Buying a Luxman L505z from Japan

I bought the Luxman 505z from Japan off Ebay 6 months ago from a highly rated seller, similar to your situation. I obsessed a bit about warranty support and transformers. In the end I bought it with zero regrets, zero problems, and great clean effortless power and sound. I do not care about lack of US warranty support because the odds of a working unit breaking down under warranty is less than the chance of a lightening bolt knocking it out. Luxman's are well built, solid amps. I figured buying a US model was like paying for a $3,000 warranty and I would not put money on that bet paying off. Those good Ebay sellers offer 30 to 60 day returns often including shipping. You have Ebay fraud protection. You have credit card protection. Transformer is a non issue. Do you want to pluck down a few thousand to cover a Luxman amp breaking down? They don't break down easily.

Anyway, for me, I would do it again. In fact, I am looking at a Luxman turntable since I already have the transformer for the 505z. 

Do check the duty situation into the US. I think it may be 15% now, but you know that could change at our leader's whim. Some sellers claim to cover this, but while they may intend to, duty is paid by you, the buyer.

For some people, buying the US version at a premium is worth totally eliminating these worries. That is a valid way to approach it for some. It just didn't work for me.

@wallenburt thanks man, do you mind sharing the seller on eBay that you bought it from and ask what transformer do you use?

Not to suggest you SHOULD buy from Japan, but... The Luxman integrateds have relatively low power draw, so a step down transformer is not difficult.  Power draw is pretty universal so you should be able to gauge what you need from the US specs.

Unlike Accuphase products, the internal power transformers are not universal.  Many accuphase integrateds can be opened up and reset for different regions, but sadly not Luxman integrateds.  

@erik_squires when you say low power draw - what do you mean by that? 

Look here for an example. 

https://www.luxman.com/product/detail.php?id=49

On the right is a section "Power Consumption" which lists the absolute maximum power this unit can consume.  For the current L-505z that’s 330W.  This is honestly not a lot, in the era of kilowatt amplifiers. So any step down transformer of ~ 500W (i.e. VA) is probably good enough. 

Many of these would work: https://amzn.to/4nb0Ed8