Dynaco Mark VI (1962)
The Dynaco Mark VI, introduced in 1962, was the company's top-of-the-line monoblock vacuum tube power amplifier — the big brother of the Mark III and Mark IV, and essentially two Mark IIIs in one chassis. Designed by David Hafler, it was Dynaco's most powerful amplifier at the time, rated at 60 watts continuous with less than 1 percent distortion. The intent was to compete directly with the McIntosh MC-60 and the Marantz 8B.
The Mark VI uses four EL34 output tubes in an ultralinear circuit, with a pair of 6AN8A tubes serving as driver and phase splitter. Input sensitivity is 1.4 volts for full output, and the output transformer provides 4, 8, and 16 ohm taps. Dynaco rated hum and noise at 80 dB below full output and damping factor at better than 10. The chassis is black painted steel with a gold-anodized front panel. Early units used the Acrosound TO-330 output transformer; later versions used the TO-320. The bias supply uses a selenium rectifier that often needs replacing today, and the amplifier includes an adjustable bias pot. Dynaco sold the Mark VI both as a kit and as a factory-wired unit.
Modern Recording (July 1977, p.71) tested the Mark VI and noted its unusually graceful overload behavior — instead of abruptly chopped waveform tops, the amp clipped with gradually rounded waves. The same review confirmed input sensitivity at 1.6 volts for rated output and observed that the amplifier's power response held within 1 dB from 20 Hz to 15 kHz.
The Mark VI is considered one of Dynaco's finest amplifiers, though it lacks the name recognition of the Mark III — a bit of a sleeper, as enthusiasts put it. Modern Recording (July 1977, p.72) even speculated that some non-professionals who could afford two of them might be "caught" using them in home stereo systems. Most surviving units have been rebuilt at least once; the most common problems are failing electrolytic capacitors and the selenium rectifier in the bias supply. Output tubes are getting harder to find and expensive. Current market prices for a working example are typically in the range of $600–$1,200 depending on condition.
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