Replacing a non-polarized power plug on my vintage amplifier

[Weister42]

I have an old(but very powerful) Technics intergrated amp and the power cord got stripped during a party, it still works but it's a potential hazard to drunk people lol. I want to replace the power cord with something more durable and thicker wire guage, but the receiver has a non-polarized plug which is obsolete. how can I tell which wire is "hot" and "neutral"? I heard that if you hooked up the power wire in opposite of my other polarized audio equipment, you might end up with hum noise and other problems. Any advice would be appreciated.

[skeptic]

In these older sets, the primary of the power transformer generally floats. This means neither end of the winding is connected to anything in any way associated with signal or chasis ground. If that is the case, in practice it doesn't matter which side is the neutral and which is the hot. However, if by some chance one side of the transformer is connected to ground through a high value resistor, that is the side that should be connected to the neutral (larger blade) and the other side, the one with the fuse and on/off switch should be connected to the hot leg, the one with the smaller blade. This would be the general practice to follow even if there is a floating primary. Aren't you going to ask about the round pin, the one with the ground connection?

[Weister42]

You mean the 3- prong plug? If I do get that where does the third wire go to?

[skeptic]

That depends. If there is a metal chasis, you can get a cord with 3 conductors and the ground wire goes to the chasis. A crimp on lug and a small sheet metal screw is fine. If the chasis is not metal, either just get a 2 prong plug and a two conductor cord or cut the ground wire off inside the enclosure and forget about it. Just make sure it is insulated so that the copper wire doesn't come into contact with any conducting parts.