Just thought I'd post up a thread to let you guys know of my experiences regarding getting my Wadia CDP converted from US 110V to UK 230V input voltage spec. As some of you will know, I privately purchased and imported a used Wadia 850 from Canada last year from a seller on Audiogon. Since then I've been using the 850 with a step-down transformer. Now while this has worked fine and was most certainly a major upgrade on the CD playing kit I had before the Wadia, I've always had this nagging doubt about using the step-down transformer whether it was causing any degradation in ultimate sound quality. Well, if you're the sort of person who worries about the sonic properties imparted by mains cables attached to equipment, then it's only natural of course. :) I'd been made aware through conversations with other forum members that Wadia in the US won't deal direct with end-users i.e. they won't supply parts unless it's through one their recognised distributors or dealers. So in January of this year I made initial contact with [URL=http://www.mdc-hifi.co.uk/home.asp]The Musical Design Company (MDC)[/URL] who are the UK appointed distributor for Wadia products about the possibility of getting my 850 CDP converted from US to UK voltage spec. Well, after a 2 and a half month delay I was eventually informed by MDC that Wadia had finally located the necessary parts for the conversion and were shipping them over to the UK. Last week I arranged to have the retrofit of the parts to be performed by MDC. They arranged for the player to be picked-up and dropped after by courier as part of their service. So, I arranged for pick-up last Wednesday. Player was with MDC the following day on Thursday, they installed the bits and soak tested, player was dispatched on Friday afternoon and arrived back with me today. Not a bad turnaround time at all really, the only delay was the fact that the player had to sit in a courier depot (Citylink) over the weekend, but luckily no harm came to the player during transit. The player has only been plugged in and playing for just a little over 2 hours so far, so too early to write a before and after review, as most Wadia owners will attest, they take ages to warm up after being powered down for more than a few hours. Initial impressions are that it's just a smidgen more coherent, bass a bit tighter and perhaps deeper and there's a bit less splashiness to the top end (not that the top end was splashy before anyway going by the standards set by most other CDPs). Total cost was £170 (inclusive of VAT and shipping). There turned out to be 2 parts to the retrofit. First of all, the part of the player which was going to be needed to changed over regardless was the IEC input socket on the back of the player. Now this is where in my suspiciously suspecting opinion Wadia have been intentionally cunning in that there is a (Shaffner) mains filter module which is an integral part of the inlet socket, this is a custom part which only appears to be available from Wadia. So make your own minds up about the conspiracy theory there! ;) Anyway, the initial charge I was quoted was £150 for parts and labour for the IEC/Shaffner filter part change over. £10 for initial collection and post job drop-off. Oh and the other £10 of the final balance, well it was supposed to be £20 but I got that knocked off as an apology for the initial delay - that was for a new mains transformer which had to be fitted as well (from what I understand mine was a slightly earlier production 850 so needed the tranny replaced/upgraded, the newer/upgraded transformers were fitted to 850's that came off the production line later on). MDC inform me that they find it quite difficult sourcing replacement parts from Wadia for out of production products, although I can't see that the 230V IEC/Shaffner module would be any different on more recent Wadia CDP models. I did also try to see if I could get hold of the optional digital i/o board that was available for the 850 so that I could use my player as a DAC for my DAB tuner, but gave up as Wadia weren't giving any indications if they could source that part or not after 2 months. So just be warned if you plan on doing somethiing similar. I can't speak for other models of Wadia equipment as this is the only successful US to UK voltage conversion that I'm aware of so far. I've also spoken to a few you guys who say that MDC don't even respond to emails with requests similar to mine. As you can see, it's not impossible to get a piece of Wadia kit officially converted to UK spec, but I did almost give up at one point and think about ditching the 850 for a UK located 230V Wadia 16i that I'd seen advertised just recently. :cool: