Anybody bold enough to try a voltage conversion on your own?


I am planning to move to Europe, and I have to convert the voltage on an audio research power amplifier, an audio research preamplifier, PS audio DAC, and a Whest Phono Stage.  While the actual price to have the factories do this is not very high, round-trip shipping and for large heavy boxes with insurance adds up very quickly! Particularly the phono stage which needs to go to England!  Not wanting to spend nearly $1000 on round trip shipping, I’d like to attempt this conversion myself, unless I am persuaded not to.

 I’ve read some of the similar posts on this forum as well as poked around on the web and I found that in many cases the conversion is simply a matter of changing the connection or sequence of a couple of wires inside the unit,  and most often does not require any serious swapping out of components.

The equipment that I would like to switch the voltage on is:

Audio Research VT100 mk II
Audio Research LS25 mk I
PS Audio Perfect Wave DAC mk II
Whest PS .30r

and lastly, the power conditioner:
Shunyata Research Talos

 Regarding this last item, the power conditioner, I spoke to Shunyata, and they told me that they can do this for me. The cost was higher than the other brands.  They would leave the standard US outlets on the back. They also told me that my collection of American Shunyata power cables will work on any voltage, so that as long as the Talos is converted to run on European voltage, the cables that I have will connect to my components, or any components that I upgrade to in the future.

So, if anyone out there has done this, or knows how to do this, I would really appreciate the guidance!  Also, if you have the skills and you are in South Florida, perhaps I will ask to hire you!

cheers,
Mark


marktomaras
I have moved to Europe, from the USA, twice. Simply bought myself a 2 kW voltage converter/power stabilizer. Worked perfectly for me. You can use something like this:

http://www.eastwestusastore.com/detail-3514-id-577-regulators.html

Alternatively, just buy a 220V-110V transformer and use it with your power conditioner. See my previous post on this subject.

Warning: A lot of Krell, Martin Logan, Mark Levinson etc. equipment have a voltage/frequency sensing chip on the power input board. If it detects the correct voltage but wrong frequency it will not work. I found out the hard way when I tried to run my Krell HTS on a 220V-110V transformer; 110V/50Hz instead of 110V/60Hz.
Good luck i would never do this as if you make a mistake it could blow up.
Mgattmch, is a device like that "audiophile friendly"?  I would guess that something like that can introduce noise or constrain dynamics.  Is that the case?
In answer to "marktomaras" question; not in my opinion. Hard to be certain, as I was unable to do a direct comparison. However, based on memory, both systems sounded the same in France as they did in the USA.