Migration to Seperates

Jimmy,

I think John pretty much highlighted the point I was making:

"Judsause means, and it's also why so many audiophiles prefer separates, because separates completely isolate the components (which integrated don't do), thus providing better sonic performance."

First of all, I didn't realize that you could bypass the pre-amp section of your integrated. And I assumed that you were going straight from your pre-amp to a line level input on your integrated. The way you are doing it may work fine.

Getting back to my point; although I am not an engineer, I do have a decent ear (at least I'd like to think so). I remember when I swapped out my Krell KAV300i integrated amp and went the way of seperates, I was totally blown away by the increased level of focus, seperation, and slam. It is in my opinion that, with seperates, the signal passes through less hardware and is isolated and sheilded far better than an integrated amp. I'm not at all knocking integrated amps. It's just simple physics, it is performing many tasks in one box which is bound to affect the presentation. It's a trade off that may or may not matter, all depending on one's taste.

I would urge you, though, if you can; swap out your integrated amp and slip in a dedicated two channel amp. I'll bet your ears will notice. If you lived on Long Island, I'd even bring over an amp (I have an extra, just in case; you never know when I could break a speaker terminal screw!!)

Good luck!

Judsauce -
Thanks! I am going to give it a shot. I hope that I get 1/2 the experience that you had! And dont for a minute worry that you offended me by preferring seperatese to integrateds. I am too new at all of this to have any ego tied up in it.
I was a musician growing up and totally engrossed in music. Then I got away from it for about 20 years. So I have a lot of catching up to do.
When I bought the integrated (on this site. really great place.) I couldnt imagine spending the money that good seperates cost but 6 months later, it dosent seem that shocking.
I am going to try components that I can demo via mail order first. I know that NuForce and class d have thier detractors but I had a really great conversation with them and they are sending thier current pre and their current monos for me to demo for 2 weeks for $20. I will try them both together and seperatly with the 2 facets of the mac and see what happens. Then I will send them back and see what else is out there.
If you have any favorites that allow for audition in this manner please let me know. I would like to be able to get the combo used for 6 to 8k.
Again, thanks for the input!

Jimmy,

For 6 to 8k, I would say that the Audiogon world is your oyster! It all boils down to personal taste. And personal taste in this hobby varies widely from individual to individual.

I was also a "budding" musician, and still play feverishly (but not for a living).

I progressed through various two channel configurations and migrated to what I call, a "poor man's hi-end system".

First off, I pumped some serious dough into a pair of Dunlavy SC3's. These are time-aligned, phase coherant speakers that are very revealing, with a sweet spot that is smaller than the width of my head. But they sound heavanly.

They are fed with a budget giant killer pre-amp long discontinued by Adcom (former class A rated on Stereophile): GFP 750. That is feeding a Krell KAV 250 amplifier (250watts@8ohms, 500watts@4ohms). It is Krell's "Audio video line", not the high end line, but you'd never know it.

My Cd player has a tubed front end, and my phono stage is a tube Sonic Frontiers vintage phono pre-amp. So, I get the slam of the solid state world, combined with the warmth of the tubed world, and , in my opinion, it doesn't get any better than this. It took me about ten years to cull it all together, but I am loving it.

You can find used Krell, KRC 2 pre-amps for around 1,200. They are great pre-amps and always sell fast. Classe makes great amps, around 200 watts, at about 4 to 5 years old would cost you around another 1,200 or 1,500. Bryston also makes great amps that you can get great deals on (although some say they are a bit on the bright side, but they have a great warranty deal that is transferrable).

I'd keep that Mac, don't sell it. But there is so much stuff out there that is not that expensive that will fit the performance bill that I urge you not to spend all that cash when you could find an amp and pre-amp for half of that. Although I can't offer a suggestion of an e-retailer that will let your audition, you may be able to research the archives here at A'gon to scope out units to purchase used. And if you don't like them, just keep the packing material, and offer it up to someone else.

Good luck!

judsauce
thanks. Once I have found something I like better, the mac will go. it is too big/valuble to keep around. I will definatly stay with the used market for electronics. Just too much extra value to be had. Speakers are another story. Not sure that I could buy them used.
Thanks agian!

Judsauce -
Have had the chance to spend a week with the nuforce products. The P9 pre and the v2se monos. Pulled the jumpers on my mcintosh and mixed and matched.
I really like the nuforce monos. Very strong in terms of imaging. I like the pre to except it has very "hot" gain settings. Meaning I can only use 3 or 4% of the volume and the steps are very pronounced. Nuforce says that thier volume control sounds better (see thier literature if you are interested. Over my head.) but all I know is that it is not practical for my needs. Great HT integration though. One of the inputs acts as a passthrough when the pre is off. It is so simple that it is spouse proof. I am going to let go of my integrated and look around for a tubed pre with an ht bypass. Let me know if you have any suggestinos. THX!