Audire & New Power Cord, RCA Outs - Help Requested

MrBuhl
MrBuhl Posts: 2,419
edited February 2006 in Electronics
Hello Polkies -

I need some help with some probably simple questions - :o

I bought an old Audire Model 1 Amp from the late 70's and it appears to be in relatively good shape - it is rated at 100wpc. The amp appears to be very cleanly designed and simple, connections are obvious. My questions that I need help with are as follows:

1. It does have an outdated two prong (sorry don't know the technical term) power cord. Would like to replace with a good quality (grounded?) three prong. Question is do I need to do anything special to do this since I'm going from 2 to 3 prong - or do I have to stay with 2 prong? Should I bypass the fuse protection? If it can be changed - any recommendations?

2. Had the top off and it looks pretty clean inside (was serviced in 1993) and I plan to clean it good with a quality cleaner but the RCA outs are very worn at the contact points - would consider replacing them as well - what should I use?

I appreciate any suggestions that you can give - it does function as is... should I just not mess with success? :confused:

Best
Ed
VA HT HK AVR20II, Sony S9000ES CD/DVD/SACD, Polk Audio RC80i / Polk Audio CSi3, 60" Panasonic Plasma, Nordost / Signal Cable A2 / Wireworld / Pangea / Magic Power
VA 2 Channel Focal Electra 926 speakers, Pass Labs X150.5 Amp, Eastern Electric MiniMax Preamp (Tutay mods), Eastern Electric Minimax CDP (Scott Nixon mods), Music Hall mmf 5.1 Turntable, Parks Audio Budgie Phono Pre , Audioengine B1 streamer, MIT S3 IC's / MIT Shotgun S3 Speaker Cables / PS Audio power cables
Noggin Schiit Valhalla, Pangea, Phillips Fidelio X1, Polk UF8000

Polk SDA1c modded
Polk CRS+ 4.1TL modded (need veneer)
Polk SDA2BTL (fully modded)
A/L 1000VA Dreadnought Canare 4s11 SDA cable
SACD Marantz DV8300
Sony S9000ES CD/DVD/SACD
Yamaha YP-D6
Soundcraftsmen PCR800
Audible Illusions L1 Preamp
Vincent MFA based Cocci Tube Preamp
Pho-700 Phono Pre
Signal Cable Silver Resolution IC's






Post edited by MrBuhl on
· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • pjdami
    pjdami Posts: 1,894
    edited February 2006
    Hi. I have an Audire Crescendo amp and plan on upgrading the two prong stock cord myself. These are my plans.

    First need to buy a 15 amp IEC male connector:

    http://www.dedicatedaudio.com/inc/sdetail/153

    Next, use a dremel tool or other means to cut out a hole that fits the IEC in the back of the amp. Care needs to be taken here to capture any metal shavings that could fly off and cause a short somewhere.

    Next, I would solder the two existing hot / neutral wires as is to the two prongs on the new IEC. I'm thinking leave the third prong alone and not try to connect anything to it unless you really know what you are doing. Using any aftermarket power cord that uses the third prong with a wire but isn't connected to the amp (on the third prong because its a "dummy" prong on the amp) will just drain any "noise" back to the power outlet. I use three prong power cords on equipment with IEC connections but just two prongs no problems (Rotel cd player comes to mind).

    I haven't tried this yet but plan on doing so soon. You may also want to use some compressed air to blow off any dust / metal shavings that fly off while cutting the hole. Cutting the hole is the trickiest part of this job and where care must be taken to cover components with a rag or something to prevent shorts.

    I also suggest making a DIY powercord using the DH Labs power wire on that site with the Wattgate IEC connections. That will be a nice powercord for the amp. Do a search for pjdami + powercord; I had a detailed thread about powercords I built a couple of years ago.

    Good luck and I'll post here when I try this out.

