Sir Triode

David, I would recommend waiting for an MFA Magus full function preamp to turn up. Upgrading the unit is easy and one of the founders of MFA (Scott Frankland) is very helpful with support. He will send schematics and provide suggestions on how to upgrade the unit. Used Magus do come for sale from time to time at around $1K USD mark (give or take $100) - they are so good and affordable that owners prefer to just hold on to them. It is a very good tube phono preamp and once upgraded will rival units up to $20K. How do I know this, I currently own the Magus (upgraded by Eddie Lee) and a Aesthetix IO Eclipse ($20K new and one of the top 5 phono stages out there). The Magus (once upgraded with better coupling caps and PSU - larger rectifier) comes surprisingly close to the IO.

A High End retailer in Singapore that deals exclusively with used hi-fi equipment mentioned to me a couple of years ago, that 80-90% of his stock now gets shipped to Vietnam. Whereas 10-12 years ago, his major market was Singapore itself. He said that he was shipping container loads of used gear to Vietnam on a regular basis. And true enough, his store which used to be chock full of gear was almost empty when I last visited him.

There are a couple of 2nd hand hifi stores at The Roxy Shopping Centre. https://www.yelp.com.sg/biz/roxy-square-singapore Across the road from the rear of the Shopping Centre are the famous Katong Laksa noodle stores (each claiming to be the originators of the dish) - they all taste the same to me. A good place for a spot of lunch or dinner (try the Otak (BBQ chilli fish cakes) while you are there too). https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Restaurant_Review-g294265-d1144394-Reviews-328_Katong_Laksa-Singapore.html

I don't see how they can unless someone takes over the Nitty Gritty business and continues making parts. The Record Doctor was made by NG for a third party business called Audio Advisor. If down the line (God forbid) something in your Record Doctor goes south, LWA (who ever they are) will not be able to source the necessary parts from NG to replace it.

You'd want to purchase one pretty quick as the Record Doctor is/was made by Nitty Gritty for Audio Advisor and as of last month, Nitty Gritty has announced that they have closed down (https://www.analogplanet.com/content/nitty-gritty-closes-its-doors). Owners of NGs have said that they have not been able to get their NGs serviced for a couple of months now. So I would be looking at the Okki Nokki if long term availability of parts is a concern for you.

But do they have room correction built in too?

There are high end companies that make affordable products like Magneplanar, Eminent technology for speakers, Parasound, Prima Luna for electronics, and Marantz for SACD/CD players. But buying used is always the best way of getting high end components for a much lower cost.

WRT to reliablility, the last 15 years. The changes in build quality are more evident between the previous C class and current C class.

Depends on the model of Porsche. The 996 911s (1st watercooled 911) and 986 Boxster (including early 987 Boxster) engines are famous for their IMS (InterMediate Shaft) Bearing and Bore Scoring issues. The prevention is a $2-3K upgrade 3rd Party IMS bearing from LN Engineering. But yes, generally if properly maintained, Porsches are reliable. But owners do get slugged with a Porsche "tax" by dealerships and some independent mechanics. But generally, the Independent mechanics are a lot cheaper.

Yes Merc reliability is not what it once was.

Not sure about the Japanese cars, but for the European marques, when you spec the upgraded sound system, you can only do so when you place your order. i.e. they only put in when the car is on the factory line. They do not retrospectively install it onto cars that are already manufactured.

The video wasn't local so that $8K price was Euro. Having said that the B&O system in my Audi SQ5 is pretty good.

@Nap250