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Anybody have 220 volt circuit for your amp?

I’m shopping for a new amp. On most amps I have the option of 115v or 230v. The 230v is the European standard and is 50hz. Of course it gets promptly rectified so I don’t think the frequency is really a compatibility issue.

Sitting in my listening chair a couple of days ago I suddenly realized that I have a have a 230V 30 amp circuit in he wall behind the stereo that I no longer use. It was a dedicated line for the clothes dryer and I have converted to gas. It is absolutely unused.

So in the near future I plan to commandeer this circuit and create 2 dedicated circuits for my sound system. Right now I plan to put in a 230v euro style outlet for an euro amplifier and 2 115v circuits with plenty of hospital grade outlets to plug in components.

Also thinking about options for putting surge protection on this circuit. Not a priority since here in socal we don’t have electrical storms and all our distribution lines are under ground so we don’t have very many transients.

I’m pretty excited about going 230v and halving the current. Halving the current is like increasing the wire gauge.

So does anyone reading this see anything I’m missing here? Any reason not to get the 220v amp and take advantage of the available circuit?

Anybody else out there doing this (in the US).

Thanks,

Jerry

 

128x128carlsbad
17 responses Add your response
auxinput
2,920 posts
 

The problem here is that US 220V is not like Europe 220V. 

In Europe, you have one 220V hot wire and one neutral wire.

In US, you have two 110V hot wires that are in opposite polarity (think push/pull).  Put them together and you have a result of 220V.  Be careful here because you can get some ground loop type hum if you combine two different legs of 110V into your audio equipment.

If you want to use that 230V 30 amp socket, I would look into a large step-down isolation transformer.  Then use the output of that transformer to power ALL your audio related equipment.  Some of these 230V-to-115V isolation transformers have several 110V outlets to use.

 

jerryg123's avatar
jerryg123
3,429 posts
 

I do in my shop for my welder and dyno.

alexatpos
1,169 posts
 

I live in Europe and I use US socket and power cords with us style plugs and it works without problem,  so no need that you change socket or pc cords for your 230v amp. 

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ditusa's avatar
ditusa
1,707 posts
 

@carlsbad, Said:

That explains why their plugs are just 2 pins, although they could still benefit from the ground....

Just to be clear:

The EU plugs have three pins, the third pin the EGC (Equipment Grounding Conductor) is on the wall plug not the appliance plug. See EU plug below:

Mike

 

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