    Paul



    p.s. I highly recommend the Cardas solder; 2M is more than you will need and its good stuff

    edit: replaced mistaken ground for neutral
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • pjdami
    pjdami Posts: 1,894
    edited February 2006
    Here's a link to upgrade your RCA connections on the back of the amp to Vampire. Cardas makes good ones too.

    http://www.welbornelabs.com/vampconn.htm
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • pjdami
    pjdami Posts: 1,894
    edited February 2006
    http://www.welbornelabs.com/cardasconn.htm
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • unc2701
    unc2701 Posts: 3,587
    edited February 2006
    Before you remove the old cord, check for continuity between the chassis and the neutral wire. If there's not continuity (there _REALLY_ shouldn't be), then connect the third (gound) prong to the chassis. If there is continuity, you've got issues.
    Gallo Ref 3.1 : Bryston 4b SST : Musical fidelity CD Pre : VPI HW-19
    Gallo Ref AV, Frankengallo Ref 3, LC60i : Bryston 9b SST : Meridian 565
    Jordan JX92s : MF X-T100 : Xray v8
    Backburner:Krell KAV-300i
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • MrBuhl
    MrBuhl Posts: 2,419
    edited February 2006
    Cool - thanks for the advice and the great thread leads - DIY on the cord is what I had in mind so I am going to look into this - sounds easy enough and I will probably skip the third prong as you recommend.

    Very much appreciated assitance - I'll try to post when I get it all together so folks can see how she turns out!

    To check for continuity would I run the leads from neutral to chassis on my multi tester?

    Thanks again for the great help guys!
    VA HT HK AVR20II, Sony S9000ES CD/DVD/SACD, Polk Audio RC80i / Polk Audio CSi3, 60" Panasonic Plasma, Nordost / Signal Cable A2 / Wireworld / Pangea / Magic Power
    VA 2 Channel Focal Electra 926 speakers, Pass Labs X150.5 Amp, Eastern Electric MiniMax Preamp (Tutay mods), Eastern Electric Minimax CDP (Scott Nixon mods), Music Hall mmf 5.1 Turntable, Parks Audio Budgie Phono Pre , Audioengine B1 streamer, MIT S3 IC's / MIT Shotgun S3 Speaker Cables / PS Audio power cables
    Noggin Schiit Valhalla, Pangea, Phillips Fidelio X1, Polk UF8000

    Polk SDA1c modded
    Polk CRS+ 4.1TL modded (need veneer)
    Polk SDA2BTL (fully modded)
    A/L 1000VA Dreadnought Canare 4s11 SDA cable
    SACD Marantz DV8300
    Sony S9000ES CD/DVD/SACD
    Yamaha YP-D6
    Soundcraftsmen PCR800
    Audible Illusions L1 Preamp
    Vincent MFA based Cocci Tube Preamp
    Pho-700 Phono Pre
    Signal Cable Silver Resolution IC's






    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • unc2701
    unc2701 Posts: 3,587
    edited February 2006
    Yep. On all UL approved gear they should not be connected, but I'm not sure when that became standard. If they are connected, I think you wire a capacitor between the chassis and the ground wire, but I haven't messed with something like that for a long time and it was guitar amps...
    Gallo Ref 3.1 : Bryston 4b SST : Musical fidelity CD Pre : VPI HW-19
    Gallo Ref AV, Frankengallo Ref 3, LC60i : Bryston 9b SST : Meridian 565
    Jordan JX92s : MF X-T100 : Xray v8
    Backburner:Krell KAV-300i
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • pjdami
    pjdami Posts: 1,894
    edited February 2006
    I just popped the top on my Audire. One wire is in series with the fuse; the other one just continues to the power ON button. I was just going to cut and resolder and leave the fuse in. Two wires in / two wires out just like stock. Its going to be tight working in there though.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • pjdami
    pjdami Posts: 1,894
    edited February 2006
    p.s. the big blue caps in this thing are effin huge. No wonder why this amp has so much punch. When I power it down, it continues to play for about 30 seconds before the sound dies out. I'm not an electronics expert by no means but this is the only amp I have ever owned that plays so long after powering down. I just patiently wait for the sound to disappear before turning off the preamp... but it seems to play forever those 30 seconds.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter