When to add a power amp..

Stevie9

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Jun 9, 2015
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Hi,
I have a decent integrated amp which has pre outs for a power amp if needed. For what reasons would I consider adding a power amp? The big misconception is that its for more 'loud' which I don't really need. I guess you will get better headroom, like more quiet between the booms. Is it worth my while to add a power amp to my Audiolab? If yes which would you recommend? My budget is about £700. There is also the option of Bi amping, is this an outdated and complicated option?
Thanks.
 
Stevie9 said:
Hi, I have a decent integrated amp which has pre outs for a power amp if needed. For what reasons would I consider adding a power amp? The big misconception is that its for more 'loud' which I don't really need. I guess you will get better headroom, like more quiet between the booms. Is it worth my while to add a power amp to my Audiolab? If yes which would you recommend? My budget is about £700. There is also the option of Bi amping, is this an outdated and complicated option? Thanks.

To be honest I wouldn't think of adding a power amp, and if I did it would have to be an Audiolab.

Bi-amping is a different matter and is a very expensive option that may not be worth attempting to do on your sort of budget.
 
There's much better ways to spend £700......I'd use the money to put to a better integrated....I've already been down the integrated /power combo route and it isn't worth the outlay......unless you go down the proper pre/power two box system but these tend to be quite expensive.Naim pre/power combos start at around 1k a piece.It would be helpful if the forum knew the rest of your system to help advise where the best and biggest improvements to your system could be made.
 
Mark Rose-Smith said:
There's much better ways to spend £700......I'd use the money to put to a better integrated....I've already been down the integrated /power combo route and it isn't worth the outlay......unless you go down the proper pre/power two box system but these tend to be quite expensive.Naim pre/power combos start at around 1k a piece.It would be helpful if the forum knew the rest of your system to help advise where the best and biggest improvements to your system could be made.

Surely the rest of his system is in his signature...
 

davedotco

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Unless you have real power issues or difficulty in terms af amp-speaker matching, adding a power amplifier is going to make little difference, good, well designed power amplifiers really do sound very similar indeed, unless they are perhaps .matched out of their league'.

More specifically, the weakest part of the 8000 series amplifiers was always the pre-amp section, the power amp was fine. The qualities that some describe as "clinical' or "cold and mechanical' was always a function of the pre-amp section of the integrated amplifier.
 

NSA_watch_my_toilet

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To be honest. I wouldn't add a power amp.
No,you will have not more quiets behind the boom. The quietness you seek is given by factors that are not related to the power of your amplifier.

Bi amping was, in the past, a "in" thing, but it was never good for the sound, except for really problematic speaker and only in certain conditions. My advice would be to get out of the way of speakers needing 200w on 8Ohms and 2Ohms capable amplifiers to perform just fine ; they are enough good speakers out there without going for that.
 

bonenut

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Be careful adding a power amp to a integrated amp.i added a exposure power amp to a Primare integrated and had mixed results.i was not looking for more power,just trying it out with a view to buying a pre.

if you are going to do it,get the same brand pre/power/matched.as was recommended in here.
 

NSA_watch_my_toilet

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bonenut said:
if you are going to do it,get the same brand pre/power/matched.as was recommended in here.
It's common sense. You will not have the same development of gain from a product to another. So if one amp amplifies your signal to 80dB, the other could already be over the 90dB, or the other way around. This makes it impossible to reach a hifi reproduction of the sound.
 

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