Intergrated vs External amp?

[byteninja2]

What is the difference bettween a reciver and amp?But, back to the question, lets say I picked up a pair of Swan D1080 IV.I am guessing most speakers have similar built in amps.So, that intergrated amp, or would a external $200 amp sound much better?

 

[GO-NAD!]

What is the difference bettween a reciver and amp?But, back to the question, lets say I picked up a pair of Swan D1080 IV.I am guessing most speakers have similar built in amps.So, that intergrated amp, or would a external $200 amp sound much better?

To answer your first question:

Receiver - can be stereo or multi-channel (surround sound) and would include the pre-amp, power amp and radio tuner.

Integrated amp - includes the pre-amp and power amp.

Power amp - just that.

I'm not really clear on your second question. The Swans are "active", meaning they have they're own amplifier. If you want those speakers for your computer system, that's all you need. You wouldn't be able to use an external amp with them anyway. I don't know if they come in a passive (no built-in amplification) version. If they did, you would need external amplification.

 

[KEW]

would a external $200 amp sound much better?

You need to be specific on which amp to get a solid answer, but as a rule, a $200 power amp is not going to gain you anything over the amp section of a receiver.
Understand that your receiver will have to have pre-out RCA connections to use an amp, which eliminates the less expensive receivers. To my knowledge, any receiver with pre-outs is going to produce >80WPC and be equivalent to or better than a $200 power amp.

The $350 Emotiva UPA-200 is probably the least expensive amp that offers some performance ability over a decent receiver (especially if you have 4 ohm speakers). However, if your receiver is truly falling short of the mark, I'd suggest a more decisive upgrade, which would be in the $600-700 range.

 

[byteninja2]

Thanks for the info.I guess I am trying to ask, the intergrated amp & pre amp vs a $200 reciever.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Thanks for the info.I guess I am trying to ask, the intergrated amp & pre amp vs a $200 reciever.

For the same price range of $200, I would say the AVR has the slight edge.

 

[GO-NAD!]

Thanks for the info.I guess I am trying to ask, the intergrated amp & pre amp vs a $200 reciever.

Ahhh! If you want to use a receiver or integrated amp, then you don't want those speakers. You want to get something that does not have built-in amplification, i.e. passive speakers.

The main difference between a stereo receiver and an integrated amp, is that the receiver will have a radio tuner. So, you need to decide if you want to listen to the radio too - then you have your answer as to which to go with. Just note that an integrated amp already has a pre-amp, so you won't have to buy a separate one.

Just to complicate things, if you want to get an integrated amp, you can also get a separate radio tuner to add to it at a later date. If you are on a tight budget, your best bet is to buy a stereo receiver.

 

[markw]

Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

Thanks for the info.I guess I am trying to ask, the intergrated amp & pre amp vs a $200 reciever.

There still appears to be some confusion as to what's what here.

For the sake of this discussion, an "AMPlifier" is a power amp. This takes a low level signal and amplifies it so it can drive speakers. These generally have no controls.

A "PREAMPlifier", or "preamp" is a control center which does signal selection, volume control, tone control and other functions to help improve and/or control the sound.

A "TUNER" receives radio signals and converts them to an audio signal.

An "[/b]INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER" is a preamp and a power amp on the same chassis.

A "STEREO RECEIVER" is an integrated amplifier and a tuner on one chassis.

A "PROCESSOR" is a device that takes a signal and derives multi-channel sound from a source.

A "HOME THEATER (Audio Visual) RECEIVER" , or AVR, is the same as a stereo receiver except that it contains a processor and all amplifiers needed to drive as many speakers as it needs.

A few speakers have power amps built into them so they can be driven directly from a source but these are the exception rather than the rule.

So, to answer your question, you dn't need an integrated amp and a preamp. That's redundant. The preamp is part of an integrated amp. And, odds are that most, not all, integrated amps will beat most $200 receivers, particularly since you don't specify the price of the integrated and preanmps involved and whether you're looking at two channel or multi-channel receivers. I can think of several exceptions.

Now, you wanna rethink what you're looking for?