Are integrated amps technically better than separates?

It’s so interesting that folks think they need a high quality power chord and expensive interconnects. Never mind that just inside the wall is the cheapest copper lines the contractor could buy.

If you are suggesting that a power cord does not obey Ohm's Law... Ohm's Law isn't like a speed limit; it can't be broken. By comparison, the solid core wiring in the wall is fairly high performance in terms of voltage drops along its length compared to a power cord, but it is illegal to use Romex or the like for power cords. The effect of the power cord is measurable and with relatively unsophisticated instruments. So the onus is on you to explain why they can't have an effect.

I've seen power cords rob a 140 watt amp of 40 watts of its output power. If you are suggesting that is not audible as well... sheesh! Its pretty laughable.

@erniesch, finally someone with a bit of sense.  Thank you....

AT MOST, a 12 to 13 gauge wire is enough for 99% of almost all home amplifiers/subwoofers etc, up to approx 200Watts RMS/channel.  Its ohmic resistance will be no more than 0.02 ohms for a 10 ft cable and will allow EASILY up to 7 amps (and that is very conservative, max is 30) giving approximately 850 watts.  And the skin effect will be negligible until about 5300Hz.  Since mains is at 60 Hz, there is essentially no skin effect.  Here is the chart:

https://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

And for monster amplifiers like 1000 watts/channel, you can always have a dedicated 50 amp cooker/range cable installed but think... how many times in your life do you crank up that volume to that level for long periods of listening ?

erniesch4 posts05-19-2020 8:54pm

It’s so interesting that folks think they need a high quality power chord and expensive interconnects. Never mind that just inside the wall is the cheapest copper lines the contractor could buy. It’s laughable. Just inside your loudspeaker is usually a thin generic cable connection between the crossover and drivers.
You need expensive cables because it makes you feel better.

Expensive no, adequate yes.. Feel better, never..

PC and interconnects can cost a few bucks and a little time too.

It can almost make up for some of the inadequacies, you pointed out..

Glad you noticed why every little bit helps....Your learning..

Took a while for me too...

Regards

Not the quality of the cable in the walls argument yet again. I dont know why it is such a stretch to understand that any improvement made before or after the AC outlet helps. Improve what you can where you can. 

Also why in the world would the power output of an amplifier or integrated have anything to do with this argument. Am I missing something?

Hi @atmasphere ,

Each amplification stage, capacitor and cable add distortions and noise.

All those gain stages are in an integrated amp too. Usually though you have a greater chance of lower noise with separates since crosstalk and intermodulations from the other channel won’t exist.

But pream has to have output stage that drives interconnect and relatively low impedance (compared to tube input inside amp) of power amplifier input. The interstage driver in integrated amplifier is much easy to design and doesn’t have to have a feedback and output transformer or big value capacitor or sophisticated DC cancelling circuit.