Monoblocks and pre or integrated pros and cons

[walpurgis]

Thanks Geoff. I have been having a little break from here but it's hard to stay away!

I noticed you'd not been around mate.

[hifi_dave]

You have to be more specific. You can't compare a cheap pair of monos against a top of the range integrated because the monos will lose out and the other way round. Even when the prices are similar, some companies make better gear than others.

It's horses for courses.

[hifinutt]

one big advantage to monoblocks is they can be lighter to carry and accommodate . Thats why i like them

[Lawrence001]

one big advantage to monoblocks is they can be lighter to carry and accommodate . Thats why i like them

Maybe Class D ones

[Macca]

one big advantage to monoblocks is they can be lighter to carry and accommodate . Thats why i like them

I think that's the only real advantage to them and why they came about in the first place.

Back when it was all valves and massive traffos you couldn't make an amp that was more than a few watts without it weighing a ton.

Even a 1980s Sanyo integrated doesn't have problems with crosstalk.

[Macca]

actually thinking about it, before stereo all amps were monoblocs so when that came in people needed an extra one so that's another reason why they came about.

[Barry]

actually thinking about it, before stereo all amps were monoblocs so when that came in people needed an extra one so that's another reason why they came about.

Just like the Quad II amplifier:

For mono it would have been a Quad QCII preamp with a single Quad II power amp (15W)

For stereo it would be a Quad 22 preamp with a pair of Quad II power amplifiers.

[Stranraer]

As someone who is almost OCD about trying to create distance between the various boxes to avoid what this layman would describe as "interference" I find it interesting that only one response here even mentions a perceived benefit in having individual boxes for each channel (once the signal's out of the source and the Pre-amp of course).
So now I'm wondering if I've identified a solution to a problem that doesn't exist ?

[Jimbo]

I think really the main reasons for going for mono blocks is usually around their potential to supply more power. From my own experience with the Croft 7R monos, comparing them to the single Croft 7 power amp I did not feel their was a significant advantage. The only improvement was the regulation in the 7R power amps . As far as power was concerned I heard no difference in performance or ability to drive the super efficient speakers I use.

BUT a friend of mine who used a very powerful Chord stereo power amp moved his system to a bigger room with very large 801 D4 speakers and needed much more power to drive them in a larger space and decided to use mono blocks. To be fair I heard the speakers with the single stereo power amp and then the mono blocks and I did prefer them with the mono blocks as they sounded effortless and had more impact in the larger space.

[hifinutt]

Maybe Class D ones

no my F5 clones are very light and easy to carry