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Converting US voltage monoblocks to UK voltage

andyzeg

andyzeg

Active Member
Hi All

Just wishing to pick your brains if I may? I have a pair of US made Maker Audio high end monoblocks currently (no pun intended) running very well via a pair of Airlink transformers. The amps are Maker Audio REF2a monos....and they retail for $tupid money...Lol!

When I bought them (much, much cheaper than new) from a dealer in Florida...I wrote to the company...actually Tom Maker himself, about having them converted...and he said they would happily do it for $900. Sadly, after buying the amps and paying for shipping & duty + VAT I couldn't afford it...settling for a pair of Airlinks at about £225.

So I was wondering what the concensus is out there about having the amps converted here in the UK and would it be something that a competent technician/engineer could do...or would there be too many variables/unknown quantities?

I am guessing that it may be more involved than simply re-tapping the amp's transformers and fitting a new fuse?

I am happy with them as they are...but would also like to dispense with the step down transformers if at all possible.

Any helpful suggestions would be much appreciated.


Kind regards

Andrew

20170814_190926 by Andrew Zeglicki, on Flickr

20170814_191420 by Andrew Zeglicki, on Flickr
 
I would assume that there is more to it than changing the transformer wiring or they wouldn't have wanted $900 for doing it...
It's not possible to answer your question without lots more info and preferably a circuit diagram. Alternatively they would need to be examined to come up with an answer...
 
Unfortunately I don't have circuit diagrams, etc. and to be truthful...the replies from the company owner were a bit "cagey"...maybe he's just not very forthcoming. I will probably take them to a technician for a good nosey and see what they advise.
 
Open them up and look for the wires on the transformer input. If there's four wires between iec and transformer it should be trivial.
 
Often products sold in US and EU are made dual voltage with just transformer primaries to swap from parallel to series for 115 to 230V. If not measure secondary voltage under load and buy similar transformers with 230V primary.
 
Open them up and look for four wires on the mains input to transformer. If there's four it's easy, if there's two it might possible on the outputs. Take some pics.
 
If they can't be converted you can run them off a 110V site transformer, the yellow ones used on building sites. I imagine that your Airlink item does this and comes in a prettier box. Failing this you need a new power supply trafo, which might cost £100 a time plus fitting. No change to the OP trafo needed. Alternatively you can fit a buck/boost trafo (look it up for the theory) for which you need a competent technician but no more.
 
If the original transformers don't have dual primaries for 120/240 use then the OP will need new mains transformers. If the amps run from just one set of voltage rails then this is reasonably straightforward to at least get close to the original rails. The problem is if the amps use multiple voltage rails from a transformer custom wound for the manufacturer... In this case all the voltages need to be measured and currents measured or estimated and then custom wound transformers would have to be made by one of the many companies that offer this service. I seem to recall seeing 1000W per monoblock for these amps so it won't be cheap! Think £200 per transformer if off the shelf voltages and up to double that if they need to be custom wound...

Interesting pre amp there:D
 
Arkless Electronics said:
If the original transformers don't have dual primaries for 120/240 use then the OP will need new mains transformers. If the amps run from just one set of voltage rails then this is reasonably straightforward to at least get close to the original rails. The problem is if the amps use multiple voltage rails from a transformer custom wound for the manufacturer... In this case all the voltages need to be measured and currents measured or estimated and then custom wound transformers would have to be made by one of the many companies that offer this service. I seem to recall seeing 1000W per monoblock for these amps so it won't be cheap! Think £200 per transformer if off the shelf voltages and up to double that if they need to be custom wound...

Interesting pre amp there:D
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info...much appreciated.

The preamp is an Alchemist Forseti apd21a mk11....about 15 years old but sounds pretty damn good. I also love the design...and it was reworked by Tim de Paravicini. I may get it serviced and re-capped at some point

Regards

Andrew
 
andyzeg said:
Thanks for the info...much appreciated.

The preamp is an Alchemist Forseti apd21a mk11....about 15 years old but sounds pretty damn good. I also love the design...and it was reworked by Tim de Paravicini. I may get it serviced and re-capped at some point

Regards

Andrew
Click to expand...

Indeed as ex Alchemist Products chief engineer I recognised it:D The original design was by Glen Gayle (one of the three partners and a great bloke:). The last I heard he had made the bizarre career move from electronics to social worker for disturbed kids:eek: Rather him than me!). It was available before I joined the company. IIRC I made a few minor tweaks to things like the length of the switch on delay and to further reduce the already low mains hum. Much of Alchemist's output was exported to the far east (the gold bling look is popular there!) and apparently many listeners use very efficient horn speakers in tiny rooms and so if there was a tiny bit of hum that would need "ear against speaker cone" to hear in a typical UK set-up, it was very apparent under these conditions.

I serviced and re-capped a MkI a couple of weeks ago as it happens;)
 
Oh goodness..I had no idea...Amazing! In that case...could you pm me and at some point I could arrange to send it to you for a fettling...if that would be ok? Many thanks for your reply :)
 
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