I`m considering moving to the US. What would it take to convert my treasured NAIM system to work over there? I don`t know the first thing about electrics.
I`ve checked the prices and it appears that NAIM products are more expensive there.

Ian Howell ,

People who immigrated from the US to Israel, and people who traveled from Israel to USA and bought there cheap (compare to the prices in Israel)
electronic equipment had many problems when tried to convert the input electricity from 110 V to 220 V. There are many stories about equipment that didn't work well after the converting.

So take care.

Arie

I am also moving back from the UK to the US soon. My dealer has told me the conversion is simple (but has to be done properly). The transformer is tapped to provide 2 x 110V in parallel rather than 220V and once the mod is done the equipment is the same spec as sold by NANA.

However, I am interested to know whether using a 220V supply in the US would be better than 110V. Since I'll be putting in a dedicated spur anyway, why not just use 220V.

Simon

I bought my previous Nait3 in London (Graham's Audio... great service BTW) they changed to 110V in.... 3 minutes.

Has anyone had the voltage changed (220>110 or 110>220)specifically on a CDI? I would be interested to know if there were any difficulties involved.

your Naim kit is easily converted by a dealer. As stated above, there are two windings, used in series for 230V, and in parallel for 115V. Your dealer can easily make the change correctly, and test the unit for you.

The idea of installing a 230v spur in US sounds like a good one - has anyone else in North America tried this in comparison to a standard 110v line?

Rico - musichead

Haven't done it, but 220V-230V service is common in the US to support electric stoves/ovens, dishwashers, air conditioners, hot water heaters, and clothes dryers.

230 VAC in the U.S. is NOT the same as 230 VAC in the U.K.--ask your electrician.

You will get consistent results with the proper UL-listed AC mains cable / fuse rating when using a properly-wired / earthed receptacle.

Dave Dever, NANA

DD@NANA said: 230 VAC in the U.S. is NOT the same as 230 VAC in the U.K.--ask your electrician.

-> DD@NANA is right...230vAC in the US is 'almost perfectly balanced' mains, assuming the 'coil outside' is 'almost symmetrically opposing 115vAC legs', unlike in the UK where it is 'unbalanced 230vAC' much like standard (non cooker) 'unbalanced 115vAC' in the US, that most of us use.

i have measured a lower noise floor (for analog bits) and significantly lower jitter (for digital bits) with non-hifi kit, when going balanced (mains) in the US. This does not necessarily imply that naim kit (in the US) would work better
(read: play more enjoyable music) when seeing a balanced supply, even if all naim boxes had their secondaries centre tapped to signal ground.

IIRC, NANA has not tested this (as yet), whether NAUK has addressed it, i dunno.

what does make me curious (based on my limited understanding of the NAP500, given that naim reasoned to 'balance' it's load outputs...for possibly unrelated reasons)...perhaps it is worth evaluating what a 'balanced' mains supply (at least in the US) does ? (and i mean w/o using kit like PSAudio etc.).

DD@NANA said: You will get consistent results with the proper UL-listed AC mains cable/fuse rating when using a properly-wired/earthed receptacle.

-> for 'anal' readers
1. users with NEC code specified 'orange, isolated ground' receptacles...it is worthwhile to note that the 'earth conductor' is not in contact with the conduit's (presumably dirtier) earth, anywhere upstream towards the supply station, something you may never know.
2. if you really wanna get the benefits of a 'perfectly' balanced supply (that attempts eliminating ground loops etc.) you should really have it 'see' identical loads, implying PSs with identical ratings 'and' load useage....ha!

I believe there is (at least) one US resident who powers naim kit via (balanced ??) 230vAC...perhaps MarkT@naim
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