your experiences.

Kind Regards
Stefan

 

[ban25]

You don't want to run a high current AVR/Amp off a wall-wart transformer. Look for a local model supporting 220V/50Hz.

 

[Stefan H.]

You don't want to run a high current AVR/Amp off a wall-wart transformer. Look for a local model supporting 220V/50Hz.

Why not? What is the reason?
The Power consumption is only about 500W. For the Sony STR-AZ5000ES.
Sony not offer this model in Europe with 220V.

 

[GXAlan]

Amazon.com

You need something like this. The transformer should exceed the actual draw. The 2000W model only handles 1100W continuous.

The AZ7000ES did 100W x 7, so you want a little bit of buffer.

 

[Bside]

Sony not offer this model in Europe with 220V.

Hi Stefan,
Have you decided to do this?
I'm thinking of the same in Australia.
Crazy that Sony don't want to sell good receivers outside of USA.
Bside

 

[SilverRubicon]

I don't think these are the receivers you want to import as there are known issues. Be willing to accept the risks and the sunk costs of shipping and/or return shipping if you do choose to import.

 

[Stefan H.]

Hi Stefan,
Have you decided to do this?
I'm thinking of the same in Australia.
Crazy that Sony don't want to sell good receivers outside of USA.
Bside

Hi Bside,
I'm just thinking about.
Not jet ordered now.
KR Stefan

 

[Stefan H.]

I don't think these are the receivers you want to import as there are known issues. Be willing to accept the risks and the sunk costs of shipping and/or return shipping if you do choose to import.

What do you mean with known issues?
Please can you precise this.
Do you own one of the Sony Receiver?
KR Stefan

 

[Golf]

One could try to import them from Malaysia directly, cutting out the middleman

 

[Stefan H.]

One could try to import them from Malaysia directly, cutting out the middleman

How?
Can you please explain it.

 

[audio_tony]

If you expect Sony to cover any warranty on imported units you might be in for a surprise, as they probably won't honour any guarantee.

These will be regarded as 'grey' imports.

I think you would be better off looking for something from another manufacturer that is available in your country, and then at least you will have a warranty.

 

[Golf]

How?

How what?

 

[Stefan H.]

How what?

Import Sony Receiver directly from Malaysia. What is your experience?
Do you have a contact?

 

[Golf]

Import Sony Receiver directly from Malaysia.

I didn’t claim to have any experience with importing things directly from Malaysia. I was only commenting that it could be worth trying.

 

[Stefan H.]

If you expect Sony to cover any warranty on imported units you might be in for a surprise, as they probably won't honour any guarantee.

These will be regarded as 'grey' imports.

I think you would be better off looking for something from another manufacturer that is available in your country, and then at least you will have a warranty.

This should be no issue if I order it via my US address. So I can still get a 5 year warranty. I just had in the case of an problem to cover the shipment from Europe to the US.

 

[Bside]

I don't think these are the receivers you want to import as there are known issues. Be willing to accept the risks and the sunk costs of shipping and/or return shipping if you do choose to import.

Yes, I'm mindful of the reports of pops/hum. There were also a number of issues fixed with firmware updates.

Again it surprises me that after years out of the receiver market, Sony launches a new line directly into the US. Traditionally Australia has been a good place to test first - we are generally early tech adopters with a similar demographic but small scale.

I would be doing it fully aware it is a v1.0 product without local support, but thanks (sincerely) that was worth highlighting.

 

[Bside]

I didn’t claim to have any experience with importing things directly from Malaysia. I was only commenting that it could be worth trying.

I think you might have been being mean - people tend to be saying that the ES should still be made in Japan because it is their top of the line.

 

[snowinokinawa]

I’m totally with you Stefan and Bside… I’d happily pay 200% for a 220v 50hz version of the 5000ES. What Sony has done is just cruel. Many times I pondered over importing one but instead bought the RZ70 which I just can’t seem to get sounding right due to my unorthodox speaker arrangement. I heard there was a product out there named 360 spatial which addresses this problem? You m$#^tha f&%$#k$%rs!!!