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Moving to UK, what to do?


I am potentially moving to the UK and like everyone else here, I have lots of equipment and plenty of expensive powercords. I currently use several PS Audio ultimate outlets which apparently are not easily converted to UK standards. All of my other equipment can be changed to 240V without too much hassle. I am currently thinking of buying a PS audio Power Director in the US. It automatically detects 120V or 240V and adjusts accordingly and I would be able to utilize all of my current power cords. I am not terribly familiar with other power delivery systems, but would be curious if there are others that would be easily be transferred to the UK. Also, does anything take in 240V and spit out 120V? That would eliminate even another step in the moving process. Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated...
cmrctrader
mt10425
1,138 posts
 
Sell everything and buy Linn and Tannoy replacements. Just kidding. Thought I'd stir the pot a bit this morning.
seandtaylor99
1,262 posts
 
Step down transformers are cheap and easily available. In the UK you can try www.maplin.co.uk. You can buy a kilowatt step down transformer for less than 100 dollars.
The turntable might be the only tricky part, but check with all equipment manufacturers as some equipment detects the mains frequency and will not work if it is incorrect (e.g. Mark Levinson)

Overall I would not panic. I moved from the UK to the US a few years ago and changing country is a tricky business ... adapting the voltage on your hifi is the easy bit.
ajahu
306 posts
 
What is good in the PSaudiP300 that you can adjust the hertz, while all other converters give you 50herz
mgattmch
569 posts
 
I moved from the States to Paris 2.5 years ago, and was faced with the same problem (110V gear running on 220V). Fortunately some of my equipment (Quad and Revox) is multi-voltage, no problem there. The rest is 110V equipment, Including two 200W/channel power amps. I simply purchased a 2kW 220V/110V line stabilizer transformer (~$200). You can purchase the equipment from www.eastwestintl.com or www.220voltappliances.com. The other thing to remember is, HiFi equipment in Europe, especially high end gear, is a lot more expensive then in the USA. Bottom line, bring your equipment with you and use a voltage stabilizer step down transformer to run it.

However, one thing to consider, and I learned the hard way. Certain US high end manufacturers (Krell for certain in the last ~10 years, and, I believe Martin Logan and others) put a frequency sensing chip on the power input circuit. This senses if you are running 60Hz (US) or 50 Hz (Europe) mains voltage (irrespective if it is transformed down from 240/220V to 110V and will not work if the power source is 50Hz. Krell in France charged me $180 to have my Krell HTS converted when I experienced this problem. Check before you leave!
sorlowski
236 posts
 
Very interesting posts I will face similar problem in some foreseeable future.
Seems it would be not worth for me to send my power amp to manufacturer in the future to change them form 110V to 220V for $400 if I can buy 2kW step down transformer for $200. (On the second web page I have even found 2kW for $89!
I have question though:
Is it the some to replace transformer inside amp, and to connect amp through one more step-down transformer, for the sake of sound quality?
Now using your step-down transformer power is traveling through 2 transformers, can you here any difference?
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