IEC to a 2 prong-wire amp

I use a Volt Ohm Meter and select continuity. Putting one lead on your power cords AC plug end and the other inside it's female IEC, you get a "beep" when you match up both ends. Make note of what goes where.

Next test your household wall outlets. They are marked internally as hot and neutral. If you don't know which way yours are wired, use the same VOM to determine.

Put the hot lead (red) in one vertical hole and the ground (black) in the round ground hole. If you read 120 volts, your red lead is connected to the hot. If you get zero you found the neutral.

Match that with previous results of beeping out the IEC and you have everything labeled where it goes.

As a personal note, I find it easier to draw a picture of the IEC results and where the hot and neutral are in the wall socket. Saves brain cells when your in the heat of soldering or trying to figure out what to connects to what.

if you're referring to polarity, it's likely that the IEC will indicate "N" for nuetral; "L" for live, "E" for "earth" , or something similar. I'm looking at one now and that's how it's marked. If it's not, the Live pin is on the left side if you're looking into the receptical where the cord plugs in, with the ground pin on the top.

I'm still playing around with this idea. I am wondering if the silver solder at radio Shack is good enough. I thought maybe down the line I might want to tweak something more expensive. Also has anyone tried the new battery operated solder gun?

I'm thinking for buying the IEC from Audionut. is there a difference in quality?

I do this to every amp that I rebuid , which is alot of amps....20-30 a year.... I use a Green-lee punch which costs 400.00 to cut the hole ..... I used to do it with the nibbler...I then wire the socket to the two old wires, I then run the ground wire though a switch to the chassis ground.....That way you can switch the ground in and out , which ever works the best for you....

If you don't want to mess around too much and get your hands dirty, this may be the easy solution. I've no experience with it myself, but I bookmarked this page in case I ever needed one.

http://www.dedicatedaudio.com/inc/sdetail/148