2. amps-preamps
  3. 1427462992

integrated watts or amp watts

Most "Stereophile recommended" integrated amps only have a rating of about 50-70 watts (creek, exposure, croft, arcam). Others like the Anthem and NAD have more, but separates (amp+pre-amp) seem to have more watts. I was told that for a budget of $1500 for this, I'd get the best bang for the buck with integrated vs seperates. The question I have is 2 fold..
1) Does Stereophile only "recommend" these lower powered integrateds because they're the ones with phono stages (which I don't care about)?

2) To have a really dynamic accurate loud system do I need gobs of power assuming the speaker is in the avg. 8ohm range with avg. 91db efficiency (not an electrostat, etc)
How much money do I need to spend? Is a 70 watt integrated only good for a small bedroom system, and separates needed to rock towers and the whole house? Just curious.
labguy

Showing 1 response by rlwainwright

rlwainwright
1,904 posts
 
Mesch has giben the most accurate info. so far. I would simply add that it is quite possible to assemble a system comprising separates if you shop carefully. Emotiva offer a very good preamp (XSP-1) and amps of reasonable wattage (70-150 watts per channel, XPA-200) that will rock your world. The links provided show a system for $1500 that does everything you want...

And they have 30 days in-home trial and a 5 year warranty...

https://emotiva.com/products/pres-and-pros/xsp-1

https://emotiva.com/products/amplifiers/xpa-200

-RW-
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