Audio Research 230/240 volts

I've recently imported two pieces of ARC equipment from the US (an amp and a preamp) and have had them converted from 120 volts to 230 volts (according to the specs on the transformer)and am running them at 240 volts without any issues. BTW, both of the units use universal transformers so that voltage conversion was simply a very straightforward matter of reconfiguring the wiring on the transformer in each case. I had it done by an audio technician for vey little cost. I suspect all ARC equipment uses universal transformers, so don't believe it if you are told that voltage conversion of ARC equipmnet is going to be an expensive exercise.

This is not exactly true. At least not in all cases. A friend of mine attempted to convert his Ref 2 mk 2 preamp, and it turned out that althought 2 of the transformers were universal, the third wasn't. He had to order a new one.

Roberts1897,

So what models are yours that being converted successfully?
Will all later models than yours be what Elberoth2 said, not universal in one of them...

I am sure a pre amp will be OK. I got into big trouble with my ViVa Solista, I bought in from the states, to the UK. It was easily changed from 110 to European standard 220volts. After it repeatedly blew capacitors and then output tubes. The Italian designer told me that UK 240volts needed new transformers. A year waiting and £800, it works perfectly, but a costly mistake. The problem was the high voltage around 820 volts in the 845 tubes. In the immortal words of Scotty from startreck " they'l no take it captain"

VT 100 MkIII and LS16 MkII, both running beautifully 2 months after conversion. The tech did say there were 2 transformers in the LS16, but they were both universal. If you think about it, it's crazy economics for a manufacturer to go to the expense of making different transformers for different markets (probably less than 50 VT100s rated at 240 volts sold in my neck of the woods) when a universal can do the job for all markets. But no manufacturer will tell you that, as their priority is to protect the market for each distributor in each country. Problem is, that where I'm from, ARC products are priced at twice the price of what you can buy them for in the US. BTW I ran both through step down transformers before converting them with no degradation in sound quality (you just have to make sure the transformer can handle the maximum wattage of the amp). I just decided to go ahead with the conversion because it was easy to do and to clean up the mess of electronics behind my rack.But that's an option if you don't want to keep the equipment original.