Can an integrated amp be used as a power amp

Used to be very common for integrated amps to be wired with Pre- In and Power-Out in which case they really can be used as two separate components.    

Hardly any have that feature any more. Still, it can be used as a power amp, with one very big caveat. Without a Pre-In the incoming signal will go through the pre-amp section and be subject to its volume control. In many integrated amps the "pre-amp" section can be nothing more than an attenuator. In this case you could turn the volume all the way up and run your preamp signal into any input. You want the volume turned all the way up because then it will be passing the full signal, and also no risk of the volume being turned up while running, which could potentially drive the amp into clipping real fast. 

Doesn’t "HT bypass input", mean same as "poweramp input" also??

Cheers George

I’m pretty sure what George said is correct... but I have to ask... why use one integrated amp as a power amp through another integrated power amp? Seems an odd goal? What are you trying to achieve?

HT bypass (when available) will allow an integrated amplifier to behave as a power amp, and the preamp (or HT receiver) will connect to one of the L/R inputs on the integrated amp.

I couldn't find the owner's manual for the OP's model on-line, so not sure if it has this option.

Some brands/models allow every input to be used for this feature, and some designate one particular input for this. For some brands/models, it is enabled with a switch on the back of the unit (Naim). Others may enable automatically on just one input, while others will allow any input to be set for HT bypass (software controlled on the amp).

@atorres53, do you see anything in the owner's manual regarding HT or Home Theater Bypass? I don't know how common this is for tube integrated amps.

OP is trying to use his Hegel H390 as a preamp?

Perhaps trying to access the DAC output of the Hegel, into the tube integrated? If so, are there other/better options to do so?

Some people use the HT bypass on an SS integrated to incorporate a tube preamp into their system, without having to replace an existing integrated amp. Or to evaluate the use of tubes.