Is the moscode 600 a great amplifier?

Johnjbarlow

I have neen looking for this comparison for awhile and whats even better is you heard them on the HT3s which is the speaker I use.

Thanks again Larry

I have owned a Moscode 600 for ten years until I sold it, bought it new and I always thought it was a great amp. With the right tubes it will knock your socks off. I have to disagree with the person that said it was cheaply built, it was solid and in the ten years I have owned it never had it worked on. Moscode advertised it as a hybrid, tube input mosfet output, and for the money you could not go wrong

I bought my first 300 back in the mid 80s to replace an Ampzilla which, by comparison, was thin sounding, lacking in detail, weight and resolution. Since then I have purchased a used second 300 and 600. My career began as a musician and these hybrid amps sound like music. I later became a recording engineer and the Moscodes are my "go to" reference amps in my out-of-studio system. I run a set of Martin Logans and Maggies with them. In my opinion you can not approach the sound of the Moscodes unless you spend lots of bucks...., lots. they are one of the finest sounding amps ever built and represented a bagain at the time I purchased them. Neither have given me an ounce of trouble in all the time I've owned them (Over 20 years), save for a change of tubes.

A few reasonably priced amps that come close are the Hafler 9300 & 9500 series or, if you can find one, or a Quad 606 or 909. Of course you'd have to find the Haflers or Quad 606 used. The Quad 909 is still made.

I had mine modified by George Kaye years ago, which made it a much better amp. Much cleaner sounding with better detail and bass, more extended treble, but still nice full midrange.
Compared to today's better amps not as transparent, but still a classic.

I bought both my 600's in the late 80's and had the first one modified in the 90's.

There are a number of advantages to the modified amps. Better binding posts, and inputs as mentioned above. The protection circuit is taken out of the audio path, and on, and on.

But even the stock amp is very good.

You can come very close to the current Moscode at a fraction of the price. Some of the mods are easily done by a moderate DIY'er.

If modified (by George) you can do a lot of tube rolling.

I have Russian NOS (1979 & 1982) 6H30p-DR in the input positions and Ediswan NOS EC88 in the driver position of the channels connected to the stats and 6GU7 in the drive position of the woofer channels.

Tube regulation DOES make a difference (therefore the 600). With Martin Logan Prodigy and ribbon super tweeters I still don't hear MOSFET mist. It could be my ears or my setup with the modified amps.

Perreaux, Belles, Pass and other well thought of (including the new Moscode at $6,500+) use MOSFET output.

Just as SS doesn't necessarily have to be hard and brittle or tube don't have to be sweet and gentle. I don't believe all MOSFETs have to be "misty".

My system with two modified NYAL Moscode 600's;

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vevol&1200440547&