Advantages of monoblocks

Al, maybe my previous message came across as sounding not quite right.. :)
What I'm trying to convey was that the money saved from not needing to buy another
pair of IC (if Simao is to go separate) would be better spent to upgrade existing
cabling/maximizing current system instead.

If you don't blast music, I might suggest you look for a lower-powered tube amp. I've heard the DaCapos with Shindo and it was a beautiful combination. However, I don't think you're getting anything like that with your budget. Maybe a Unison Simply Italy or a Mastersound Due Venti would work. The DaCapos are pretty efficient and will work well with 15-20 watts. But if you like to play electronic music at loud volumes, you're better off with what you have. IMO.

These are the responses I was looking for. With my budget, there's no way I'm going to improve on the LSA in terms of monoblocks AND the requisite pre. If anything, I'll take Bvdiman's advice about improving what I have.

I'm running Clear Day cables throughout and a SignalCable PC from the LSA (stock cord with the Rotel 1072 cd). If anything, I could improve the PC's.

You fellow audiogoners rock!

Simao,

I agree with Al and the others who are skeptical of replacing your integrated with $4k worth of used mono blocks and preamp. I recently went from a Rogue 99 Magnum preamp/M180 mono block system to an Ayon Triton 1 integrated amp and I couldn't be happier. In my opinion the Ayon integrated was an upgrade. And while I wasn't using the most expensive interconnects in the world in the Rogue system, the $1100 Kimber Select interconnect between the preamp and amps weren't exactly cheap. That is to say that if you are going to include good interconnects in your $4k budget it is hard to imagine that compared to what you already have that you are going to improve your system. Most likely you would be taking a significant step backwards.

Cheers,

John

I like monos because they are more expensive