Nick, Is it possible, just for arguments sake to buy a USA delivered brand new machine, and do what i did with my Star Trek Voyager machine and just purchase a 240volt to 110 volt converter. (forgetting the hassle of not just buying a NIB Stern locally from say AMD).

That worked a treat for my Star Trek Voyager machine. Isnt it possible to buy one of those converters and make a USA machine work ? maybe thats what ANT has done ?

Importing just one machine isnt financially worth it, but the converter would get past the firmware etc with the voltage difference.
The machine with converter attached would still think its getting plugged into a USA power point. My external transformer/converter was $220 from Dick Smiths.