Converting a Paramour I 2A3 to 240v mains

[azgary]

I have a European interested in my Paramour I (iron and cap upgrade) using 2A3s, but he needs to adapt it to a 240v mains supply. Any suggestions as to the best way to approach this? Given the relatively low power requirements, it would seem that an inexpensive voltage converter would do the job.

Thanks,
Gary

[Grainger49]

Gary,

He will need to buy a 2:1 step down transformer.  The Bottlehead power transformers are designed to work on both 50 and 60 Hz.  The transformers are plentiful there.  There are quite a few Bottleheads who are on 240V/50 Hz power.

[azgary]

Thanks, Grainger. That is what I thought.

Gary

[gpbarnett]

Hi everyone,
I happen to be here in Europe, with 240v power.  I'm using a 100watt transformer into a hotrodded electrical box.  The bottlehead on 50 Hz is mechanically pretty quiet.  I found that the secret to very good and quiet sound is to use the properly rated transformer.  I've got one tricked out pioneer dv-09 straight into the S.E.X. amp, both running on the 100watt transformer, and the noise floor is mechanically, and electrically super low.   This setup just smoked a Music Hall 25.2 DAC.  The source pulls 57 watts stock, and the bottlehead never runs out of room.  in europe, i'd say keep the step downs as small as possible.

gpbarnett

[paulw]

I also use standard 120v Bottlehead stuff in the UK - the only problem I've found with all 6 (don't ask) of my step-downs is that they actually output around 135v which I felt was too high, input voltage is fairly constant at 235v & all the step-downs are quite costly ones.  So now use a variac to hold it to 120v,

(https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi142.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fr81%2F4will8%2Fvariac.jpg&hash=4538d480bfb063fe3041aecd4f5c1c3b6e01fc2f)

but as you can see it's a bit too big to hide away, so would like to find a nice small unit that actually does what it says on the tin (240 in, 120 out) one day.

Paul

[Grainger49]

Paul,

That is an elegant and logical answer.  I particularly like the 230V in and the 120V out.  This makes sense!