China 2006

Tube stores also predominate in the used audio market.

Actually, I have no idea what Sheng Ya means, but at the Sheng Ya showroom, I felt right at home. There were audiophiles hanging out, listening, and, of course, yakking when we walked in. The sales guy was <I>really</I> into what he was doing and immediately began playing these interesting looking speakers made by Consonance.

I'm a lummox of an American and I have to admit I get confused when dealing with multiple currencies. On this trip, I've been juggling USD, HK dollars, and RMB&mdash;and <I>that</I> really makes the going rough. So when I asked Peter Chang how much this Audio Art Jasmine Model 3A integrated amplifier (9Wpc) would cost in the US, I was sure <I>he'd</I> gotten confused too, when he said $42,000.