2. amps-preamps
  3. 1054615304

Are monoblocks the way to go?

I'm upgrading my system piece by piece. I recently bought an Ah! Njoe Tjoeb CD Player and an Eastern Electric MiniMax tubed Preamp. I would next like to upgrade my Adcom Amp to a tubed Amp and I'm considering going with Monoblocks. While auditioning Preamps, I was very impressed by a pair of Quicksiver 100 Mono's - exceptional build quality and value. I had originally been leaning towards the Cary Rocket 88. I have vintage Klipsch Heresy speakers that I plan to keep. My goal is to create a system that is very transparent with a lifelike 3D soundstage. I need no more than 25 wpc since the Heresy's are 96db/1watt/1m. Any opinions on Mono's vs single amps? Thanks.
mootsdude

Showing 1 response by eldartford

eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Monoblocks, tube or otherwise, really have only two advantages over a stereo amp

1. You can put the amplifier right next to the speaker, eliminating the cost and reputed sonic degradation due to speaker wires.

2. A high powered stereo amp, particularly a tube amp with two massive output transformers, can be too heavy to handle.

If the stereo amp is well designed, the shared power supply and circuit proximity of the two channels is not a problem.
More to discover