seperates over integrated. Why?

No Stanhifi - you've done nothing but restated what I said earlier that there is a benefit to having seperate power supplies, but other than rehashing what I said and saying who's right and who's wrong you didn't really help us understand anything more clearly.

Cleary there are excellent examples of both designs...with intergrateds really gaining ground in terms of popularity and price/performance....and in real world listening enviroments...that is average size rooms with modern efficient/stable speaker loads...it is no wonder intergrated amps have created a following...with a short,simple,signal path...not much power is really necessary for real world listening...that being said...I own seperates myself for the mix n matching flexibility(tube pre/solid state amp,etc) more so than the perceived gain in audio quality...and in truly hi-end, state of the art, cost is no object audio...seperates are still the componets to be judged(30 k monoblocks,etc)...at any rate...both are capable of truly stellar musical reproduction....and both have merits and potential shortcomings depending on the system in question....

Robm - I'm not sure that you can show me an integrated that acts as a voltage source down to 2 ohms and below. Or one with the S/N ratios of the better separates. But I do agree that there is a lot of performance available if you're willing to consider a nice integrated.

Stanhifi, I understand your point very clearly, I just happen to disagree with it. Now I'm not talking about extremes here such as comparing a $3K integrated to $30K worth of separates. Let's compare the measured performance of a $3K integrated to $3K worth of separates (not including cable). I don't have the data at my fingertips but I feel confident the difference in specs would be statistically negligible. Some listeners would prefer the sparates while other would prefer the integrated. I call that personal preference.
Is the advantage of having separate power supplies disputable? To those who prefer the sound of the integrateds, I think the answer is an indisputable yes.
If the power supply in an integrated amplifier is designed and built properly for the application, not an impossible task, then there is no advantage to separate power supplies.

I also understand your point very clearly, Stanhifi. It all makes a lot of sense.

However, while I was shopping for a new tube amplifier a while back, I happened to come across the Jadis Orchestra Reference. I guess after hearing it, a lot of the conventional wisdom went out the window in my mind. The so - called experts didn't seem to get this one right, that was certain. Instead of buying a stereoblock, or another pair of monos, I surprised myself to an unbelievable degree by finally buying something after a long search - an integrated.

To this day, with the right tubes, I have yet to hear better midrange from any amplifier. And, yes, I have far more expensive and well respected separates than this overlooked integrated.

While the JOR is now gone, a DA30 has taken its place in my wife's system. No, it doesn't have the same midrange, but it does offer a richness and liquidity in the midbass up through the lower midrange that once again makes me wonder why I mess around with other stuff.

I guess my point is there are just very few absolutes in audio...