Thinking about trying seperates

motorstereo said:
Once you get your feet wet with separates you can go a bit further with monoblocks, 2 piece preamps, cd transport with separate dac, a sub or 2 or an active crossover. Fully balanced quality interconnects is yet another step up the ladder and I won't mention room treatments or dedicated electrical circuits.
Enjoy the ride as the fun part is starting now. :)
Click to expand...
I re-entered the hobby about 4 years ago, starting with a receiver, followed by a passive preamp and a single power amp. My system has since evolved to a preamp, DSP processor, 6 mono amps, phono & phono pre, an Oppo BDP-103 as both a transport & standalone player for SACD, a dedicated streamer and DAC, as well as a 7-channel AVR for multichannel audio and video. I can't imagine ever going back to just a receiver; even my secondary system consists of separates, although I have a mono-only setup that uses a primitive integrated amp.
 
Last edited:
Sometimes depends upon what you listen to...either home sourced music, or if into radio station offerings. However, a lot of the "stuff" being shared in the air waves today, you may not want to go with a sensitive/selective tuner upgrade down the road.

Some times dept of pocket determines your choice.


Q
 
Akustic said:
Spend some time researching though ...

There are way too many mediocre pieces that don't necessarily sound any better than most of the receivers ..
Click to expand...
^^^ yes,this right here,what this member says ^^^
Don't automatically think you will be getting into higher quality sound by making the switch. It is possible to end up with worse or equal sound quality.
Just like anything else in life,there are both good and crap sounding separates.
There are both good and crap sounding receivers.
 
sandpit56 said:
i have been looking, thinking about building a tube amp and build a custom system. a friend of mine builds them from scratch,dang they sound good
Click to expand...

If you're liking the harmonics that tubes bring to the system, there are some really nice sounding Chinese clones of classic tube amps that can be had
for a very very reasonable price .. Yaqin makes some nice pieces.
Maybe a bit quicker than building ..

Enjoy the Music ..
 
sandpit56 said:
I have always had receivers, but thought I might try seperates. Any advice is greatly appreciated
Click to expand...
If you have the option, take your receiver, or even your whole system, to an audio dealer and let them help you compare what you have to things they have to offer. Arranging for a home demo or borrowing a floor sample of something you're interested in is also very helpful. I'm a big believer, when possible, in not spending money without first hearing that it will actually improve your listening experience.

I was happy with an integrated amp until I wanted to own some difficult to drive speakers. The Linn LK1 preamp and LK2 power amp were, not unexpectedly, a great match for Linn Sara speakers. After a couple decades, and when my failing Linn gear was no longer supported by service from the importer, I switched over to Audio by Van Alstine OmegaStar solid state separates. Van Alstine recommended their lowest cost amplifier because that was all I needed for the much easier to drive Vandersteen speakers I had switched to. Both the Linn and Van Alstine separates really did provide better sound than the Tandberg receiver I used in another room or even the NAD separate preamplifier I bought as a backup during my earlier, and short-lived, tube separates foray.

Now an apartment dweller, with limited space, reduced income, senior citizen ears, and enforced low volume level listening so as not to disturb the neighbors, I'm very much enjoying the sound quality and simple setup of a Rotel integrated amplifier and my little Cambridge Audio bookshelf speakers. Plenty good enough to bring satisfying music into my home.
 
With integrated, Marantz 2230, 2245, 2270, 4270 come to mind.
Among many other brands, I just picked these, because I have owned or own them.

Separates, well the list is endless, McIntosh is an investment, some hate or love.
As posted above Nelson Pass designs, John Curl, Dan D’Agostino- Including his Aragon designs, I am currently running both Aragon Aurum, and47k units. Not to forget James Bonjiorno!
Lots more, these just come to mind.

Still own Bottlehead Paramours, I built and modified years ago, 2A3 tubes, or 45 Tubes with a couple resistor changes.
Eico ST series for more tubes, Dynakit…

Once again, Happy Listening.

=-=
 
After reading through all the posts, I agree with going with seperates.
There is far less compromises with seperates that there are with many recievers. Seperates are far easier to deal with if you decide to ugrade. Like deciding later you need a more powerful amplifier or integrated amp, or your happy with your preamp, amp, or integrated amp, but the tuner isn't good enough. You can just get a better tuner. No need to buy another receiver just to have a better tuner. That goes for any of the seperate components in your system as well.
Its also just easier to upgrade one componant at a time as your budget allows.
Something I've always done is have backups for my seperates. I bought used and nothing all that expensive really. Decent, but something to just get me by until I can get a component repaired or replaced.
Recently The preamp in my main systwm developed a problem. I had another preamp I had built that I used until I repaired the other preamp.
The one I built doesn't sound as good as the one that failed, or had the features of my main preamp, but the the preamp I built does sound pretty good, and got me by until I got the other repaired.
My system is tube based and severel years back one of my power tubes failed in an amp in my main system and I had a backup amp I had built to use until I got a new tube.
The only draw back to having seperates is they do take up more space than a receiver. But there are some very nice compact amps, preamps, CD players, etc that take up very little space if space is an issue.
I can't see ever going back to having a receiver myself.
 
