I would greatly appreciate advice on upgrading my amplification. I wouldn't mind going with separates, or involving tubes somehow, but I don't want to go over $3K total. I listen to all types of jazz & classical, and some rock, but no head-pounding.
I can understand why it's starting to hurt your brain--lots of things to consider!
The pre-amp stages of the brands you are looking at should all be able to drive good amps--that's why they have the pre-amp outputs. So I don't think you are loosing much by buying an integrated. Also, if needed, you can always sell the integrated when the time comes. That's one benefit of buying good gear used--someone has already taken the depreciation hit for you :)
I'm not dead-set on bi-amping...at least for now. It just seems to make sense to me that separate, clean signals through good wires to each set of drivers will lead to a clarity of sound.
I agree that having power from the pre and amp to different parts of the speaker sounds like a funky idea. This brings up the crux of the issue--why spend a lot of money on a high-quality integrated if it is only going to be a pre-amp someday soon? Are there any good, affordable integrateds with great pre-amp stages that could drive Class A amplifiers eventually? If not, I think it makes sense to have a great integrated amp for now, and eventually move to separates. It would kill me to have a paid-for amplification source just sittin' there. Of course, could that source power a subwoofer while the preamp feeds to two amplifiers for the main speakers?
This all is starting to hurt my brain. Now we know why Arcam made the Solo!
I see that you are set on bi-amping. At the end of all this, you'll have to let me know how it all sounds. I'm curious--I've never tried it before.
What you want to happen is to allow the pre-amp section of the integrated drive the amplification stages. I don't know if you can use both the pre-amp output and the amplification stage of the integrated. Something seems weird about that...I can't quite put it in words though.
Hopefully you'll get some other (more expereinced) opinions as well.
It does make sense, and since your first response, I have done some initial research on the Krell and Plinius integrateds...as well as Simaudio (which is often mentioned as a good match for Totem, even by Vince Bruzzese), and my somewhat emotional choice of Arcam, which allows you to bi-amp with an integrated and its related power amp.
Now, your suggestion of an integrated amp at first makes complete sense to me. But, if you plan to use the pre-outs later to bi-amp, are you using two matched power amps controlled by the pre, or are you still using the power from the integrated for one set of drivers, and the new power amp for the other drivers?
I'm sure the answer depends on a lot of things, such as, does the company produce a matching integrated and amp...and does the integrated have good enough a pre-amp section to justify that use while ignoring its power section?
Thanks for the discourse so far, and I look forward to your, and anyone else's advice.
I think an integrated would be an easy way to begin exploring what you can do. The interconnects are important and if you try to go for separates, you'll have a lot of variables to play with:
pre-amp amp interconnects between source(s) and pre-amp interconnects between pre-amp and amp
If you go with an integrated, you drop all this down to one thing: which integrated to get. And if you get something with pre-amp outputs then you can still expand it later by using the integrated as a pre-amp exclusively and feeding another amplifier.
So while this is a longer approach, it allows you to save some $$ in the short run and focus on one area now while still exploring your options.
Not at all 9.9 of 10 amps will have single speaker outputs even in the $20,000 and above range, actually its odd that Denon does this. Most would agree that any biwire is best, I biwire but from 2 amps so one is my bass amp and another my mid and tweeter amp 9 (I use both outputs from preamp). Even upgrading the jumper can make improovement. Like I said that Denon feature is odd and you may never see thst again on any peice of gear............cheers
My Denon has two sets of speaker outputs, and one of the pairs is actually named "bi-wire." So I was going to do two complete runs.
I guess my question is, does the single run, splitting to two at the speaker actually make a positive difference over a single run with good jumpers between the driver inputs?
I've noticed that a number of high-quality integrateds (like Simaudio) only have one set of speaker outputs...does this show that bi-wiring isn't considered worthwhile by the industry?
Bi wire can come in two forms, one end from amp that goes to two end at speakers or a true "shotgun" biwire wich is ofcourse two seperate runs. An Integrated will be simple as interconnects are very important and a good performer will no dont be built with the proper and ideal synergy between amp and pre.
I'm intrigued by part of your answer--"so you don't have look for additional interconnects right now."
My guess is that the additional cost of good interconnects would blow my budget if separates were used. Does this mean that you (and others) believe that interconnects are equally important to the other hardware? I am starting to hear some results, having put in the Mapleshade wires and the Totem Sinews from the CD-36 to my amplifier.
And another subject to cover...I have noticed that the Simaudio Moon integrateds only have left and right outputs, with no provisions for bi-wiring. How do you feel about bi-wiring vs. bi-amping? I was getting ready to buy another set of speaker wires to bi-wire my Hawks.
I would suggest going with an integrated so you don't have look for additional interconnets right now. One unit I've had great luck with is the Krell KAV-300i. It should go from $1000-$1250 or so. Krell discontinued this model a few years ago, and they rolled out the KAV-400xi so used is your only option.
