Will a japanese turntable work in the US?
December 16, 2014 3:53 PM Subscribe
Recently I found a good deal on a direct drive DJ turntable which was manufactured for the japanese market. I know japanese consumer electronics run on 100V while US runs on 120V. I have heard conflicting things on whether this would be an issue. It seems like the turntable would likely run but I have heard some reports that this difference in voltage might eventually damage it. Is a power adaptor a permanent solution to this problem? Is a power adaptor even necessary?
I've never had any issues using electric products bought in Canada in Japan and vice versa, and in fact just treat the two as equivalent. This includes items like a hair trimmer, computers, rice cookers, electric kettle/thermos, and a sewing machine.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 5:01 PM on December 16, 2014
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 5:01 PM on December 16, 2014
I've never had any issues using electric products bought in Canada in Japan and vice versa, and in fact just treat the two as equivalent. This includes items like a hair trimmer, computers, rice cookers, electric kettle/thermos, and a sewing machine.
(That corresponds with what I've read, but cheap hairdryers are a special case; they apparently either catch fire or don't work, depending on which they have traveled.)
It would help to know the make/model of turntable. Electricity in Japan seems a little weird.
...
link: "The frequency of electric current is 50 Hertz in Eastern Japan (including Tokyo, Yokohama, Tohoku, Hokkaido) and 60 Hertz in Western Japan (including Nagoya, Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Shikoku, Kyushu); however, most equipment is not affected by this frequency difference. A possible exception are timing devices such as clocks."
Note that your link states half of Japan uses 60 Hz power; the engineers will have designed it with a switch or internal clock to deal with this. Or thrown in two different pulleys
It's running fast because of the frequency (60 Hz), not the voltage. Some TTs had different size pulleys for 50 vs. 60 Hz. The voltage difference may not be such a big issue with a TT as it would be with an amp/receiver. Assuming it has a DC motor you might exceed the voltage ratings of the caps before the voltage regulator, so check their ratings. As long as it doesn't run hot, you should be ok running at 110V it is within 10% of the TTs rated voltage.
looking up "import japan turntable"
If we take a look at the back of the turntables starting from the mid '70s on (Japan made in particular) we will see on their tags XXX VAC 50/60hz, which means the synchronous motor is indifferent to the AC frequency. That was possible designing servocontrolled or quartz locked motors. Therefore, it is not out of the world to import, for example, fine Japan made turntables from their country to Europe, as well as European made turntables can work properly in the USA with a step up transformer. It's only a question to be aware of the gear you are going to purchase after all.
From my experiences in Japan and Canada (which is the same as America as far as electric outlets are concerned) anything made to work in Canada will work in Japan and vice versa.
Continuing on, from from this : previous ask-mefi query:
When I was there, all my electronic things were (initially) from Canada and they worked fine. Now that I'm back, all of my electronic things are Japanese, and again they all work fine (including a power bar).
But a poster elsewhere had a different experience with their amp
07-23-06: Cjfrbw
I had bought a 100v version of the F 25 Accuphase crossover. I had also been told that this was OK for 120v and have been using it that way for nearly a year.
However, prompted by this article, I took off the bottom plate and their is a guide, as stated by Alan Hsu above, which has a legend adjacent to the power supply leads that shows how to exchange the leads to get different voltages. In my case, it was to exchange the positions of the yellow/orange wire and red wire to get 120v operation rather than 100v. The leads were quite similar to the illustrations at the site shown by Alan above. I am not concerned by warranty, because I am sure my unit has none anyway since it is a labelled 100v version in the USA.
The unit never actually ran too hot, but it was warm before, and is cool running now. The balance of the sound shifted slightly, but it always sounded great, even at 100v.
I'd guess that electrical engineers in Japan must design stuff to deal with local overvoltages so that stuff in Japan doesn't explode or catch fire when it is sees 110 V out from the wall plug rather than the nominal 100 V. I'd further guess that it can deal with the 130 V, it might see in the states? Maybe? Some folk use 120V to 100V step down transformers to use their Japan-made stuff in the US, stating the higher voltage can stress some components. So I may be wrong.
Rereading your query, I now realize you previously read the same sort of material I encountered.
What does the pdf of the service manual say?
