Power needs for receiver and subwoofer

Spike

Diamond Member
Aug 27, 2001
6,770
1
81
I'm moving overseas in a few weeks (to the EU) and want to take my basic home theater setup with me. I currently have a yamaha RX-V373 hooked up to a polk psw10 and a 5.1 energy micro set. Nothing fancy, but I like how it sounds for the price.

The country I'm moving to runs on 230v 50hz power. Most of my random devices are fine and cover that range, but my receiver and sub do not. It looks like I either need to leave them behind or buy a transformer. This brings me to my question... how powerful of a transformer do I need?

The sub is 100 watts, so I assume a basic 200 watt transformer would do the job? What about the receiver? Does that depend on the settings/speakers?

Of course the main question is if it's even worth it. Will I hear some sort of distortion due to using a transformer? I can always look at picking up something simple over there to power my setup. Or even leaving it all behind and going with a basic amp to power a pair of pioneer bookshelf speakers I have sitting around.

Ugh, too many choices.

Thanks!

Receiver
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007JF8FD8
Sub
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002KVQBA
 

Accord99

Platinum Member
Jul 2, 2001
2,259
172
106
A Kill-A-Watt type device would be very helpful you.

I used to have an RX-V571 which used about 40 W at idle; I now use a Pioneer Elite SC 75 which consumes about 60 W idle. If you keep audio peaks to around 90 dB, you should expect the peak power usage to only increase by 10W or so.
 

Railgun

Golden Member
Mar 27, 2010
1,289
2
81
The back of the receiver indicates its power usage...usually. I'd not go lower.

And anecdotal evidence suggests not to use a transformer like this.
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
100,511
17,958
126
What about subs? Any issues with those? I guess I could always find a cheapish amp to power the setup once I'm over there.

Powered subs have amp in them :biggrin:

You are probably ok if it is class d amp though.
 

BarkingGhostar

Diamond Member
Nov 20, 2009
8,410
1,617
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Has the OP even considered that he might not be able to import said goods into said destination country?
 

Spike

Diamond Member
Aug 27, 2001
6,770
1
81
Has the OP even considered that he might not be able to import said goods into said destination country?

I've been working with the movers who handle all of the customs and importing and this type of electronic is not on the forbidden list. I'm bringing over a number of US electronics, though mostly those that can handle the 230v/50hz power.