What price point favors separates over integrated?

I guess it all depends on your money situation, because separates have more extra cost associated with them.

For example, I just went to mono-blocks. Now I have a pre-amp and two amps.

My power cords cost $550.00 a piece and interconnects cost $500.00 a pair. So an integrated would need one power cord, where I need three and a set of interconnects. So the pre-amp/mono-block set up cost an extra $1,600.00 in cables.

I also need three spaces in my rack for them instead of just one, as well as three outlets instead of just one.

The main reason that I like separates is because I have played music all of my life, and I have the audiophile 'addiction', and continually change trying to hear more and more.

There is no price, or real reason why one must be better than the other IMO, separates offer advantages of mix and match which opens up a lot of doors towards getting exactly the sound you are after. Both can be built to any price or quality level the designer may have the skills to implement.

Dave

Thanks, Krell man. It's all that additional cost in cords, interconnects, and boxes that I'm wondering about. This additional cost seems to argue heavily in favor of an integrated -- even at, say $5K. You like Musical Fidelity amps. (I do too. They've got a really sweet sound.) Why not the A5 or KW500? That extra $1600 in cables could buy a lot more power in an integrated.

Of course, you couldn't fiddle with the two separately. I get that. But I'm guessing at some price point, the advantages of separates/monoblocks outweigh the disadvantages of all of those extra boxes and cables.

There are additional benefits to separates, that may or may not be audible to all listeners, such as separation of power supplies in the power and pre, less crosstalk between co-mingled audio circuitry (that's debatable), and fewer heat dissipation concerns, since you are theoretically cramming less stuff into a chassis. That being said, some of the ultra-high end integrateds avoid these issues by being large, housing power supplies in separate chassis, or using new switch mode amp topologies, which run more effifintly and therefore have fewer heat dissipation issues. I own the Musical Fidelity kW500, which is similar to the big ASR integrateds in that they offload the PSU in another box. Of course this level of design takes away two of the more obvious beneftis of integrated design - small chassis and thus lower price. To me it is worth it, but I wouldn't bet the farm that I could tell the difference between the A5 and the kW500 in a DBT...

Since this thread seems to have gone to the MF crowd, thought I would chime in. IMHO there is no advantage one way or the other depending on the manufacture. My A308 integrated has 2 seperate power supplies 1 for the pre and 1 for the amp. And yes it is a beast of an integrated. I have been drooling over the KW750 pre and KW750 amp for my next upgrade only because I feel a need for more head room.

My previous set up was a B&K pre model? and a B&K ST2140 amp at a cost of $1400.00 for the pair purchased in 2002. Before that was an Adcom pre 555II and 2 Adcom 555 amps run in mono purchased in 1989. Were these good setups in my opinion yes but I was a fledgeing audiofool.

Now that I am a junior audiofool and have listened to a lot more gear I have definatly developed preferences for sound. I am lucky in that I have always been able to come home after a listening session sit down in front of the system and be happy with the sound that is comming from it.

Michael

I'm jealous. The kW500 is a beast! And I bet you *could* tell the difference, provided the speakers were inefficient enough, and the volumes high enough. The specs on those two amps are quite different.

More importantly, how much would you have to spend on separates to find something that really shines over your kW500? My guess is... a LOT!

Yeah the PSU is in another box, but still, no ics to deal with. I don't know... do you replace the power cable between PSU and amp w/ aftermarket?

Yes, I replaed the stock power cord with a 30 amp Elrod Signature 3.0. My kW500 replaced $17k of separates. That being said, I've heard a BAT system recently that made me very jealous. And the big ASR integrated makes me ponder a second mortgage, if we can trust HP's assessment...

I didn't read things clearly, but I recommend Nuforce amps and the Oritek X-2 interconnects.