Japanese Voltage.


I was on the verge of buying a Japanese Luxman 509Z, on ebay. It it 100Volts, Here in the U.K. we have 240Volts. And the price difference is £9,000 (here) to £5,000 (there). I immediately went on line for a decent transformer (£130) and ordered it. We here, have an audio disscusion group, so I tested the water with them. The general advice was discouraging. "It will introduce noise etc". What is the opinion of yourselves? I'm not in a hurry, I decided to buy an SACD player instead. £4,000 (here!)

Thanks, An avid reader,

IAN.

irjones

It’s kind of weird why Japan, depending on the geographical area of the country, has either 50HZ or 60HZ generating Power Plants. Therefore just a guess the Luxman 509Z has a 50/60HZ power transformer. Only a guess though... Like you I couldn’t find anything for sure either...

What model number is the Airlink transformer? Is the transformer an auto-transformer or an isolation transformer?

500Va is smaller than the 600Va power transformer in the Luxman 509Z. Yes the 600VA transformer is oversized when you look at the power consumption shown in the amp’s specs. The designer of the amp didn’t spec the bigger VA rated transformer just to add weight to the Amp...

Info on "AIRLINK transformer". Not a lot of info on head room loading. Some voltage converter can only be loaded 50% of their VA rating. Some at 80%. Better, good, at 100% + short duration over loads. I did read in the Web link the windings are copper, not aluminum. That’s a good thing!

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EDIT:  

This, , should read:

If the quality of the transformer and the transformer is sized properly, then as jasonbourne71 said there will be no problem.

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Thank you gentlemen, No-one posted a down side. So I concur with you, it's a reasonable motion. But I'm afraid the deal will have to wait until this time next year. as I decided to buy an SACD. And now it's final.

Indecisive, IAN.

Transformers aren't just generic black boxes so there are potential downsides to using them as voltage changers. And it's not just a question of the VA rating.