Using Japan 100V Accuphase amp in US 120V. Safe?

FWIW, when I asked Accuphase in Japan (I live in Japan) a couple of years ago what my options were if I bought a piece in Japan and moved to the US afterwards. Their explanation was that as long as I had owned it in Japan for more than 6 months, I could get the switch done for a minimal fee in Japan by Accuphase at their head office. Otherwise, they said (years ago) that the US distributor would not honor the warranty. Personally, I thought it was nice of them. While if I were a mfr, I would do things differently, I understand their point of view. They are a small specialty company and I guess they felt they did not have the requisite skill set to be successful marketing their product in a different market, so they outsourced that part of the business. You do what you have to do...

DO NOT run this unit on 120V! If there is any unregulated circuitry it may experience overvoltage conditions that could damage capacitors and the like. If it is all regulated, the regulators may not be able to handle the load.

A simple solution would be to get a control transformer with a 20-24Volt output that could be used to 'buck' the incoming AC line down by 20-24 volts. The output of said transformer would have to have the capacity to handle the current that the unit draws. This is a bit of a DIY approach and you should not attempt this unless fully qualified.

I would also contact Accuphase and at least find out if they are willing to help or not!

i bought a dp-57 cd player from someone who is fortunately not selling on audiogon anymore. direct from accuphase etc. it came with a japanes manual and 100 volts. this web discussion alerted me to the dangers. when i took it to my local accuphase person, they directed me to someone who switched the internal power supply to 120 volts. a dead easy procedure for anyone qualified. he charged me $30.00. he said the difference is that 100 volts will half the life of the unit. if a deal sounds too good to be believed, then don't. i was lucky to read this discussion and got out of a serious problem easily. it is a great machine and i will be much more careful buying next time.

For voltage change, take a look at the third picture on the Chinese webpage:
http://eddie.dyec.com.tw/diy-demo/audio-diy/cd_dvd_modify/accuphase_dp-70/accuphase_dp-70.htm

Though the sample was an Accuphase DP-70, the same process should apply to E-212 also. The required change is clearly labelled.

Alan Hsu

I agree with Atmasphere. Don't run it at 120V. A good analogy would be running a car engine 20% past the redline for extended periods. You can use a Variac or a Variable Autotransformer. This is a transformer with 120V input, and 0-120V output variable.