seperates over integrated. Why?

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

Gilbodavid:

It's like I said at the very beginning of your thread ... In the end, it really is about what is important to you and what you are willing to spend and tolerate to play your tunes.

Ultimately, I buy what sounds the best to me. I know what I am willing to spend for a component (usually new) and I look to respect my budget. Compared to others on Agon, I live in the mid-fi world. I'm OK with that. I do make the occasional mistake when I buy something over the net without doing my homework, I just try to make it not so costly. It is why I am always looking for bargains and close outs. I also accept the compromises that either my hearing, my furniture set-up, my cats' climbing tendencies, and my wife's feelings add to the equation.

I have heard lots of equipment and easily 3/4 of it does very little for me and that includes some of the most touted brands here ... Vandersteen, Wilson Watt Puppies, Thieles, B&W's to name a few. I am off ... possibly, but as the Romans would say ... "de gustibus non disputandum est" (to each his own).

Enjoy the trip.

Regards, Rich

i have had separates and downsized my system with a very stable Chord integrated amp and have never looked back. it depends on budget etc., but for 5k and below there are many integrated amps on the market which can compete sonically with separates...