I've just had my 40 year old Thorens TD160 rebuilt with a Linn Basic tone arm and a Golding 2100 cartridge. It sounds superb and it has revitalised my passion for music. I recently added some Spendor SP1s and I want to improve the amplification as I feel the Yamaha AS500 is now a weakness. I have an old Rotel RA-01, but at 40w per channel it wouldn't drive the Spendors adequately. I have been thinking about linking a power amp with the RA-01, which has a pre-amp out facility. Rotel's RB1552 would give me 100w per channel at a cost of £750, so could it be a good potential upgrade? The alternative is to go for a better integrated amp, but I've always assumed that better sound quality is achievable with a pre/power amp combination. Does anyone have any thoughts on a Rotel pre/power combination as a better option than a similarly priced integrated amp?
JohnNB
JohnNB