Krell KAV 400xi integrated

Of course. No-one said that integrateds have no drawbacks - as any engineer worth his salt will tell you, everything is a compromise.

It's just that the advantages of a two box solution no longer out-weigh the one box solution. All in my humble opinion, of course.

 

I'm an integrated supporter aswell. IMO the only advantage of a pre/power solution is one of flexibility and being able to change one part without having to change the other.

stumblin's point about paying for "box" overheads twice is a good one as is the point about an extra set of cables in between them.

It's a pity the myth about pre/power being inherently better still survives Judge with your ears

btw Doug, congrats on the mug-shot in this month's HiFi News getting your BADA award for "Best Industry Retailer Support Scheme"

Michael.

 

Not forgetting, of course, the extra set of buffer stages between pre-pwr to cope with impedance mismatches. Of course, integrateds dispense with the buffers so there are fewer components (and less cost!) in the signal path...

I don't think that stumblin's point about greater component value in an integrated is particularly apposite. Equipment is sold on a fairly constant margin, and as a result, it's unlikely that a 4K amp will have 2K of parts if pre-pwr or 3K of parts if integrated. He's right though (and michael picked up on this) that some of that parts cost will be in elements which contribute less directly to the sound of the amp.

reg

 

Agreed, but with the correct attention paid, this need have no greater affect on the end result than using interconnects.

 

Another fan of integrated amps here (up to about £3K). I just like the simplicity factor, and if implemented well, there should not be any major performance penalties.

Ultimately, above this level, pre/power amps are likely to be better, but I am not in the market for that level of amp.

Gary, I strongly suspect that a SimAudio I-5 integrated at £2500 will comfortably see off similarly priced pre/powers from Salisbury. There is life outside Salisbury, honest!

 

Just picked up my KAV-400xi and Audio Research CD3. First impressions: wow, big improvement over my old Cyrus kit. Only been on for 6 or so hours so still running in, but this IS a good combination for my B&W805sigs. I like it very much!

I will update this thread in due course if I get blown away even more.

TTFN.

 

There should be big improvements over the next week or so as the kit burns in. sounds like you are in for a happy listening christmas

Keep us posted

Robbo

 

I sure hope so!

Cheers and happy Chrimbo!

 

I think the pre-power ''is better'' arguement was more prevelant and more relevant before the recent trend for ''super integrateds'' began.

The high end integrated is quite a new thing, from what I have seen and read - happy to be proved wrong here..

I suppose traditionally an amp manufacturer would make integrated amps up to a set price point, and then make pre-powers above that. Like Naim for example.

Im sure this must have contributed to a belief that after a certain price point integrated amps lose out to pre-powers... i.e. it was borne out by a manufacturers product range,which topped out with the pre/pows.

I wonder which were the benchmark products that began the super integrated??? - Mark Levinson? Musical Fidelity? Im not sure...?