Possibly moving to ITALY Will my U.S. gear work?

Hi: I lived in Europe (Germany) for about 5 years, and your American gear can usually be converted to operate on 220 volt power without much problem. (You may find that some of your equipment already has 120/240 jumpers built into the equipment, since many manufacturers now produce equipment that can used in both the U.S. and European markets.) You can also buy transformers that will step down the power from 220 to 110 volts, which is what I did with much of my gear. The only other issue you may have to face is getting a turntable or other mechanical device to run on 50 cps current. Since U.S. electric power runs at 60 cycles per second, turntables, etc., made for the U.S. will not revolve at the correct speed when operated on 50 cps current. That can usually be solved by getting a different motor, or changing the size of the pulley on the motor shaft. There are lots of good audio stores in Europe, and any of them should be able to help you with the conversion process.

I Have just moved from the States to Paris, 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. You can purchase the equipment from www.eastwestintl.com or www.appliancesoverseas.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.

Marcus

I don't think so. Everything will be in Italian.

Daddyo,try to find a good step down transformer 240 volt 50 hz to 120 volt 60 hz 2000 watts, its cheaper than selling your gear and buying new gear, to find these transformers check out with professional film and tv rental and retail houses in your area or in LA or New York or try a electrical supplier in your area, best of luck Jejell.

Italy is 220 VAC 50 hz. Certain gear, like turntables or your motors on tape equipment might need 60 hz, with most other gear the difference in frequency will not matter. If you own high end gear, I would not buy just any step down transformers, they sometimes can limit dynamics and eject noise into your powerline. So if you've gone highend in the States, you need to invest into something like a PS Audio Powerplant 600 for your frontend gear and Equi/Techs for your amps. The PS Audio can be set internally to run at 230VAC and will gave you power at 120 VAC, with the added convenience that it is balanced (less noise) and clean, but you cannot run your amps from it. The Equitechs can be had in different versions, starting, I think , with units of 1000 watts output, the Euro versions of which will also give you balanced power, are set to 220VAC, but will feed your gear with 120 VAC. You'll get more information at their respective webpages. Your cost will be probably round about $3500 for both units, so its quite an investment, but its one, which is most probably beneficial for your sound, IF and only if you listen through high end stuff. Buying high end gear in Europe is puniciously expensive, your cheapest bet would be of course, to have your units converted to 220 VAC in the States before you leave. Sometimes, you only need to throw an internal switch, or have your transformers rewired or replaced, sometimes, as for example with Spectral gear, it is just not possible and you must go the way as I suggested above. Cheers, Detlof

Having imported many used American audio products from USA to Italy, I have some experience with this problem.
Actually most of the products have a power transformer with a double primary windings. So, the conversion should be quite easy . Unfortunately, many manufacturer (probably to discourage the grey market) has made quite difficult to understand which are the wires to move, and in which way they have to moved. There are also some few products, as some old Audio Research, that have dedicated transformers for the different markets, so tey cannot be converted.
Anyway, I would suggest to try to get all the information in USA, and maybe have the equipments converted by your local technicians, before you arrive in Italy. Here it will be very difficult (and often impossible) to get this kind of information from the italian distributors.
Also, please remember to check the value of the fuses on the power supply. Here they should have a value one half than in USA. That is, if you amp has a 5A fuse in USA, here you have to put a 2.5A fuse.

Paolo is perfectly right about the fuses in your electronic equipment. I forgot to mention this very important detail!

Paolo is perfectly right about the fuses in your electronic equipment. I forgot to mention this very important detail!

I wen thru this in 1994 when I moved to Rome. Once I factored in the cost of high quality outboard transformers and/or the hassles of converting mu gear to 220, I simply sold everything and purchased new gear. In fact, I bought a Linn system in the US for the primary reason that Linn gear is easily switched between 220 and 110. The funny thing is that when I moved back to the US in March 2000, I sold all my Linn gear except for the analog front end. As for the price of hi end gear in Europe, it is true that imported equipment (especially anything not European) is outrageous in Italy. However, you can buy awesome Italian equipment for much less than what it would cost you in the US, and there is a very active second hand market in Italy via ads in the leading hi fi magazines (Suono, Alta Fidelita, Audio). It all depends on what you own now, but if its not super expensive gear that you purchased new, I would definitely consider selling it and buying second hand Sonus Faber speakers and electronics by Bernardo Aloia, Pathos, Unison research, etc., etc.

Thank you all very much for your very informative responses. You have all been very helpful and your feedback is very appreciated! -DaddyO

Clueless, ma forse Verdi lui piace, no??