Sorry - I didn't completely answer your question.
In my (admitedly limited) experience, the quality of many integrateds today preclude the necessity of separates. When I began auditioning equipment for my last upgrade, it became very clear to me that integrateds were the way to go. Plus, as you mentioned, I didn't care for having to purchase another pair of interconnects or, for that matter, adding another pair to the signal path.
As for power - the Von Schweikert speakers aren't the most efficient on the block and, from what I've read, the nature of their crossover design make them fairly power hungry. I can tell you that when I auditioned the Creek 5350SE and the Musical Fidelity A300 - there was no comparison between the two. Especially in the handling of the bass; the MF won hands down.
I auditioned Cambridge Audio, Creek, Bel Canto, and Musical Fidelity integrateds with the VSA speakers. I fairly quikly dismissed the Cambridge Audio and Creek; the Bel Canto was out of my price range. Even if the Bel Canto had of been more affordable, I'm confident I would have still gone with the A300.
Good luck - let us know what you end up doing!
In my (admitedly limited) experience, the quality of many integrateds today preclude the necessity of separates. When I began auditioning equipment for my last upgrade, it became very clear to me that integrateds were the way to go. Plus, as you mentioned, I didn't care for having to purchase another pair of interconnects or, for that matter, adding another pair to the signal path.
As for power - the Von Schweikert speakers aren't the most efficient on the block and, from what I've read, the nature of their crossover design make them fairly power hungry. I can tell you that when I auditioned the Creek 5350SE and the Musical Fidelity A300 - there was no comparison between the two. Especially in the handling of the bass; the MF won hands down.
I auditioned Cambridge Audio, Creek, Bel Canto, and Musical Fidelity integrateds with the VSA speakers. I fairly quikly dismissed the Cambridge Audio and Creek; the Bel Canto was out of my price range. Even if the Bel Canto had of been more affordable, I'm confident I would have still gone with the A300.
Good luck - let us know what you end up doing!