PS Audio BHK 600 Signature Mono Power Amplifier (Pair)

PS Audio BHK 600 Signature mono power amplifiers offer a huge 600 watts into 8 ohms. These behemoth flagship PS Audio amplifiers are a hybrid design with a valve input stage and a massive MOSFET output stage.

They were designed by the late Bascom H King to be the ultimate in amplification. The power supply provides an enormous 1.6kva and has 336,000 microfarads of smoothing capacitance. This massive power bank ensures an unsurpassed transient response. However the input stage features the delicacy and smoothness of valves. The BHK 600 Signature will from the beating heart of the ultimate audio system.

A no compromise design

Before his untimely passing, Bascom was given the brief of designing a no- compromise, ultimate amplifier. There was no regard to cost or complexity. As a result, the BHK 600 has a hybrid valve/MOSFET design. The input stage not only uses valves for the audio signal but it also uses a valve rectifier. More on this later.

BHK 600 also uses the type of high-current, braided wiring normally seen on a Tesla car. The result is an amplifier that encapsulates many years of experience. Moreover, the design is fully balanced from the input to the output.

Valve input stage and rectifier

The input stage of an amplifier is critical to ensure that the music is preserved. It has to be low noise and vacuum tube rectifier have inherently lower noise than semiconductor diodes. Diodes generate noise very time the voltage swing negative and is blocked. There are also parasitic ringing effects associated with the rectification. This can then be coupled into the the DC supply adding noise to the audio signal. As a result, the BHK 600 uses a valve rectifier to power the matched pair of Gold Lion valves. The result is a sound that is cleaner and quieter with more openness and space.

Connectivity.

Notably there are two sets of binding posts, however this is mono amplifier and both sets of posts are connected together. Notably, they can used for bi-wiring. As this is a balanced amplifier so none of the posts are connected to a common ground. There is a gold-plated RCA input as well as a balanced 3-pin XLR connector for the input. Finally, there is a trigger input so that the amplifier can be turned on by the preamp, or other trigger enabled device.

MOSFET output stage

Power amplifier stages need to preserve the texture, timing and phase information in the music. This is best achieved by a tube-like sold state device, known as a MOSFET. These are normally used in a push pull configuration. With an N-type used for the positive going signals, and a P-type for the negative going signals. Also, with a balanced amplifier the speaker is not connected to ground. N-type MOSFETS perform better than P-types. However, N channel amplifiers are rare.

The BHK Signature 600 monoblocks use N-type MOSFETs in the output stage. This gives the best performance, producing a balanced waveform without any degradation. As this is a 600-watt amplifier it needs lots of reserve power. This is provided by the large bank of electrolytic capacitors. At 300,000 MFD they also have masses of energy reserves. The high supply voltage of 1600 Volts and the current requirements, means that the wiring has to be high-grade. The gold-plated solid copper bus bars are connected by braided copper pathways that can handle the power with ease.

Who are PS Audio?

PS audio are an American company and were founded in 1973. The company name was derived from the founding engineers names, Paul McGowan and Stan Warren. Today they produce a wide range of high-end amplifiers, speakers and DACs, some of which have received excellent reviews and are highly regarded in the world of high end hi-fi and home audio equipment.

Key Features

- Zero Loss Input Tube
- Powerful Mosfet Output Stage
- Through-Hole Construction
- Rca Single-Ended Input
- Xlr "True" Balanced Input
- 600 Watts Per Channel 8Ω
- 1200 Watts Per Channel 4Ω
- 2000 Watts Per Channel 2Ω
- -3Db > 200Khz
- < 0.1% Thd 20Hz - 20Khz At Rated Power
- Damping Factor = 700
- Front Panel Standby Button
- Balanced Input To Output
- Dual, Copper, Plated, Output Binding Posts
- 108 Lbs.
- Input 12 Volt Trigger
- Fully Paralleled Inside
- Easy Access For Tubes