running musical x-150 230 volt amp on 110?

Long time ago, I used an amp that was wired for 230 volts on a 120 volts. The amp played fine & no damage occured but the amp probably did not play to its full potential. (I still would recommend having the correct voltage set as soon as possible). On the other side of the coin I'm sure if the amp was wired for 120v & used on 230v the unit most definately would sustain instant damage. You should be able to have the correct voltage set by a tech easily. Contact MF for further information, maybe they could email you a diagram on how this is done. By the way changing the internal fuse will not change the voltage. When the voltage has been changed then the internal fuse will have to be replaced with one of a different value (amperage) that is for 120v.

thanks... i have heard a lot of different opinions about this. i have contacted mf, and am awaiting their reply. what worried me was guy at, um, tweeter, who thought this would definitely blow up the amp over time, and a radio shack guy (where i was shopping for a transformer) who assured me it would most definitely melt down. blowing up and melting down didn't sound so good.

i should have known that tweeter wasn't the best place to seek advice. would have gone to the local hi end stereo place, but i feel guilty just auditioning, not buying stuff new anymore, now that i've found audiogon. i do buy little things, but here i've bought a 230v amp, clearly avoiding their pricey new integrateds, and i ask them for advice about it? hmmm...

anyway, why not audiogon? and musical fidelity? which is what i did next. thx.

Try it. The lower (110V) voltage will not damage the 230V tarnsformers, if the amp is indeed wired for 230V.

If it was another way round - that would be another story ...

well, i contacted musical fidelity. they suggested i send off the amp to get switched over, internally, and so i did.

no harm done in the short term, but the tech there assured me that in the long run, the amp would die, b/c of running hotter.

i wonder why this is so. if voltage is lower, does that mean amperage goes higher, to keep the overall energy the same? (i know diddly about electronics!) if so, that amperage could be what overheats the wires.

Qualia8 it is good that you didn't take a chance with the incorrect voltage for any length of time. The amperage is different for 120v & 230v and also explains why the fuse value will have to be changed once the voltage is changed. Maybe 120 volts carries a higher amperage which might explain higher temperatures. Usually it is stamped on the circuit board next to the fuse holder as to what amperage fuse to use with the different voltage settings. In rare cases some amps are designed to sense the incoming voltage and make the correction automatically, maybe that was the case with mine who knows. More commonly on some units voltage can easily be changed on the rear panel with a turn of a screwdriver. Most of the amps I've own requires changing the position of the color coded internal wires for the desired voltage but one would need a mfgr diagram.

thanks phd.

yeah, the tech said it's a matter of switching 3 wires and swapping out the fuse. 'which wires?' i asked. 'just send it in,' was the reply. oh well, $50 + shipping i'm going to try not to think about.

You should have opened it first. The wires are marked 115V and 230V. I changed the supply voltage for my friend from 115V to 230V. Took me 2 minutes. I'm nat a technician. Piece of cake.

well, damn.