Yes. Try separates. Then you'll know for sure if they are for you, or not.
I've gone back and forth between receivers, integrated amps, and separates many times over the decades.
Nowadays, I'm pretty much all receivers all the time. However, I think a nice integrated is gonna make its way into the rotation soon enough. Seein' as how FM basically is crap these days.
 
Just get a nice tube pre-amp to start with like: Conrad Johnson, Cary, ARC, something nice on the used market. You can always input the tube-pre-amp into your other non tube amp, receiver or ... and get a nice taste of the tube sound.
 
If you just want to stick your toe in the water, I agree with what others have said in that a high quality Integrated Amp might be the answer. I have been very happy with Sony ES and Rotel Int amps over the years.
 
RT Fan said:
If you just want to stick your toe in the water, I agree with what others have said in that a high quality Integrated Amp might be the answer. I have been very happy with Sony ES and Rotel Int amps over the years.
Click to expand...
To be fair even my little Teac A-H500i sparks joy here.
Whilst the benefits of separates can't be denied, there is no wrong way to go about it.
 
I don’t listen to radio unless someone else is playing it in a car or on a jobsite, so to me, there’s not much difference between a receiver and an integrated amp. If you’re interested in separates, I’d recommend going all in, perhaps starting with a passive pre and a single, stereo power amp, although in my experience, a powered pre is much better than passive.
 
rickb119 said:
Definitely do it! I wish I'd done it sooner. Could have saved a lot of time, effort and $ (although the journey was enjoyable. ;)).

If you want to get started on the cheap (but still have good sound), check out some of the China class D amps. Here's a good read on the Fosi V3 (I like mine).
captouch

Thread 'Review of Fosi Audio V3 Stereo Amplifier'

I had the opportunity to check out a Fosi V3 recently. There's been some talk about this amp on other forums like Audio Science Review, but I didn't see anything on AK, so thought I'd post some thoughts here.

After spending time and comparing the V3 to some other amplification options, a few things were pretty clear to me.

First, it's a well thought out component that does several things better than others making essentially the same amplifier (it uses the TI TPA3255 Class D IC like a lot of other budget manufacturers). So if you're Fosi, it's probably pretty difficult to differentiate...
  • Like
  • Love
Click to expand...
Too much RFI/EMI hash for me. And too many are good only when played loud. They sound harsh to my ear. Acceptable for budget. A friend of mine bought a Fosi V3 and used it with an old Yamaha preamp (he still has both) (It got demoted to his garage after he bought a Crown D-150 and a APT-Holman preamplifier). That powers his JBL 4311b pair. He's also a retired engineer (he worked for ORNL).
 
Last edited:
Celadon said:
I have done both.. integrated, and separates, there are great iterations of both. but when I started down that rabbit hole, the only thing that looked back was my wallet…
Click to expand...
Hah! Truth!

I currently use separates but there are a lot of times an integrated makes sense…..and there are some very, very good integrated’s out there.
 
KentTeffeteller said:
Too much RFI/EMI hash for me. And too many are good only when played loud. They sound harsh to my ear. Acceptable for budget. A friend of mine bought a Fosi V3 and used it with an old Yamaha preamp (he still has both) (It got demoted to his garage after he bought a Crown D-150 and a APT-Holman preamplifier). That powers his JBL 4311b pair. He's also a retired engineer (he worked for ORNL).
Click to expand...
That's one of the nice things about this hobby. There is different equipment for different budgets, and ears. Is the Fosi as good as my Forte 3a? Of course not. It is however far better than my Adcom 545. Now that puppy is harsh!

And of course, as I'm sure that you're well aware, the preamp can, and will make a big difference. I've run my Fosi with both a tube pre, and the Fosi P4. The P4 is definitely a few steps down in SQ.
 
Mr Boochie said:
Well, for one, you can prolly eliminate tuners. I haven't listened to FM in years. Not with the quality streaming available.

For moderate output, Integrated amps and streaming hook-up are the way to go!

:)
Click to expand...
I use my tuner at least as much as my CD player and turntable.
Local FM station audio quality is better than Sirius XM quality and better than most streaming quality.
(It helps to live in an awesome city with a half-dozen great independent/public/college radio stations that play great music and have great audio quality)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

tonyk
  • Poll Poll
Receiver, Integrated, or Seperates? A poll
2 3 4
Replies
63
Views
3K
SteveA
SteveA
oldskl
Which Carver Pre Amp to get?
2
Replies
20
Views
15K
juliet lima
juliet lima
N
pre amp suggestions
Replies
4
Views
599
Parnelly
Parnelly
M
Mitsubishi M-A04
Replies
2
Views
5K
MD11man
M
C
Vintage Yamaha Equipment
Replies
3
Views
934
mhardy6647
mhardy6647
Back
Top Bottom