Eurozone sickness and 230v single phase vs 240v two-phase.
For reasons we really shouldn't debate here, the Euro is weak and it's probably going to stay weak for half a decade or until the Ukraine conflict ends. Maybe longer.
This has made the average selling prices of European produced gear (at current FX) about 20-40% lower than US list for grey market imports to the US. While some manufacturers kindly install a mains voltage selector on the back of the box (CH Precision, for one) others insist that voltage conversion only be performed by the manufacturer or perhaps not at all.
Now, I'm cheap but I can afford an electrician. So the question that follows is whether audio equipment cares about the difference between 230v single phase vs 240v two-phase. And if so, what's the best way to make 230 single phase from 120 or 240 American power?
Technically, US 240V is 1 phase, but balanced. Appliances that use balanced power, like your dryer or range, should use double pole power switches and breakers which disconnect both legs of power at the same time. Most modern equipment intended for 120V expects an unbalanced input, with only 1 fuse and only turns off 1 leg. |
Most equipment won't know the difference. I had a european Ayon amp that has a "phase" light on it to tell you if the plug is reversed. The light lights up on US power but it works fine. I got ahold of a european style transformer and it didn't change anything other than the light went out. TRANSFORMER CAUTION: Before you buy an expensive transfomer, I learned that many transformers that say they are made to run European equipment do not provide Euro convention power. Instead of providing 230/240V and a neutral, they provide two 120V legs that are phased to be 240V to each other. In other words, they provide US convention power. Disappointing. I returned 3 or 4 transformers before I found one that was true Euro power and caused the phase light to go off. If you do go with a transformer, make sure it is oversized. Jerry |
@holmz I wouldn't recommend the one I ended up with. It hummed badly. It did confirm that the amp ran identically on 120v-120V legs vs 240V-0V legs but it was not good quality and I returned it. It was Rockstone. A good solution would be a PSA Regenerator. That is what I use now. Mine is 120Vin--120V out. I contacted them about the availability of 120V in--240V out and they don't seem to make that. So I told them that I have 240V us at my amplifier and asked about using the 240V US power to power a 240V version and they said the 240V version isn't available in the US due to some vague requirement. Meantime I decided that the amp made too much heat for my un-airconditioned listening room and moved to another amp. But the amp ran fine plugged into wall power. Jerry |
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