Moving to UK, what to do?



I am potentially moving to the UK and like everyone else here, I have lots of equipment and plenty of expensive powercords. I currently use several PS Audio ultimate outlets which apparently are not easily converted to UK standards. All of my other equipment can be changed to 240V without too much hassle. I am currently thinking of buying a PS audio Power Director in the US. It automatically detects 120V or 240V and adjusts accordingly and I would be able to utilize all of my current power cords. I am not terribly familiar with other power delivery systems, but would be curious if there are others that would be easily be transferred to the UK. Also, does anything take in 240V and spit out 120V? That would eliminate even another step in the moving process. Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated...
cmrctrader

Showing 1 response by mgattmch

I moved from the States to Paris 2.5 years ago, and was faced with the same problem (110V gear running on 220V). Fortunately some of my equipment (Quad and Revox) is multi-voltage, no problem there. The rest is 110V equipment, Including two 200W/channel power amps. I simply purchased a 2kW 220V/110V line stabilizer transformer (~$200). You can purchase the equipment from www.eastwestintl.com or www.220voltappliances.com. The other thing to remember is, HiFi equipment in Europe, especially high end gear, is a lot more expensive then in the USA. Bottom line, bring your equipment with you and use a voltage stabilizer step down transformer to run it.

However, one thing to consider, and I learned the hard way. Certain US high end manufacturers (Krell for certain in the last ~10 years, and, I believe Martin Logan and others) put a frequency sensing chip on the power input circuit. This senses if you are running 60Hz (US) or 50 Hz (Europe) mains voltage (irrespective if it is transformed down from 240/220V to 110V and will not work if the power source is 50Hz. Krell in France charged me $180 to have my Krell HTS converted when I experienced this problem. Check before you leave!