Integrated Amp Or Power/ Pre Amp what do you prefer ?

J

Jazzartist

Guest
Hallo there ,

I have so far used Integrated Amps all the time . I have listned to Power / Pre amps in friends house and found it always sounds better then Integrated . Now I am planing to have a second
set up and I need the help of the forum members . Can you tell me how much superior is Power/ Pre Amps are over Integrated Amps ? Any suggestion about model and Brands within US $ 2000 to 2500? Any suggestion is welcome. Regards.

Jazzartist
 
Does your friend Have the same make of amps/speakers and have a similar room layout to you? The difference may not be just Pre/power v Integrated.

Don't Rule out Integrated + Power Amp to Bi-Amplify it is a popular option.
 
Hi pwiles,

We have different systems and speakers and room size is also different . In general are the Power/ Pre amps superior to integrated Amps?


Jazzartist
 
Integrated and Power, sorry not to answer your question but I’m an advocate of Bi-Amplifying.
 
I also prefer biamping, only for Hi-Fi though.. I'm not sure in a AV system the left & rights will be noticeable if they're biamped.

To go the really hiend method of speaker powering, check out a high quality stereo pre-amp and four monoblocs.

You might also want to consider passive crossovers- the actual speaker has no crossover. Instead it's done between the pre-amp and the poweramps.
 
Good Call, That is my Lottery Winning's System, attached to some 800 Signatures of course, won a tenner so far so only £24,990 to go (no AV stuff included in that).
 
Nathan: Don't you mean an active crossover before the mono blocks?

Jazzartist: The advantage of going active is the amps are powering the drive units directly not the crossover components.

Just because I happened to look at their site today try Norh or IRD for mono blocks.
 
Jazzartist:

It would help myself and others if you said what kit you have and what your friend has, also what sort of kit is in your price range I have not got a clue what you can get 2K dollars in Bangladesh?. Sorry if I sounded flippant in earlier threads it was nearly the weekend and I got carried away.

This may be an obvious solution but if you like the sound of it why not buy the same kit your friend owns.
 
Pwiles,

I have Yamaha DSP A5 and I use Tannoy sixes Series 607 in the front , Tannoy Mercury M1 in the rear and Klipcsh CS 1 in the front
the DVD player is Toshiba SD 1250, LD player Pioneer CLD 3760, Cd player Marantz CD - 63 MK III , Sony Mini Disc player .My friend was playing Cerwin vega speakers with Rotel Power and Pre ( I forgot the model ) with Marantz CD 4000. He was playing CD I didnt hear it on AV . You are right its very difficult to get hold of good equipment s. Only a handfull of shops carry some AV and electronics of speciality otherwise we have many shops that carry normal electronics items. The shops that carry speciality items are doing so due to our patronization . I usually get hold of items through these shops I , they go to singapore evrymonth and bring HI Fi items . Otherwise I buy the items myself when I am traveling abroad .The Rotels available here is within US $ 2000.
I would be greatfull for your suggestion of some AV Power / Pre with brand and model number .

Jazzartist
 
I have spotted your problem It is the Yamaha. This was my previous amp and at the time was happy with stereo replay I bought the SR5300 primarily for Dolby Pro Logic 2 but was amazed at how much the stereo improved and I have since added power amps for stereo, your amp is quite old now and there are much better amp's out there.

If you can afford it demo a Rotel RSP1066, and suitable 5 channel amp RMB 1075, I have not heard these personally but a lot of people rave about them, it is only 5 channels but you can add extra power amps when you can afford it for centre rear, and to Bi-Wire the front speakers of course.

I am happy with my system and for Performance/£ you would be hard pushed to beat it, but if I was upgrading I would look hard at the Rotel.

By the way you would have saved a lot of confusion if you titled your thread Integrated AV Amp v etc, as I thought you were talking about stereo not multi channel. You are talking about multi channel aren’t you??????:confused:
 
Pwiles ,
Thanks for your advise about Rotel and adding Power amps . I will try to hear the Demo of Rotel . I was meaning Multi chanel all the while . Tell me about your B& W 603 . How does the Jazz sound on it ? Just curious why you are using Kenwood on the Rear why not B & W 601 ?


Jazzartist
 
My centre rear is a Kenwood because it was laying round the house doing nothing and for the short term gives me centre rear for free, I may be getting another pair of solid’s shortly. My Rears L & R are Solid Centrale, http://www.bwspeakers.com/downloadFile/speakerModel/done-_product_info_Solid_Series.pdf these are a B&W design that went out of production a few years ago, they have an excellent sound are moderately small and have integrated stands/wall brackets they are easier to mount than 601’s but don’t sound quite as good, although in my opinion 601’s are wasted as rears.

My 603’s are excellent they are the older larger series 2, the only issue’s with them is they are a little bass heavy which is solved using some of the bungs in the port at the rear and they are fairly difficult to drive the bass is a bit plodding unless you have good amp attached hence the 6100’s they are 125Watt THX approved mono-blocks and it sounds a treat. In fact I have Nora Jones on at the moment and it sounds great, I would recommend them for an audition.
 
I noticed you mentioned Norh. I have there small SE9 integrated which I imported from their factory in Thailand. I was a bit worried as I couldn't hear it in Uk, but the reviews, professional and from enthusiastic users, where superb. I took a chance and have been very happy with it. Build is first class and it has a beuatiful musicality about it. the glowing valves add a certain esoteric mystery abgout it too. As their prices include carriage, one of their amps may suit you. The company is friendly, open and committed to engaging with their customers. I am just a happy customer. No other relationship to them.
 

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