Wala na rin dumadating dito sa Davao. The last good model -- Luxman L550 -- that I got early this year came from a Cebu dealer of Jap audio surplus.
What happened, if I'm not mistaken, was Jap consumers have already adjusted to the government's new electrical standard that was imposed about 3 or 4 years ago. Since yung lumang equipment non-compliant sa new standard, binenta nila or binigay sa recyclers bago na-implement officially yung bagong policy. We benefited from that since the early discards were sent to our ports and sold by local traders at "junk" prices (remember the controversial JPEPA -- zero customs duties for imported recyclable materials from Japan?).
Also, Jap vintage hifi are sold at a premium in Shanghai and other major cities in China, up to 10 times higher than the price we buy those items (high-end hifi sa kanila yan at mas mahal kaysa locally made 'upscale audio' products). Kaya yung mga recyclers sa Japan, sa Chinese traders na nagbenta starting 2007 as per stories from Davao importers/traders.
If you badly need a good Jap hifi gear, the best way is to get it from HifiDo like what American and European audiophiles are doing. But be prepared to pay more. The original Luxman L-550, for instance, would sell at about $1,000 in Hifido before freight charges. I got two units of this from the local suppliers at an average acquisition cost of less than P10k each.
There are bargains though -- an example is Technics SL1200 series, a new edition mint unit could be bought as low as $200. Dito kahit sugatan na ang SL1200 tumatakbo pa ng P20k. Also, cartridges and some audio accessories (mostly useless, but good for bragging) are also cheaper via HifiDo.
