Friend

I have experienced The Moscode Phonograph Preamplifier but the their power amplifiers. If budget is tight - I would highly recommend this: http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1299381386&/McCormack-DNA-1-Reduced-Again.

I say this because

1) McCormack has been and still is around

2) They joined forces with Conrad Johnson - a great nice company for audio located in Northern, VA.

3) If you send them a product for service - they will take care of you.

4) The McCormack amplifiers give a very convincing presentation as far as instrument timbre goes.

studio1 February 02, 2011 03:30

Studio1,

You have been very helpful... Do you have any comments about a moscode 300? I have found one for a song locally (250.00) and am thinking that it might fit the bill... Since I am trying to keep it budget; that is definitely budget. I just wonder if there would be any improvement over my onkyo? I guess the best way is to beg the guy to let me audition it in my own system. However, by locally, I mean it's 105 miles away so he may not be open to this... Hmmm....

bc5k February 01, 2011 12:19

Friend

Thats easy..here:

Cost no object: http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0700/wolcottaudio.htm

Budget: http://www.vtl.com/pages/welcome.htm

Building your own amplifier takes a great amount of time, and once it's finished you will be concerned aboout how it compares to other amplifiers. After you do a comparison you will then be concerned about what it could be capable of if outfitted with the right components. This cycle takes time! And the cycle continues with finding quality music - both in composition and recording.

studio1 February 01, 2011 03:54

More like an addiction... I have had ton's of great gear slip through my fingers over the years and I downsized... I regret no longer having my polk sda 1.2's or carver amplifiers. But I downsized and got rid of a veritable houseful of higher end electronic gear. Some of which i really regret like the 5 matched stromberg-carlson tube amps that I had retubed for use in a tube home theater. However, I will keep it sane. I realize my finances my go in the dumpster but it is now quality over quantity. Whilst my setup is really eh hem... neither... I will say that I am overall impressed at how decent the onkyo receiver has been in the amplification section. I always use it in pure audio mode; but with the price paid for this piece of equipment; I don't think I could have done any better.

My question is what amp can I find that will put out disco levels of power while remaining fairly clean? My plan is to upgrade all my transducers in the koss cabinets with morel... (more dome mids, tweets, and woofers) and redo my crossovers. However, I still would like to be able to leverage 150-175 real world RMS watts @ 4ohms. Any suggestions? Should I build my own?

I appreciate your kind comments on my system though... It's been raked and scraped to be where it's at... :)

bc5k January 26, 2011 20:22

Friend

Sounds like you are on the right track! You can now rename this thread to "Hi Fi System under construction".
Just keep in mind that you can run through alot of money in this hobby. I use a 300B modified for an amplifier.

studio1 January 26, 2011 16:14

System edited: So I acquired a technics sl 1200 mk2 for 200 bucks... good start and now to http://www.soundhifi.com/sl1200/index.htm for the real fun to begin... My first and then I will build my own maglev one :)

bc5k January 17, 2011 03:17

So the fischer hasn't been shelved yet; but I did wrap my tonearm in teflon tape... BIG improvement... Thoughts?

bc5k January 14, 2011 22:41

It is with mixed feelings that I announce that I am shelving my Fisher MT 6330... Okay it's not with mixed feelings... I confess... I am acquiring a late model Technics SL-1200 for a mere 200 bucks and am preparing to put it through a full on treatment of KAB upgrades. Well not entirely KAB... I plan on sourcing most of it from sound hi fi... Their power supply has lured me in.

Here are my plans:
I plan on rewiring the stock tone arm with the KAB cardas wiring

I am fitting an archomat to the technics platter

I plan on doing a bearing upgrade to the soundhifi.com bearing

And adding sorbothane feet to the rig

I plan also on doing the soundhifi ps upgrade and strobe disable

I will keep my venerable m97xe SAS frankenstein. If money permits i may do a tonearm upgrade to either a jelco SA-750D or possibly an SME M2-9. I see no reason to discard my record weight as it is a fine custom piece. The wife gets the fisher with a re purposed grado blue.

Question is... KAB fluid damper on the stock arm? Or the SME piece? I plan on sticking with the cart i have now.. I know the stock arm has very easy VTA adjustment.

bc5k January 06, 2011 01:49

System edited: I added some pics and made some mods... Here ya go let me know :)

bc5k December 28, 2010 00:15

The EQ has been ditched... This was after a stylus upgrade on my Shure mx97e to the Jico SAS model. There is no need for it any longer and it is SOOO clean and open. I don't seen any klipsch in my future, though. I just have too small of a listening area for the horns. I have had tube gear in the past and I really liked it... But I think I'm gonna go the integrated route of either a creek or a NAD. I am procuring myself a cambridge 640A for a new phone stage. While a thorens is an awesome turntable; I am bargaining for an upgraded rega p25 with an rb 600 tonearm and its more in my price range. I am looking to update my aging koss speakers with newer drivers (I like the cabinets) Looking at morel dome mids, tweets, and woofers right now. I have rebuilt the crossovers and the speakers have a whole new demeanor right now anyway. Thanks for the direction... Hopefully the next iteration will be pleasing to the ear.

bc5k December 21, 2010 23:37

Audiosource Inc. EQ-8 Equalizer - Take out of system.

Onkyo TX-8522 Amplifier - Replace with Cary Audio tube Amp. Company located in NC and has been stable for many years.

fisher mt-6330 Turntable - Replace with Thorens 124 or 125 from Ebay

koss cm-1030 Speaker - Replace with Klipsch

sure mx97e Cartridge - Replace with Goldring 1022 or 1042

All of this takes time!

studio1 September 11, 2010 14:29