I have a couple of Mark 4's that I use as power amps in my music system. They need to be rebuilt and rewired. I am going to replace the driver board, put in new tube sockets and a new can capacitor in both amps. The wire in there now is black colored and is very stiff and brittle. What kind of wire is it? I want to replace it when I do the rebuild. Dynaluva
2 posters
What kind of wire to rewire 2 Mark 4's ?
Bob Latino- Admin
- Posts : 3260
Join date : 2008-11-26
Location : Massachusetts
- Post n°2
Re: Rewiring an old Dynaco amp
Dynaco supplied about 15-20 feet of a 22 gauge black, solid core, copper wire with each amp kit that they sold. It had simple PVC insulation and was easy to use. Solid core wire was easier for the average kit builder because it stayed in place when you twisted it or bent it into some shape. Stranded wire has less of a tendancy to stay in place when you bend or twist it.
Many amp builders tend to hype stranded Teflon wire but Teflon coated wire is slippery and a little more difficult to work with. Stranded wire wire is OK but if you ever have to remove a stranded wire from a connection many times some of the strands will break off. If that happens then you have to restrip the wire to get all your strands back.
IMHO you should get some 20 gauge (one size thicker than Dynaco supplied), solid core (non-stranded), irradiated PVC coated wire. The PVC won't slip in your hands and the solid core wire will stay where you place it. Some people knock PVC wire because some cheaper versions are non-irradiated and they have a low melting point. This can cause the PVC to melt a little as you solder the connection. Irradiated PVC wire has a much higher melting point. It's not as high as Teflon and PVC doesn't have quite as high a dialectric constant (insulation ability) of Teflon wire. If you are careful the insulation around the wire won't melt at all with irradiated PVC.
There are some audiophiles (audiophools?) that hype certain kinds of wire (stranded wire vs. solid core), (PVC coated wire vs. Teflon coated wire), (OFC copper wire vs. silver coated copper wire vs. solid silver wire) blah, blah ... Some even go so far as to say that one wire type "sounds slighly better" than another wire. Personally I have never heard any significant difference in the sound quality of any amp (or any other type of electronic gear for that matter) that could be attributed directly to the type of wire that was used to wire the amp OR the type of insulation around the wire.
Bob
Many amp builders tend to hype stranded Teflon wire but Teflon coated wire is slippery and a little more difficult to work with. Stranded wire wire is OK but if you ever have to remove a stranded wire from a connection many times some of the strands will break off. If that happens then you have to restrip the wire to get all your strands back.
IMHO you should get some 20 gauge (one size thicker than Dynaco supplied), solid core (non-stranded), irradiated PVC coated wire. The PVC won't slip in your hands and the solid core wire will stay where you place it. Some people knock PVC wire because some cheaper versions are non-irradiated and they have a low melting point. This can cause the PVC to melt a little as you solder the connection. Irradiated PVC wire has a much higher melting point. It's not as high as Teflon and PVC doesn't have quite as high a dialectric constant (insulation ability) of Teflon wire. If you are careful the insulation around the wire won't melt at all with irradiated PVC.
There are some audiophiles (audiophools?) that hype certain kinds of wire (stranded wire vs. solid core), (PVC coated wire vs. Teflon coated wire), (OFC copper wire vs. silver coated copper wire vs. solid silver wire) blah, blah ... Some even go so far as to say that one wire type "sounds slighly better" than another wire. Personally I have never heard any significant difference in the sound quality of any amp (or any other type of electronic gear for that matter) that could be attributed directly to the type of wire that was used to wire the amp OR the type of insulation around the wire.
Bob
Last edited by Bob Latino on Thu Jan 15, 2009 7:56 pm; edited 1 time in total
JunkyJan- Posts : 108
Join date : 2008-12-09
Location : BC, Canada
Hi Dynaluva
I will be rewiring my Dynaco ST-70 with silver-plated teflon wire - but purely for the longevity of the teflon (will never ever become brittle or degrade in any way, or so I am told). I very much doubt that it would make any difference to the sound quality - unless I had a badly-soldered mechanical connection in the first place.
I agree with Bob regarding the "audiofools" comment, there is FAR too much hype and nonsensical stuff in the audio world.
-- JunkyJan
I will be rewiring my Dynaco ST-70 with silver-plated teflon wire - but purely for the longevity of the teflon (will never ever become brittle or degrade in any way, or so I am told). I very much doubt that it would make any difference to the sound quality - unless I had a badly-soldered mechanical connection in the first place.
I agree with Bob regarding the "audiofools" comment, there is FAR too much hype and nonsensical stuff in the audio world.
-- JunkyJan
Dynaluva- Guest
- Post n°4
Rewiring
Jan,
Let me know if your rewiring makes any difference in the sound of the amp? Let me know how long it takes you to rewire it? Dynaluva
Let me know if your rewiring makes any difference in the sound of the amp? Let me know how long it takes you to rewire it? Dynaluva
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