A short guide to some audio shops in Akihabara

Discussion in 'DIY' started by batriq, Jul 15, 2016.

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  1. batriq

    batriq Probably has made you smarter

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    When you land in the Akihabara JR station, the first thing you'll notice that is different from other stations is signs that say "No up-skirting" (photo of cell phone under skirt with an X drawn over it). Following the Exit signs to "Akihabara Electric Town", instead of being greeted by shops with beautiful capacitors and sexy transformers, you are greeted with women in French maid dresses luring you to "maid cafes". Keep moving. The shops you need are in the nooks and crannies of this town.

    The locations I will describe here are the 5 circles on this map:

    NW5BpMNtigt (1).png

    First is the leftmost circle (street view): This is a 3 story building (behind the SEGA building) with all kinds of components. Notably, the basement has the Neguchi Transformer shop (shop's website: http://noguchi-trans.co.jp/). They also sell Tamura and Hashimoto transformers. Prices are good but it's cash only. The second floor has a tube shop with mint NOS NIB tubes and prices to match. There are a few capacitor and resistor shops on this floor in this building, and a couple of shops that have amplifier chassis.

    Next is the ROBOTROBOT circle (street view). On the fifth floor, there's a shop that has many components (website: http://www.wakamatsu-net.com/biz/). I especially like their collection of large capacitors like these Shizuki RUZ film caps. BTW, here the second floor has rows and rows of anime figures.

    Next is Sun Audio (the circle at the bottom). It's on the 3rd floor of this building. Their website is: http://www2.big.or.jp/~sunaudio/index_e.html. The make amps sold as kits or assembled. They also sell parts. For example, Tamura transformers, Yamamoto sockets, and their 47+47 500V film cap (made by Toichi Electric). Here I bought Tamura chokes and power transformer. This is one of the few places with someone who speaks English well and takes credit cards. They will sell you tax free if you pay by credit card and you're not a resident; but if you pay cash you get a better deal. When I went there they were testing a transformer coupled single ended parallel 300B monoblocks. This was my favorite shop.

    Aside: Next to Sun Audio is a speaker shop (like big JBLs). They also sell the silver versions of components from the likes of Denon and Marantz.

    The following circle is the one at the bottom edge of the station. This place was very difficult to find. It in this narrow path between the orange bike and the vespa. They have a great website: http://www.e-kasuga.net/. They sell transformers (SEL and Hashimoto), tubes, small speakers, and amps (assembled or kits).

    Finally, the circle that's close to the red arrow I drew in font of the station. This one looks easy but it's actually difficult to find as it is in an alley that is between buildings on that block. Here's the exit of the alley on the other side of the street. The entrance is here. I found some nice components in these shops but I didn't buy anything from them.

    If you're in a bind and want to exchange money (since cash is king in Akihabara), this is a decent place (the orange one where it says Western Union). But try to avoid doing things like this in Akihabara. Finally, if you get hungry, forget the shitty restaurants all around you and go here 牛かつ壱弐参. It's a beef katsu shop that's in a basement. The line is long and they kick you out as soon as you're done, but it's worth it.

    Hope this helps!
     
  2. fraggler

    fraggler A Happy & Busy Life

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    Also, if you like making your own cables and like Oyaide connectors like I do, they have a tiny shop full of fun bins and spools to poke around in. Alot of DIY stuff not available in the US and at much more reasonable prices. Way different than what I was expecting, but made it that much more fun. They are tucked away basically under the train tracks near the first location on Batriq's map.
     
    Last edited: Aug 31, 2016

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