seperates over integrated. Why?

Why haven't you guys asked Stan... if blindfolded can he pick out which is what? SS/tube separates or SS/tube integrated of equal quality(not price) setup on a speaker designed for either? Using the same source of course.I can pretty much guarantee he can't ..and neither can anyone else.LOL

Everything is system dependent .Not everyone needs a kilowatt amplifer to drive speakers.:-)

Stan, we don't disagree at all here except for the point about price. I always look at the price point to which a component was built when considering performance. If looking for the best sound on a budget of $2K or less then integrated amps should be considered. The originator of this post mentioned a $700 integrated as a possibility; that's where I was coming from.
BTW my first amp was an Eico integrated tube amp I had as a teenager back in the 60s. Been an active listener ever since.

Because of the variability of the interconnects. Because the best interconnect on earth can not possibly sound better than no interconnect at all. Because Integrated amps are designed as a single unit and there are no design compromises in trying to make the preamp compatable with a wide variety of amps. Because Because the amp and preamp stages are much better isolated than they were a decade or more ago. Because selecting interconnects at an unnecessary stage in the amplification chain confuses the already confusing issue of component matching. Although I do have a Melos SHA-1 through the DK Design interconnects and a modified Moscode 300 that still sounds better than anything I have ever heard, so go figure.

It comes down to both sides being correct. I have no doubt that in the upper reaches of power and performance, separates are unequalled. Whether this is because nowone has tried to produce a "cost no object" integrated, or because the ultimate limitations of an integrated chassis, set a performance limit. None of us, I think, dispute the benefits of separating power amp transformers and heat, from the sensitive low voltage preamp stage.
The argument is better put, that in the world most of us live in, at the price we can afford, what gives you "bang for your bucks". To me the cost savings of a single chassis, make the integrated a serious proposition. This is particularly so, because manufacturers themselves are taking integrated amps seriously, with a number of very good units available now. Take Accuphase, krell, Mark Levinson, Music Fidelity in SS and VAC, ARC, Jadis, Viva, Unison Research, in tubes.
I have gone from separates to a tube integrated, the Viva Solista and get what I consider, serious performance at a real world price.

I heard at a show a £30,000 cd player feeding a £X0,000 pre feeding a £30,000 power amp £12,000 pair of speakers with £x,ooo intereconnects. A bit of Ricci the violinist sounded amazing, certainly eual to my syastem, though no better i'd guess. so i asked him to play Hotel California on the Eagle's Hell Freezes Over cd, and it sounded absolutely awful. You could pay £300 for every thing and do as well. I AM NOT JOKING. On my system that track sounds great, and is beautifully produced, for those of you who havent yet heard it at its best. Heard it wonderfully through a car sterio last week as well (ok it was good alpine gear). So whats The Fuss!!! I am becoming increasingly despondent. My system is one of the few ive heard that can make a grand piano half way interesting. I am a pianist who can tell a 5' grand from a 6' one live, but know of no cd player that can get much past @it may be a grand piano@ if i'm honest. Also, that Jadis is getting awful writeups at audiocircle. I'd love to hear it for myself but refuse to pay £900 on ebay right now to find out! Damn! (probably my loss) I wonder if there's a follow my leader mentality in audio with lots of people. So Seperates vs Integrated - blind test and hava a laugh.In HI FI+ issue 34 they did blind ABing of speaker cable with 3 "experts" who write for them, and one of them put a £40 QED cable in a system over the mighty £2000 Vallhala cable. Also, to compound it, they then tried to give reasons for it and did a terrible job of making sense of the stats (I did maths at university by the way). I wish they'd used 24g ratshack copper nicely seperated for impedence as well just to really make fools of themselves. Are you getting my drift? Seperates vs integrated starts to become muddied water. And what about the room!!! My brain hurts. AAGHH