Integrated Amps vs. Separates.

This is a great topic, I have been bitten by this dam bug since i was 12 years old and i still have it. But a few weeks ago i sold off my levinson sepreates not to buy something else but to scale down and recoupe some of my money.Well I did not have music in my house for a few days and panic set in [ Sometimes i go for a month without even putting my system on] But knowing i only had my speakers and nothing else i stated to panic, then i remembered i had an old Fisher Intergrated amp in the basement, that i bought from a tag sale some years ago. Well guess what not only did i get my fix and the panic go away I love it.I am now looking for a tube intergrated amp with more power but I am sold on the concept.Thank you for letting me vent,who needs prozac!Or a shrink for that matter go and buy a stereo system an intergrated amp I am.

Thanks Brian! Also, VTL is coming-up with their integrated amp: IT-85, in about 3 months, at the price of 2500 US. I would imagine, it will be probably same thing as ST-85? It is so many (gear) to chose from! One, must feel like a "donkey and two carrots..."?!

I have heard the IT-85, and it is a very nice integrated system. I have never a-b compared an integrated to separates. I think on the used market you will probably get a little better deal on an integrated. You have to figure in a 100-400 savings on a good quality interconnect as well. Not to mention the sheer simplicity of a one box verses many solution. A third alternative would be to buy a CD player with variable outputs and a normal amplifier. You connect the CD directly to the amplifier. Sony, wadia , and cal labs make some of these.

Krell is the king of hype and little else. Look at the number of them for sale here and everywhere else. Once people actually listen to them for a few months, they realize how bad they sound.

I own a KAV300i, albeit used, and my impression was that it is a piece of crap. Maybe it's just a bad match for my speakers (Spendor S3/5), I don't know. I much prefer my Jolida tube integrated or my Musical Fidelity A3CR. On the subject of integrated vs. separates, I'm not sure I understand the general rule that separates are better than integrateds. Wouldn't you want shorter cable runs of the lower level signal(s), I.E. between pre-amp and amp? Isn't an integrated the shortest possible cable run? Also, I'm not sure this is how all integrateds are built, but wouldn't it be better to lower the amplification than to lower the signal that's fully amplified, thus reducing noise? The analogy I use is to driving: you don't change speed by shifting, you lower the gas.