We've gone to America by mistake

If you need a good wiremold power strip, which is now very expensive, I have one you may use until you decide on what to do long term. It is old school, and has been sitting collecting dust. New style are in the hundreds I am to understand. If you so choose, Richard Dane can give you my email address, I will gladly ship it out for you.

Scott

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@Donkeyhaute. Who’s Bruce Robinson? You’re not speaking about yourself in the third person are you?

In any case Devon, PA is right outside of Philly a couple of decent audio stores in the area.

You can watch real football now and even drive on the correct side of the road. Also a great audio store in Lambertville, NJ and so much more!!

Opus, I think it’s a reference to a line written By Bruce Robinson for the screenplay of Withnail & I - “Are you the farmer? We’ve gone on holiday by mistake”.

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Well I now feel dumber than I did beforehand.

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Chris West at A/V Options and Michel Rousseau at Focal-Naim are both highly skilled and great guys to deal with.

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Enormously kind of you, Scott. I’ll bear this in mind but it may make sense to get some answers on the voltage switching first and then whether or not to invest in a newer platform in the form of the Nova. Thanks again - much appreciated!

Here. Hair, here.

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We’re gonna buy this place and install a jukebox.

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They are selling Muso QBs in John Lewis, man. The greatest decade in the history of mankind is over.

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Edging towards installing a 220-240v ring for the hifi. 7 month waiting list on voltage alterations and apparently the house’s AC and tumble dryer are already on 240v. Maybe now I shall be able to boil a kettle in under an aeon and style my notoriously difficult, fly-away barnet.

Thanks to everyone who replied!

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Best check about if doing that is code. A 240 volt line for appliances is a very different outlet and plug. Also I think that a US 240v line is a whole bunch more current ( 30 amps) than a UK 240v And lastly I’m almost positive that installing UK outlets will not meet code.

I think your best bet is to replace any 240v gear with US spec gear and sell the UK gear on UK eBay or something like that.

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The Fm tuner won’t work in North America that might be a issue for you
And the amperage for 240 volt in North America is twice as high as the amperage in the Uk so the fuse in the SU might be a issue
I’d send it in and get it done right or sell it.

Hello there, Donkeyhaute!

Was that wait time quoted by AV Options or Focal Naim America?

The usual amperage for a Main ring in the UK is 32amps (7KW), which is actually one of the advantages of 240V. The house itself usually has an 80 or 100amp fuse as a total limit. Having a high current limit is not an issue, as the device will still only draw what current it needs. It just means you can put a whole lot more on it.

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I don’t understand that - can you elaborate?

The issue is that mains leads need to be fused to protect them as most are only rated for a low amperage, hence the fused plug in the UK, 3A, 5A, and 13A.

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Different frequency spacing and pre-emphasis. It may work, just far from optimally as it will be slightly off-tune. Some old digital synthesised tuners were switchable for this.

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Welcome to your new home, @Donkeyhaute !

You have lots of options on your list already… but it sounds like you have an older home (not many places still have two-wire / two-prong sockets), and adding in wiring may involve more than you think (including availability of fused connections at your main junction box). It can become a big expensive job in a hurry, so probably best for a home reno project rather than as a rescue of one piece of gear.

It sounds like the transformer already has wiring for both voltages, since the conversion is not expensive, but if not be sure to ask to retain the UK voltage part in case you go back. Years ago, I had a Musical Fidelity A1 converted when I returned to Canada after my post-doc years… in hindsight the game was really not worth the candle, as the new iron was a large fraction of the original purchase price… but it worked fine, of course.

My contribution to the ideas and suggestions column is for you to consider buying a voltage step up transformer to enable you to enjoy your amp while you sit on the waiting list for the conversation. These are relatively inexpensive, purpose built, can be spec’d at enough power handling to avoid issue, and may be found with US plug for the wall connection and UK socket for your amp. I’m doing this with an Atom at our medium-term temporary residence in Munich (with a step down version instead, of course). No negative effects, minor inconvenience avoided, and ability to enjoy the system today rather than waiting the best part of a year…

You could always get one from a source like Amazon and, in the unlikely event that you feel sound quality is unduly compromised, send it back and make an alternate plan…

Best wishes for health and happiness in your new home.

Regards alan

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If your home still has 2-prong outlets your first electrical project should not be running a circuit for the hifi.

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