Looking for Canadian dealers/stores that carry "audiophile" labels.

Hi: I am looking for Canadian dealers,either new or used that carry the DCC, Audio Fidelity or MFSL labels in the "rock" genre! I have ordered the Bad Company gold c.d. from Amazon.ca, but they don't seem to carry too much in these labels! I have tried The Beat Goes On record stores with not much luck! Thanks for the help! Huck

 

Huck, take it from me, you're better off ordering from cduniverse.com. They always have the AF gold discs, and much cheaper than amazon.ca.

Just order a disc at a time to prevent customs from killing you.

 

Another Canadian option is Audiobasics.net, they're the official Canadian dtributor for MFSL, and they have a whole bunch of other stuff. Haven't used cduniverse yet, so not sure how it compares.

 

I like CD Universe; the three times I've dealt with them, the orders have come quickly and customs doesn't hit them..today I received my three SACD CCR discs, $64.67 in value with no extra charge. No where on the package does it say CD universe, and on the customs form it just says Merchandise so unscrupulous posties aren't as tempted.

 

Oh man, I think I should just sign my futuer paychecks over to CD Universe. Unscrupulous posties? Is there such a thing?

 

I can vouch for ordering from cduniverse. I've ordered many times and never had to pay customs on any of it. They have some wierd way of shipping that seems to avoid the wrath of those blood sucking customs people

 

My buddy got nailed for customs on a CCR SACD from them. Guess it's hit and miss.

 

Diamond groove?


Anyway... http://diamondgroove.com/ has the goods. Shipping is quick and reasonable via Canada Post expedited. It's all search engine based browsing which I'm not crazy about. No spontaneous lust based purchases.

 

Wow, $29, plus tax for Bad Company! I got it from cduniverse for $13.29+$5 shipping, US funds.

 

Who said cheap?
I do buy vinyl from Diamondgroove. CDs, I shop around and often settle on eBay.

 

Pre-orders from CD universe are usually priced lower than what they sell them for later, but sometimes that price lasts a few weeks after it's released.

I got my Bad Company AF disc from them for the same price as Dave..it was so cheap I bought two!

 

I did a trial purchase for one cd - US$4.99 for shipping one cd? Please, it can go as a letter for under $2.

 

That's better than the $18 US a guy wanted on ebay to ship ONE STINKING LP!!!

 

I've seen much worse, believe me...$10 for instance.

If you order more than one, the price doesn't go up substantially: $6.69 is what I paid for shipping the three SACDs.

 

I just received 8 CDs from Cduniverse and it cost 10.94US shipping and no custom charges. Very reasonable.

 

Customs troubles?

Could one of the Canadian members advise us state-siders about what kind of Customs troubles occur? I've ordered from Canada and never had a problem. Are packages opened and searched for something, or is there some kind of Customs tax? (I didn't think NAFTA would allow such a thing.)

 

IIRC, for us Canadians, we "can" be charged, but for me rarely, for the GST of the value of the goods and a $4.99? (I think) handling charge. Someone correct me, if I'm wrong.

 

Canada has a free trade agreement with the USA which saves us paying duty but we still have to pay Provincial and Federal sales taxes on goods over a certain value (CAD$20 for items sent from a business and CAD$60 for gifts sent from an individual). The kicker is that Canada Post then charges a $5 handling fee for the pleasure of collecting the taxes! So depending upon where one lives you can pay up to 15% in taxes plus $5 per parcel. What's really fun is when you buy a $10 CD and the seller tells the USPS that it is worth $30 - we pay through the nose for that mistake.

Canada Customs are not supposedly allowed by law to open parcels as long as the parcels are properly labeled as to the contents. Most of us can tell you stories of parcels that arrived obviously opened and resealed! The standard answer is that the parcel popped open and Customs had to reseal it (yeah right).

Some US mailorder outfits (Amazon.com (USA) comes to mind) have figured out a way to have parcels shipped so that they don't pass through customs.

 

I haven't dealt much with these guys, but:

http://www.adagioplus.com/

 

Adagio Classics and Jazz is a small audiophile shop in Vancouver. The owners (Simon and his wife Lu) have access to every import imaginable and their customer service is fantastic. Their website only shows a small fraction of the titles they offer and they will mail special orders anywhere in the world. I prefer to support them rather than conglomerates like amazon.

 

Worse than customs are the lousy "broker fees" when someone ships to Canada by UPS or the like.
Dave

 

That's it! I grew up in Dundas and still go there to visit my mother. I've bought a number of LPs from that store.

Diamond Groove has a very good selection of new vinyl (Classic, Sundazed, Speaker's Corner, you name it) and their prices for vinyl are quite competitive. I strongly recommend them for new vinyl.

However, it does sound like the AF CDs are overpriced, when compared with the prices at CD Universe.

I often order CDs from Amazon Marketplace dealers. Although taxes are supposed to be collected on items costing more than $20.00, I've gotten away with CDs costing $25.00 or more. I got all the CCR SACD Hybrids from an Amazon dealer and didn't pay tax on any of them, although I did pay $3.49 shipping on each disk. The trick is to keep the order under $25.00.