Separates over time, or Integrated now?

I just posted this in your other conversation:

I heard some 3 way Focals a long time ago, I loved them, one of the few speakers I might consider if my existing died.

I have recently read, here, that some find the Focals ’bright’, and you are asking for more warmth.

I prefer tubes, both preamp and amp; separates or integrated (I chose my vintage preamp to get a full featured preamp, and only use my integrated Cayin as an amp, (sometimes to run something direct, to check/rule a problem out).

I get remote volume/mute/balance for my vintage McIntosh mx110z tube tuner/preamp (any preamp without remote) from a remote line controller. IOW, I am not ’straight wire with gain’ (tried it, no advantage I or my friends could hear).

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So, your speakers, 91.5 db sensitivity, you could use tubes for both preamp and amp. A tube preamp and A single mc275 (75 wpc x 2) would be wonderful and I think enough power, your speakers are nominal 8 ohm, they have a dip to 3.1 ohms. You always have the option of getting a second one, running them Mono, 150 wpc as hydca does.

Now, is that warm ’enough’? or are the Focals just to ’bright’ for you? Not the preamp/amp, thus it’s the characteristic of the Focal sound.

IF so, you are all set with ’warm’ tube preamp and 75 wpc or 150 wpc tube amp, sell the Focals, or trade them in.

Friend

First and foremost I applaud you for examining this topic before wasting money overtime by going through different pieces.  Separates are going to give you the edge during times you want to critically listen and/or turn the volume up.  This will only be realized through direct comparison.  If you listen at low volume most of the time - you can get away with a well built Integrated.

Both will sound great; but in my opinion separates are the way to go.  Purchasing piece by piece is fine as funds permit.  McIntosh makes great gear - so you will be fine there, but you will have to determine whether it will be Solid State or Vacuum Tubes.

X5 does not have Main-In. If you're instead feeding the C2800 into one of the X5's regular line inputs, you'll be cascading two preamps, which is generally not ideal because it adds unnecessary gain stages and another volume control.  Nothing and no one would stop you from doing that but it is just not ideal.  Synergy between them might be another concern.

You might consider a 1-2 year used MC462.  Fair price in the market is around $7,500 - $8,500 based on what I have seen.

Whether or not you should go with separates now or later vs an integrated amp (or whatever combination) now or later, all simply broils down to you’re needs, desires and budget, which only you can figure that out for yourself.  However, I would suggest that if you have a larger space and larger speakers, I would definitely work toward getting separates.  Otherwise, there are several extremely high quality, high-end, very powerful, extremely dynamic, exquisite sounding, integrated amps out there that have the ability to make you forget all about the fact that you’re not using separates, even when used to drive large speakers in large spaces.  It’s your choice.  A few years ago, I moved my audio system to a smaller room, so I went from separates to an excellent integrated, and didn't miss a beat.  Happy listening.       

lanx0003

1,990 posts

07-11-2026 at 12:48pm 

X5 does not have Main-In. If you're instead feeding the C2800 into one of the X5's regular line inputs, you'll be cascading two preamps, which is generally not ideal because it adds unnecessary gain stages and another volume control.  Nothing and no one would stop you from doing that but it is just not ideal.  Synergy between them might be another concern.

You might consider a 1-2 year used MC462.  Fair price in the market is around $7,500 - $8,500 based on what I have seen.

Yes, believe Michi X5 has what it calls "HT Bypass" which bypasses the volume/circuitry entirely and passes signal to amp.  Great idea on the used MC462--going to check them out!