Tube Integrated vs Tube Seperates

Hello,

How about the PL preamp with some Kinki Sudio mono blocks. The KS are $3500 for the pair. You get tube sound with great power and all separate. Short speaker runs are better. 
rogue has some great stuff like the RH-5 preamp and maybe a DragoN amp. Again, best of all worlds because the amp is a hybrid tech and you can run all this on XLR interconnects. Nice option for a decent phono stage built in if you need one. 

@ebm  

"Separates will be quieter and better in most cases." and why would that be the case? less interconnects with intergated hardware, less circuit less everything....

@canibefrank  The most weakness of the integragted amplifier is that the pre and power inside used the some electric source, and then splite energy inside,so the  pre affect the power, and power affect the pre, which suppose to be independent.

Pre has very important job to do and the job is quite different from amplifier. 

The name pre is not suitable at all, it is called  magnifier. so the siginal from the CD or streamer should first go magnify and then amplify and then go to speaker.

That is the procedure, but in  integrated, they merge the step 1 and step 2 into one step. That is the reason.

The preamp section of tube integrated amps is usually pretty weak - like a 12au7 or 2, ugh. The volume control quality is also crucial, and often compromised here compared to what you’d get in a standalone pre.

In some ways it seems like a good idea - eliminate an interconnect w/ contact connections, and the preamp stage can be designed exactly for a known load. But the reality is it takes away real estate and budget from making the power section as great as it could be. A high end integrated could be done better with a larger budget but that’s not usually the target market, and so integrated amps usually file in towards a line’s entry level offerings, compromises and all.

Try a tube preamp like a Reference 6 and see what the fuss is all about for having a dedicated tube preamp with lots of tubes, real estate, and engineering to get this stage right.

Then there will always be an argument from the passive pre guys, saying you don’t need the gain from an active stage and it's all unnecessary coloration. Or that you only need a few dB at most from a very simple circuit, buffer, or transformer. I dunno - maybe that’s ok for a digitally sourced system. I only run vinyl and I need the extra gain available, and love what a good dedicated active pre does sonically.

@sandthemall   +1

            " Knowing what I know now,I would have gotten a Line Magnetic or a Luxman Class A integrated.

            "Primaluna is something I should have tried much earlier in my journey"

Very good words! You talk about the true story! The tube world is  very large,and Luxman Class A,even it is SS,can win a lot of tube amplifier. BUT some  people do not aware of.