Why don't higher end amplifiers come with a separate power chassis?


Many higher end preamplifiers come with separate power boxes, but I don't see amplifiers with separate boxes, any idea why this might be?

emergingsoul

I would say to cost and plus designing a psu takes time and effort that people don’t want to use. Also home equipment is a copy from pro equipment and all pro equipment is made to fit in a standard 19 inch rack so since home copies they use very similar designed circuitry if not an exact copy just they don’t copy the chassis and standard 19 inch rack design. Also I know with professional amps crown xli and xls the power section is shielded fairly decently so putting a separate power block doesn’t make much sense. If you want separate power blocks I do believe Bursonaudio has them for sale and they aren’t so cheap a couple of thousand for a decent one so enjoy and know this if you listen to mostly music pro is the way to go. Kudos

and know this if you listen to mostly music pro is the way to go. Kudos

If this is your listening experience outcome, good for you and stick with it. I find well designed and implemented audio products for domestic environments provide a higher level of sound quality. So to each their own.

Charles

As expected, we’ve seen technically competent remarks from the younger, faster, and better looking members of this group. From an old guy’s perspective, I will add that the additional economic impact of building 2 chassis is significant. Here’s an (incomplete?) list of what happens when you split and amp in half:

- 2 chassis

- 2 faceplates

- 2 on/off switches (maybe)

- 2 shipping cartons

- 2 sets of packing materials

- 2 items to ship, handle. insure against damage

- 2 sets of service literature

- 2 sets of marketing materials (if items sold separately)

- 2 invoices

- 2 items to warehouse, inventory.

- and, last, but not least, 2 items to find room for in a rack, floor, shelf, or doily hanging from the ceiling

From a technical perspective (which I am underqualified to contribute), when high power between components is exposed to the environment, more precautions are needed in the cabling/connections. Thus, more insulation. Some have found that insulators/dialetrics are a factor in sound quality. The cost of the connections/terminators will be higher than if handled internally. But, then there exists the possiblity that the added real estate can allow for larger, more robust components. "If we just had a little more spece, we could have ...."