Topic: Purchase of American Gear > Edirol R-09HR > User in UK: Compatible?

[Hidden_Track]

Hi all.
Just wondering if anyone has any experience of buying recording equipment from America to use in the United Kingdom? Are there any compatibility problems? Of course I realise the mains A/C adapter will be different, but apart from that? I’m interested in buying the Edirol R-09HR, which seems to be a good bit cheaper delivered from the U.S. I would also be interested to hear about people’s experiences of buying other HD recording units from the US for UK use.
Cheers

[yousef]

Most AC adaptors seem to be universal now - so all you would need is a plug adaptor (rather than something to change the voltage too).

I wouldn't anticipate any other compatibility issues.

I've bought nearly all my gear from abroad and have generally been lucky enough to avoid customs charges - but be warned: when they do get you, those charges sting and (especially when you factor in postage and insurance costs) can wipe out a good deal of what you're saving on the purchase price.

One other thing... comments in the Sony M10 thread on this board suggest that the R-09HR leaves small gaps in recordings when the recording levels are adjusted. If this is true, it's a complete deal-breaker for me. YMMV.

[it-goes-to-eleven]

I thought the UK police record everything.  Can't you just ask them for a copy?

[Hidden_Track]

Yeah Yousef that's kind of what I was thinking.

Doubt I'll really be using the A/C anyway, but wasn't sure that if I did end up buying a UK plug for an Americal model...well, I might get a free fireworks display!

Good call on the customs front too. Buying from abroad will save me only around £50/$75 I think, which is still quite a bit when delving that deep into the wallet. I'm undecided as yet.

Also I will definately look into what you said regarding the r09hr leaving small gaps when adjusting the recording levels. Can anyone else provide an answer to this?

Cheers.

[it-goes-to-eleven]

One other thing... comments in the Sony M10 thread on this board suggest that the R-09HR leaves small gaps in recordings when the recording levels are adjusted. If this is true, it's a complete deal-breaker for me. YMMV.

It's amusing that people are suddenly making this out to be a big deal, given that it has hardly ever been mentioned before..   With some practice, you can probably avoid changing levels during the active parts of the performance.  Much like not needing to check levels.

Adjusting gain by definition impacts the source.  Some gear does it better than others. The pots on many (most?) preamps will introduce noise when the gain is adjusted, especially as they age.

I've found the 7xx recorders also introduce artifacts when adjusting gain.  The v3 is very good about it.  The aerco is terrible about gain changes, yet in high demand.

Ideally gain changes will be "silent", but in practice it doesn't seem to be a big issue very often.

[yousef]

It's amusing that people are suddenly making this out to be a big deal, given that it has hardly ever been mentioned before..   With some practice, you can probably avoid changing levels during the active parts of the performance.  Much like not needing to check levels.

[snip]

Ideally gain changes will be "silent", but in practice it doesn't seem to be a big issue very often.

Definitely. But from what I've read it not just a small blip or click but rather a small gap in the audio. Clicks can probably be hidden by loud music or masked by background noise at quiet gigs but gaps I'm not too sure about...

It's an issue that plays on my mind because I have had two occasions recently when hefty emergency level changes needed to be made during the first song of a set and it was irritating enough covering up the level changes without having to edit out a load of micro-gaps too...

But yep, I agree: 95% of the time I would hope to be setting the rec level at unity and not touching the recorder again until it was time to hit 'stop'.

btw, Freelunch: are you stuck at 6666 posts???