Moving From USA Overseas... Looking For Advice re: Electrical Service and Gear

Al,

thanks for you consideration and contributions to this thread.  Acupwr also makes step down transformers that only effect the voltage - frequency remains unchanged.

i have confirmed that all of my gear will be fine on 50hz, so am only condiderig these units.  Do you share the same concerns about the voltage only autotransformers?

is there another step down transformer that you would recommend?

thanks again,
Scott

Al, what do you think will happen if a turntable AC synchronous motor is run on 120 V and 50 hz instead of 60 hz ?
Also, is the the frequency really always stable 60 hz here in the US ? Voltage is definitely not.

Acupwr also makes step down transformers that only effect the voltage - frequency remains unchanged. I have confirmed that all of my gear will be fine on 50hz, so am only considering these units.

Great! I see no reason to be concerned about functionality issues or damage occurring with the step-down transformers that don’t purport to convert frequency. I don’t have any feel, though, for whether or not they would compromise sonics to any degree. Although I’d expect the degree of any such compromise, if present at all, to be system dependent.

FWIW I once had occasion to use a much less expensive 120V to 100V step-down transformer I purchased from www.voltageconverters.com, in a relatively non-critical application in a second system. It worked fine in that application, with no perceivable sonic side-effects.

Inna, while as you say USA voltages can vary significantly, and are considered to be in spec as long as they are between 114 and 126 volts (i.e., 120V +/- 5%), my impression is that the 60 Hz frequency is very tightly controlled. And things I’ve read in the past have indicated that typically it is monitored such that if synchronous clocks accumulate very small errors over a period of say a few hours (perhaps even well under a second of error, although I’m not sure of the exact amount), the frequency is adjusted very slightly to gradually bring them back to the correct time.

Regarding turntables having synchronous motors, if a particular model does not provide a means by which it can be adjusted for 50 Hz operation, then, yes, I’d expect it to run slow.

Best regards,
-- Al

Al,

Can you see any reason why powering a Running Springs Audio Haley line conditioner off the output of one of these autoformers would be a bad idea?  I've read several threads online stating that surge protection type devices should never be on the output of a step down autoformer - a transformer is ok, but not an autoformer.

Do you have a point of view on this?

I don't know the answer to that, Scott, or what the reason might be that it would be a bad idea.  And I'd imagine that the answer might depend on the design of the specific conditioner.  So all I can suggest is checking with Running Springs, as was suggested earlier.

Best regards,
-- Al