I know this is an old post/thread however I think it may be a little interesting.   In 1981 we received a TM as a wedding gift.  Like the orange one in the image here.  https://www.t-online.de/finanzen/news/unternehmen-verbraucher/id_85388954/neuer-thermomix-tm6-unternehmen-reagiert-auf-empoerte-kunden.html    In 1982 we came to the states for a year and left our TM in storage in the UK. By 1984 we missed using it so much and explored all the transformer/step down options and didn't really care for the options.    So we had the TM sent to Vorwerk in Germany and they replaced all the electrics so that we could use it here.    Oh we ran that thing in to the ground.   It died in the late 90's   
Now happy with the TM5 but seriously considering the TM6