Bargains! Bargains! (16/02/2001)

Dear Readers,

These few days have not been good for me. My fractured ribs are really giving me pain. Slight coughing, yawning, sneezing, laughing or turning the body, made me feel like someone stabbing me thru my left rib cage. As such, I was not in the mood of doing anything.

However, this noon I was made very happy by a friend of mine. He wanted to sell his Tamron 28-200mm IF Super Zoom camera lens to me for just under $100. I thought he was mad? A new lens like this can ask for at least over S$400. Although I am not keen on non professional type of lenses, at this price I could not say no. He even brought the almost new lens over to my house! I was overjoyed! Well, third party lens always have a poor resale value. But I never know it could be that low! This lens will be very useful if I were to go for tours or short trips, and could not carry too many things!

As I was reading thru The Straits Times, I found two audio advertisements which are worth mentioning here.

The first advert is by Tat Chuan Audio Pte Ltd. They are offering a complete package of Onkyo DVD, Receiver (c/w DTS, SACD, HD TV!), Klipsch micro theater speaker system, for just below three grand. That is a good bargain!

For a typical Singapore family, who wants good sound and do not want the living room turned into a professional recording studio, this system should have its appeal! If you are starting to build a home theater system and want to save on fuss and troubles, or want to avoid the pain of trial and error, this also could be a good system to consider! Why not e-mail Tat Chuan and find out more?

While looking at the Tech and Science page, all my attention was drawn to People’s Audio Pte Ltd’s (tel: 538 6748) advertisement. There are many KEF, JBL and Mission equipment clearing at near ‘student discount prices’!

For those who are building a system, this promotion could be a real bargain. I was fairly attracted by this combination:

Rotel RCD951 CD, NAD C320 Amp and KEF Cresta 2. For just over S$1000, this could be a system that many university students could live with for a few years. Also, as a second system in the study or office, this is a system that is well worth the price tag.

I also noticed there are some really big slashes in prices. The JBL floor standing speakers (made in Denmark) are going at below cost possibly! Some DVD players are going for as low as a few hundred dollars.

If you want to build your own home theatre system, there are a good number of amps, players, sub woofers and speakers on offer.

Not to mention there are a few packages that are also good bargains.

Anyway, I do not know the sales people in Tat Chuan or People’s Audio. I just find the prices are more than reasonable. If you like the prices, and think you can take advantage of the discounts, perhaps you want to act fast. Tomorrow is Saturday, and perhaps you might see the last player being carried away when you get there!

Anyway, I am asking my brother to get the Rotel RCD951. He has been looking for a CD player for a while already!

Happy Listening!

Jon Wong