Lack of power amps?

[plastic penguin]

Probably sound like a stuck record - just out of curiosity, I've bought What hi-fi Sound & Vision since January 2004 (second time round) and apart form the occasional pre/power reviews, power amps have been missing. Is there any particular reason for this?

I believe it could be of benefit to us guys as we upgrade: would the Nad C326BEE still have the upper hand on the Rotel RA-04 on high end speakers? Could the Arcam A28 be turned into a five star class leader with the addition of a power amp connected?

Please Andrew, Clare or any other decision-makers at the Towers re-address the balance for us poor individuals. . .

Thanks.

PP

 

[biggus_1961]

Sounds interesting to me....Adding a pwr amp to an intergrated amp and using the same speakers and cdp to compare the difference..Would be good to hear if this would benefit standmounts as well as floorstanding...NAD and Rotel would be a good starting point as pwr amps from these two companies are within most peoples budget...mmmmmm nad int/pwr amp on bw683 would be a good start too and then try that with bw685....

 

[JoelSim]

It works with Arcam. I am consistently surprised and happy.

ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

I switched from integrated to pre/power 10 years ago and when the kit was being serviced, I went back to integrated for a few weeks but didn't like what I heard. IMHO, pre/power will in general be better than integrated of the same brand.

 

[plastic penguin]

I'd forgotten about this thread. . .Lol.

There really does seem to be a deficiency when it comes power amps. Clearly these companies have pre-outs for a reason, so why not fully test them in a controlled environment like any other piece of equipment?

 

[Anonymous]

plastic penguin:

I believe it could be of benefit to us guys as we upgrade: would the Nad C326BEE still have the upper hand on the Rotel RA-04 on high end speakers? Could the Arcam A28 be turned into a five star class leader with the addition of a power amp connected?

Yes please, would love to see something like this.

Equivalent pricings of cheaper pre/powers vs integrated amp

can my ra-04 with an RB-06/03 touch a Cyrus 6vs etc or a Roksan

It seems to be a popular enough topic

thanks

 

[plastic penguin]

zzgavin:plastic penguin:

I believe it could be of benefit to us guys as we upgrade: would the Nad C326BEE still have the upper hand on the Rotel RA-04 on high end speakers? Could the Arcam A28 be turned into a five star class leader with the addition of a power amp connected?

Yes please, would love to see something like this.

Equivalent pricings of cheaper pre/powers vs integrated amp

can my ra-04 with an RB-06/03 touch a Cyrus 6vs etc or a Roksan

It seems to be a popular enough topic

thanks

Exactly my point. I have asked this a couple of times before and so far no luck.

I think this the area where many of us could capitalize on when we upgrade - many retailers [from my experience] do not keep power amps in stock to test. The demand, I assume, does not justify the retailers to go out and order stock.

 

[seasiders rock]

how about a Sugden A21 with full remote control. I paired my A21AP with a Linn Kollector and believe it or not it worked very well.

you cant beat a good pre/power combo.

 

[Anonymous]

plastic penguin:
Exactly my point. I have asked this a couple of times before and so far no luck.

I think this the area where many of us could capitalize on when we upgrade - many retailers [from my experience] do not keep power amps in stock to test. The demand, I assume, does not justify the retailers to go out and order stock.

A few well written reviews of power amp upgrades, perhaps as part of a "how to upgrade" series might change that.

The case has already been well made for speaker cable, interconnects, speaker stands, racks even power cables.

It seems a pity to leave power amps out of this.