[seraph321]

I'm about to move to Australia and I think I've decided to just move my whole music/HT system with me and get a transformer big enough to handle it. I've measured the system's peak power at around 800-900 watts, and its about 500-550 watts sustained with everything on and loud.

So, I'm thinking a 1500-2000 watt transformer should provide more than enough overhead and run everything fine. I probably won't even plug everything into it because a couple units can switch to 230v.

Two questions though:
1. Are there gotchas I should know about when it comes to running audio equipment off transformers? (bad for sound quality?)

2. Is there a big difference in transformer quality? Is this really better than this?

[srb]

I don't think you will have a sound quality problem, but while your stepdown transformer is converting 230V to 120V, the output will still be at Australian 50Hz frequency instead of the US 60Hz frequency.
 
I would check your components to see if they have a 50Hz/60Hz rating instead of just 60Hz.  However anything with an AC synchronous motor will run slow, so if you have a turntable with an AC synchronous motor you will likely be out of luck.
 
Steve

[Speedskater]

To follow-up on Steve's post about the 50/60 Hz thing.  Any audio component with a 50 Hz internal transformer will be happy with 60 Hz power if the line voltage is correct. Any component with a internal transformer designed for 60 Hz will be very unhappy with a 50Hz supply. It takes more iron in the core to make agood 50 Hz transformer.

[seraph321]

I don't have a turntable or any other moving parts in my audio rig. Based on my research so far, the 50hz thing isn't a problem for the vast majority of devices that don't have motors or timers. The tortech site mentions that they output at 110v to avoid overloading 60hz transformers.