integrated /seperates step down

Jadis Reference Orchestra will be a step up.

I realized that this might have been a vague question.

Would the switch likely disappoint? Has anyone switched from seperates like this to integrated and felt an improvement?

Please expound. Personal experience?

I have to admit that the balance and bass/treble controls concern me, but I have heard great things.

I don't have any experience with the equipment you mention, but two years ago I switched from separate Pass phono preamp, preamp and power amp to a Jeff Rowland Concentra I w/ phono. The sound was clearly different, but only slightly so in musically significant terms and I've never felt the Rowland was a step down in performance.

The current issue of The Absolute Sound has an article where different reviewers assemble complete systems. Of the nine systems, five were based upon integreted amps. Great systems can be based around integreted amps. Give it a try, you might be pleasantly surprised.

...step-up towards full(er) range than with 2a3 SET. If you can get a good used deal on Jadis integrated I guess it's worth it.

I have have "stepped up" (significantly) going "down" to a Rowland Concentra II.

I switched from separates to a Jeff Rowland Concentra I integrated amp. I also have the Meridian 508.24 Cd player and ProAc 2.5 Speakers. I have never felt the Rowland was a step down in performance and am enjoying my system very much. My goal was to simplify my system, reduce cables and still have great sound. The only way for you to judge this change is to borrow someones integrated amplifier and try it out in your system. It is also interesting that 2 other people above have switched to the Rowland Concentra. Hope this helps.

I thinck that if you had an adequate context,( pre-amp.-speaker combination) assisting your Cary 2a3 monoblock, it would be, I believe, next to impossible to preserve this quality of sound, coming from an integrated
On a overall scale thought, an integrated of a certain design, can sound superior than a seperate of a different design, even a vastly more expensive one.
This point, is based, on my actual personal experience. Yet, lets take Martin Collom, wich as reviewed components steadily with HI FI News (Britain) for well over a dozen years, and use the result of his sound quality point system with witch he score each pieces under review, on a absolute scale. regardless of price, genre or practicallity.
Lets use the Cary CAD LX20 SEi, (KR 300 BLXS), witch is the highest scored integrated by him at 35 points, ( not its remote version scoring less at 29 points) to show that even quality "seperated" can be equal or surpassed.
Cary CAD-572 SE monoblock, 35 points
Conrad Johnson Premier 8a monoblock, 33 points
Krell FPB 300 stereo,33 points
Bel Canto SE 40 stereo, 28 points
Audio Research VT 100 stereo, 21 points
Cary SLA70 mk11 stereo, 20 points
Sunfire mk11 stereo, 14 points
On the other hand, an integrated version of its same monoblock version should always lose in the comparaison, as it was the case here when Collom scored the CAD LX20 SE MONOBLOCK at 50 points, (his highest score for an amp.that I know of, althought not for a pre-amp, as the Conrad Johnson ART got 55 points.
I believe, that, if your speaker as kept your little 4 watts monoblock under-performing as they most of the time do, then the Jadis integrated will be more plaisure to listen to.

Pboutin- What do you think would improve the context? The Cary SLP-88 should be very compatible and appears to be of high quality. It uses the 2 - 6SN7.

Do you think the Soliloquy 2A3 is the weak link? I chose them because Dennis Had designed them and I read an article where he uses the same system I now have only with a Cary CDP and Purist Audio cables.

As general rule of thumb, if you don't need lots of power, than integrated will sound more superior than separates