In a pre-amp power amp set up which amp is mostly responsible for the type of sound you get

[Lost Angeles]

In a pre-amp power amp set up which amp is mostly responsible for the type of sound you get.

As an example if I used my 8000A as a pre-amp and connected to various power amps would they just improve the quality of the sound or would they slightly or seriously alter it.

Would the 8000A and Cyrus power amp give a slightly brighter or a lot brighter sound and if connected to an Arcam power amp would the sound be slightly warmer or a lot warmer.
I’ve used Cyrus and Arcam as examples as I think they are at opposite ends of the sound range. I do not want to start an amp war I’m just interested to know

 

[Anonymous]

The pre-amp. All you do with a bad preamp and a good power amp is amplifier a bad signal cleanly. However, the difference is smaller than you would think.

 

[Gwyndy]

Agree with Hughes on this one, personally if you were planning to go pre-power,I think it would be wise to consider adding an Audiolab power amp and bi-amping with the 8000A

 

[Thaiman]

Pre-amp 70% Power 30% (as long as given speakers are not too hard for power amp to drive)

 

[Anonymous]

Definitely the Preamp IME. Although theoretically the preamp just supplies the voltage gain (about 1omillivolts to 1volt) to the source signal, if done poorly, no power amp is going to be able to compensate for this, thus the preamp can make or break the sound as it goes downstream. Of course, good quality power amplification is also needed to not waste the quality preamp feed. The replacement of my integrated amp with a dedicated pre did far, far more for the sound than adding the power amp to the integrated.