ICE Based Amps

[shadowlight]

Tube pre before Class D...

Yep, have that covered 

[topround]

OK seems tubes are out. Can't keep them on all the time.

Trying to think what will work for you, all the things I think of are expensive or make a lot of heat...
sooo..
I think you need a dedicated 2 channel system....yes I am sure of it..then no more problems, no compromises.

Give the girls the big TV and the Ice amps for their Wii, and Daddy gets to play with the big toys! And give them the LS6's they work great for HT.

I see you with a Dynaco st 70 and Green Mountain audio callistos', and a dyna PAS 3 pre...you supply the source...make it good one  and that's it!  And a comfy chair.

Mike

[shadowlight]

OK seems tubes are out. Can't keep them on all the time.

Trying to think what will work for you, all the things I think of are expensive or make a lot of heat...
sooo..
I think you need a dedicated 2 channel system....yes I am sure of it..then no more problems, no compromises.

Give the girls the big TV and the Ice amps for their Wii, and Daddy gets to play with the big toys! And give them the LS6's they work great for HT.

I see you with a Dynaco st 70 and Green Mountain audio callistos', and a dyna PAS 3 pre...you supply the source...make it good one  and that's it!  And a comfy chair.

Mike

Can I crash at your place when the better half throws me out  .  I will seriously think about getting the small room.  What are the Green Mountain Audio Callistos?  Are they speakers?

Edit: Yep, they are nice expensive speakers  .

[TooManyToys]

Gee Deepak, we can all be good at spending your money!

[shadowlight]

My purse string is controlled by the better half anyway 

Are Moscode 300 amps any good?

[shep]

My 2cnts. I have (as most of you know  ) a highly modified ice integrated amp; mostly done by Wyred, and having a stellar resistor-loaded pot followed by the Wyred buffer (or is it the other way around?)
It absolutely goes head to head with a fine all tube set-up down the road. In many ways better. Since no one has mine, except me, this is not very helpful  except to say that ICE is nice (done artfully) and totally trouble free (and very sensitive to cables). Told you it was only 2 cnts!

[tmazz]

My purse string is controlled by the better half anyway 

Are Moscode 300 amps any good?

Moscode 300s are fine amps and a darn good value for the money, especially of you can find one that George Kay has already performed his magic on. (If you do them now the mods can be a little pricey in comparison to the value of the amp, but Moscode 300s that already have the GK mods do not command that much higher of a price than a stock version.)

I have owned a Moscode 600 for 20+ years now and with the full suite of GK Mods it is still competitive with a lot of current production amps. Is it perfect, no, but how many other amps can give you a clean 300WPC for a price that is lower than most high end power cords. I have a friend that owned a Moscode 300 at one point and we A/Bed the tow one night. They were very similar in character and SQ with most differences attributable to the difference in output power. A real cult piece after all these years.

[shadowlight]

My purse string is controlled by the better half anyway 

Are Moscode 300 amps any good?

Moscode 300s are fine amps and a darn good value for the money, especially of you can find one that George Kay has already performed his magic on. (If you do them now the mods can be a little pricey in comparison to the value of the amp, but Moscode 300s that already have the GK mods do not command that much higher of a price than a stock version.)

I have owned a Moscode 600 for 20+ years now and with the full suite of GK Mods it is still competitive with a lot of current production amps. Is it perfect, no, but how many other amps can give you a clean 300WPC for a price that is lower than most high end power cords. I have a friend that owned a Moscode 300 at one point and we A/Bed the tow one night. They were very similar in character and SQ with most differences attributable to the difference in output power. A real cult piece after all these years.

Thanks Tom.  Eyeing the following one on Audiogon - http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstube&1299166986&/Moscode-300-150wpc-tube-hybrid

[tmazz]

My purse string is controlled by the better half anyway 

Are Moscode 300 amps any good?

Moscode 300s are fine amps and a darn good value for the money, especially of you can find one that George Kay has already performed his magic on. (If you do them now the mods can be a little pricey in comparison to the value of the amp, but Moscode 300s that already have the GK mods do not command that much higher of a price than a stock version.)

I have owned a Moscode 600 for 20+ years now and with the full suite of GK Mods it is still competitive with a lot of current production amps. Is it perfect, no, but how many other amps can give you a clean 300WPC for a price that is lower than most high end power cords. I have a friend that owned a Moscode 300 at one point and we A/Bed the tow one night. They were very similar in character and SQ with most differences attributable to the difference in output power. A real cult piece after all these years.

Thanks Tom.  Eyeing the following one on Audiogon - http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstube&1299166986&/Moscode-300-150wpc-tube-hybrid

That particular one is a bone stock unit, but I would say that even as a stock amp there are not many things out there that could outperform it for under $500.

Just for your further information there is the URL for George Kaye's web site. It has information of the history of and upgrades for the entire Moscode line.

http://www.kayeaudiolabs.com/

[shadowlight]

Thanks Tom.  Will look up the information that you provided.

[shadowlight]

I recently sold my classd diy amp and while I am looking for a replacement I am planning to use the Onix A120 integrated stereo amp that I have.  The question I have is it is possible to hook up my Response Audio Tube Pre to A120?  It does have tape in and out but not sure how the volume control would work on the pre and the a120.

Is it even doable or should I just pack up the pre until I find a replacement?

Thanks for all the comments so far.  Learning as I go along.

[richidoo]

Deepak,
You can still use your preamp with the integrated amp. But you will probably rather not, because it is unnecessary, and will result in higher noise. But if the preamp has good synergy with the amp and improves the feeling then go for it. The trick is setting the volumes on the preamp and the amp to optimize volume control sensitivity and total noise.

An integrated amplifier usually has 35-40dB of gain, compared to a stand alone power amplifier which usually has 26dB or thereabouts. So if you were to turn up the volume all the way on the integrated amp, you would find the preamp's volume control too sensitive.

I'm guessing, but the preamp is probably quieter in background noise than the integrated amp. So it is better to turn down the the integrated's volume control so that the volume level of the whole system is at the maximum gain level you will ever need for any kind of music when the preamp's volume control is at maximum. This will minimize the background noise.

How to do it: Turn the integrated amp volume all the way down.  Turn the preamp all the way up. Put on some music that is on the quiet side. Increase the integrated's volume to the right volume level, plus a little extra. Now turn down the preamp and you're done. Then only use the preamp level control and leave the integrated volume alone. If you play something like Beethoven Symphony with very quiet passages, you can goose up the integrated for a little more gain, then turn it back down for the hip hop stuff.

You may or may not like how it sounds with the preamp and the integrated together. Two preamp stages should be a net negative, but you never know. If the sum is not better than the parts, just store the preamp.

I have heard bigfish's new Moscode 402, it is a magnificent amp, one of the best high power amps I ever heard. The 401 is great too, but I've not heard any of the older ones.

[shadowlight]

Picking up a demo Cherry Jr from Tommy on Saturday. /

[lonewolfny42]

Picking up a demo Cherry Jr from Tommy on Saturday. /

That should work out well.....

[shadowlight]

Picking up a demo Cherry Jr from Tommy on Saturday. /

That should work out well.....

It sure is.  Had to up the budget but it will be worth it.