When you get it you may want to open it up and see what voltage tolerances are printed on the components in the power supply, if there's not enough information on the outside of the machine. Watch out that some capacitors can store a charge even after being unplugged, so don't touch anything or you could get a bad shock.
posted by sebastienbailard at 12:29 AM on December 17, 2014
(That corresponds with what I've read, but cheap hairdryers are a special case; they apparently either catch fire or don't work, depending on which they have traveled.)
It would help to know the make/model of turntable. Electricity in Japan seems a little weird.
...
link: "The frequency of electric current is 50 Hertz in Eastern Japan (including Tokyo, Yokohama, Tohoku, Hokkaido) and 60 Hertz in Western Japan (including Nagoya, Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Shikoku, Kyushu); however, most equipment is not affected by this frequency difference. A possible exception are timing devices such as clocks."
Note that your link states half of Japan uses 60 Hz power; the engineers will have designed it with a switch or internal clock to deal with this. Or thrown in two different pulleys
It's running fast because of the frequency (60 Hz), not the voltage. Some TTs had different size pulleys for 50 vs. 60 Hz. The voltage difference may not be such a big issue with a TT as it would be with an amp/receiver. Assuming it has a DC motor you might exceed the voltage ratings of the caps before the voltage regulator, so check their ratings. As long as it doesn't run hot, you should be ok running at 110V it is within 10% of the TTs rated voltage.
looking up "import japan turntable"
If we take a look at the back of the turntables starting from the mid '70s on (Japan made in particular) we will see on their tags XXX VAC 50/60hz, which means the synchronous motor is indifferent to the AC frequency. That was possible designing servocontrolled or quartz locked motors. Therefore, it is not out of the world to import, for example, fine Japan made turntables from their country to Europe, as well as European made turntables can work properly in the USA with a step up transformer. It's only a question to be aware of the gear you are going to purchase after all.
From my experiences in Japan and Canada (which is the same as America as far as electric outlets are concerned) anything made to work in Canada will work in Japan and vice versa.
Continuing on, from from this : previous ask-mefi query:
When I was there, all my electronic things were (initially) from Canada and they worked fine. Now that I'm back, all of my electronic things are Japanese, and again they all work fine (including a power bar).
But a poster elsewhere had a different experience with their amp
07-23-06: Cjfrbw
I had bought a 100v version of the F 25 Accuphase crossover. I had also been told that this was OK for 120v and have been using it that way for nearly a year.
However, prompted by this article, I took off the bottom plate and their is a guide, as stated by Alan Hsu above, which has a legend adjacent to the power supply leads that shows how to exchange the leads to get different voltages. In my case, it was to exchange the positions of the yellow/orange wire and red wire to get 120v operation rather than 100v. The leads were quite similar to the illustrations at the site shown by Alan above. I am not concerned by warranty, because I am sure my unit has none anyway since it is a labelled 100v version in the USA.
The unit never actually ran too hot, but it was warm before, and is cool running now. The balance of the sound shifted slightly, but it always sounded great, even at 100v.
I'd guess that electrical engineers in Japan must design stuff to deal with local overvoltages so that stuff in Japan doesn't explode or catch fire when it is sees 110 V out from the wall plug rather than the nominal 100 V. I'd further guess that it can deal with the 130 V, it might see in the states? Maybe? Some folk use 120V to 100V step down transformers to use their Japan-made stuff in the US, stating the higher voltage can stress some components. So I may be wrong.
Rereading your query, I now realize you previously read the same sort of material I encountered.
What does the pdf of the service manual say?
When you get it you may want to open it up and see what voltage tolerances are printed on the components in the power supply, if there's not enough information on the outside of the machine. Watch out that some capacitors can store a charge even after being unplugged, so don't touch anything or you could get a bad shock.
posted by sebastienbailard at 12:29 AM on December 17, 2014
This thread is closed to new comments.
I would probably go with a step-up/down transformer like this, which you could consider a permanent solution. (Note: I don't have specific experience with that particular transformer. It was just the first result on Amazon.) The transformer will address 120V vs 100V concerns, but it won't fix any speed issues you may have if the frequency of the AC synchronous motor power is directly derived from the frequency of the mains power and the turntable was designed for 50Hz AC.
If the turntable has a switching power supply, it might safely Just Work without modification, depending on the specifications of the power supply.
posted by strangecargo at 4:18 PM on December 16, 2014