Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site petrus.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!harvard!talcott!panda!genrad!decvax!harpo!whuxlm!whuxl!houxm!ihnp4!mhuxn!mhuxb!mhuxr!ulysses!allegra!bellcore!petrus!karn
From: karn@petrus.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.audio
Subject: Re: cd question
Message-ID: <293@petrus.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 21-Feb-85 14:50:31 EST
Article-I.D.: petrus.293
Posted: Thu Feb 21 14:50:31 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 24-Feb-85 01:26:34 EST
References: <182@npois.UUCP> <638@asgb.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Inc
Lines: 23

> Don't hold your breath, one problem you may have if you bought a CD
> player for the Japaneese market is that they're on 50hz power.  If the
> player isn't or can't be set for our 60hz, you're out of luck.  (At
> least such was the case when I lived there 1965-1968.)

I can't imagine why a CD player should care about the line frequency.
All of the internal timing is based on a crystal oscillator, not the power
line frequency like a conventional turntable.

I bought my Technics SL-P7 in Germany, and tried it out on 220 volt 50 Hz
power. Took it back to the US, cut the plug off, put on a North American
version, and switched the transformer from 220 to 110 volts. It has
worked just fine since.

I suspect that a player bought in Japan for 100 v power might well work as is
in the US, since the electronics are probably all powered from regulated
DC supplies. The transformer or the regulator transistors might get rather
warm, though, unless the unit was specifically designed for operation at
120v as well. On the other hand, given the Japanese motto "export or die"
I can't imagine that US-operable models wouldn't be readily available (as
they were in Munich.)

Phil