Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Any Difference between integrated...

I was just wondering if I would hear any difference between a NAD C372 integrated amp and the C272 pre amp and the NAD C162. Whould there be much difference in sound my system right now is my M80's, NAD 542 cd player, and an old integrated Pioneer amp which is about 15 years old and I am using monster cable i believe 12 or 14 gague. Would it be worth spending the extra money for the power amp and pre amp or stick with their integrated amp.

Hope to hear your opinions
Thanks for the suggestions with the cd player I just had to have the NAD C542

Thanks Geoff Hartley

"Red M&M, blue M&M their all the same in the inside"

Geoff, assuming that the settings(particularly the volume level)are equal, there would be no audible difference at all between the integrated and the separates. The separate pre-amp could be replaced if necessary in the future without also having to replace the amp, and in that way would be more flexible, but it has no advantage in sound quality.

John, how do you know that? How can you say, with such authoritative confidence, that the front end of a given receiver will sound as good as the front end of a dedicated stand-alone separate processor?

I haven't listened to any NADs for many years, so I can't comment as to whether or not the processing sections of their receivers are as good as those in their separates, but I can tell you that as to Onkyo, the Integra DTC 9.4 processor is better than the front end of the Onkyo 797, and that the TA E9000ES processor is better than the processor in the STRDB 1070's front end.

At risk of not being invited back for filet mignon, I would say that neither your Sony nor Integra seemed to impart a noticeable character to the soundtracks they decoded.
But I don't live with the stuff, so maybe you've had more chance to experiment.

When you say "is better than", what do you mean?

In a few shorts words. yes and no.

The preamp section in the dedicated preamp is supposed to be better than the one in the integrated, although i dont think it would be as much better to justify the price tag. If you want an improvement my advice would be to build the foreplay tubed preamp or something similar to match with the power amp section of the 372. This is what i have done with my 370 and im very pleased with the results.

For 2 channel, I agree Haoleb.

I used to use an Onkyo 797 preouts into separate amps - an Onkyo Integra M504 honker for fronts, and a PVA 5 for the rest. I replaced the 797 with an Integra DTC 9.4. Sound quality improved - major improvement. I used a Sony STRDB 1070's preouts into 3 Onkyo M282 amps, replaced the 1070 with a Sony TA E9000ES processor - improvement in sound quality was major. What's the difference? Purity of sound - music, effects, depth. I liked the sound quality of the 1070 and the 797, but the difference between using the processing sections of these receivers and these dedicated processors is major.

At one point, NAD offered a receiver, integrated and separates that were essentially the same amplifier and preamp sections. For example if you bought a 7240 recvr, it was a 2240 amp, 1240 preamp and a tuner all in one box. You could also get a 3240 integrated, that was the above sans tuner. You could argue pros and cons (separate power supplies, extra connections and cables needed, extra rack space required, etc...), but there should be little difference.

Where you would benefit is in the areas of expandability and flexible setups and upgrades.

I would suspect that either of the combinations would be an upgrade over your Pioneer.

When i said better than I just meant like in sound quality if it was going to be clearer etc. Keep the opinions and knowledge coming and thank you people that have posted i am taking in all this knowledge for my decision.

Thanks Geoff Hartley

Geoff, if you study the specs you'll see that these are essentially identical pieces of equipment. The decision is whether to buy one box or two.