buying microphones in Beijing

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adamgggg

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I will be visiting Beijing in a couple of weeks and am wondering about buying some of the 'made in China' mics that are sold under various brands in 'the west'.

Has anyone done this in China, either in music stores or going direct to the factories? Is there money to be saved?
 
I wonder if they have places that sell the factory seconds over there too?
 
adamgggg said:
I will be visiting Beijing in a couple of weeks and am wondering about buying some of the 'made in China' mics that are sold under various brands in 'the west'.

Has anyone done this in China, either in music stores or going direct to the factories? Is there money to be saved?
Click to expand...

Just purchase the housings and then when you get home get all the good *inards* here to make your own boutique mics or have someone mod from that point.

You can also check for passed threads about group buys to see what went on with them.

But how are you to get them back with out paying import charges? Just tell them you love your mics so much that you took them with you on vacation?
 
Interesting suggestion about the modding. Maybe when I have finished building a preamp and some guitar fx I will try my hand at modding some mics. For the moment I don't have the time and just want to buy something I can plug in and use straight away.

I'm in Japan, so maybe the import duties won't be an issue. I will throw it in my suitcase and see what happens. If they ask, I can say it fell out of a fortune cookie...

So I know many of the mics sold here and in the US are produced in the same factories such as 747. Has anyone tried buying these mics in China (Beijing specifically) either by going to the factory or from a shop?
 
HEY adamgggg get me a bag of those fortune cookies for me will ya. :laughings:

Careful thou in the suitcase it might look like a b*mb and you'll be in for a 5 to 6 hour layover while trying to explain.
 
I wonder if you can get the AT line in Japan cheaper than we can here?...the Japanese AT40 line is pretty much some of the best mics made...there isnt much made in China worth having.
 
http://soundhouse.co.jp/

Is the website I use for buying gear in Japan. The site is mostly in Japanese but you can search model numbers in the top right corner and see the prices in yen.

I think that with the strong yen now it wouldn't be any cheaper than the US but you can check

Back to the Chinese mics and my Beijing trip I wonder if anyone knows the location of the MXL factory in China? A couple of their mics I am after...
 
Can't you find the address on their web site?
what MXLs are you looking for and how much cheaper can they be? Here in the US I purchased a V67g for only $88. with no shipping, if they're a lot cheaper than that pick me up two of them in a matched pair and I'll pay you when you get back!!!!!
 
I'm going to Shanghai sometime in the next month or two, and the thought has occurred to me, too. But I'm thinking these factories don't have much of a retail aspect to them. ( Also, I already bought all the Chinese mics I'll ever want, I think :) )
 
antichef said:
I'm going to Shanghai sometime in the next month or two, and the thought has occurred to me, too. But I'm thinking these factories don't have much of a retail aspect to them. ( Also, I already bought all the Chinese mics I'll ever want, I think :) )
Click to expand...

In Shanghai there is the SE factory:-

www.prosoundnews.com/blog/26084

I heard back fro a factory called 797 in Beijing- not sure which 'brands' they are producing for. They seem to have some kind of sales office I can visit in Beijing. They have various designs. Prices about $190 for a tube condenser mic or small diaphram condenser, $60 for a dynamic- not so much of a saving on the prices here or on ebay but I guess I will go check them out
 
Well have you heard or found out anything new? do keep us informed. :cool:
 
So I will be going next week.

Been emailing the 797 mic factory and they have this one mic that seems really cool...

www.797audio.com/cms/detail.php?id=4

But it looks like it is not gonna be cheap- maybe about $400 with some haggling.

What do you reckon? Worth taking a chance with it or better off spending my cash on a mic there is more information about???
 
adamgggg said:
So I will be going next week.

Been emailing the 797 mic factory and they have this one mic that seems really cool...

www.797audio.com/cms/detail.php?id=4

But it looks like it is not gonna be cheap- maybe about $400 with some haggling.

What do you reckon? Worth taking a chance with it or better off spending my cash on a mic there is more information about???
Click to expand...

THAT ONE LOOKS ok BUT I KIND OF LIKE THE CD1-3A Now if you get it will it come in 110 or 220?:cool:
 
adamgggg said:
So I will be going next week.
Click to expand...
Soo.... how did it go?

I'll be in Shanghai in about 2 weeks. It's looking like I won't have much free time, but if I do, I want to go check something out.

How about a group buy? ( :laughings: ) <-kiddings
 
I'm not sure but maybe he didn't come back....He must be held up in some opium den or in jail for trying to sneak out some microphones with out paying the duty taxes .:D



:cool:
 
Last October I was in China on a mic factory tour. Among the many surprising facts I learned - Western retailers often sell China-manufactured mics below their wholesale cost as "loss leaders". In other words, low cost mics have become such a commodity that retailers use them as promotional items to drive traffic to their online sites and don't even think of them as profit centers.

There are no "on the ground" mic deals to be found in Shanghai, Beijing or Guangzhou that you can't already get from Musician's Friend etc with free shipping and three-day delivery to your door.

For just one example - I just got two CAD CM217 small diaphragm mics for $50 with free shipping from MF. Yeah, so what if they have high noise because of their 1/4" electret condenser capsules? No noisier than any other similar mic but way cheaper. I just wanted to hear how they stacked up against the current low cost SDC leader - the $49 Apex 180, a true externally polarezed mic that comes with both cardioid and omni capules.
 
Funny specs or not, its a surprisingly-decent sounding, cardioid 1/4" electret condenser mic. Not as bright, "papery" or sibilant as the Behringer C2 - and not quite as bright as the MXL 603 which is pretty well loved even though it is bright in its stock form.

The CM127 does have the high noise one would expect from a 1/4" electret condenser design though. But hell, $50 for two phantom powered cardioid electret condenser mics with stand clips? If I was just starting out I know what I'd be buying.
 
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