[rockadanny]

My experience: Getting into higher end gear I concluded that an integrated would be best. I figured I might eventually get to separate pieces, but only when (if ever) necessary. An integrated made sense to me budget-wise at the time. The one I selected was very well liked amongst users and reviewers. The main tipping point for me was that if I ended up requiring more power I could just get a new power amp and use my integrated's pre.
Not sure if this is true for all/many/some/few budget (< $2000) integrateds, but when I eventually did realize I needed more power I saved up and got a beefy power amp. I was VERY disappointed in the result. Turned out that though my integrated sounded great as an integrated (power + pre = very good, right?) the pre section sucked in separate use ... who knew?
My point is, if you decide integrated do not assume a great sounding integrated will sound as great using just its pre (or power) amp section. Not only was mine not great, it was less than acceptable.

[AudioSoul]

  Warning: General Statement Ahead. I think the best bang for the buck is seperate components. To get the best sound for your money. Yes there are some great sounding integrated amps out here. Remember the first sentance was a general statement. Dont any of you folks go spider monkey on me now.......

[Tone Depth]

Hindsight:  Maybe test out the integrated in all it's configurations (pre, amp, pre+amp) before buying it?  That's what I did with my integrated, and it has remained as my backup, used as a temporary component replacement whenever I need to upgrade my preamp or power amp.

My experience: Getting into higher end gear I concluded that an integrated would be best. I figured I might eventually get to separate pieces, but only when (if ever) necessary. An integrated made sense to me budget-wise at the time. The one I selected was very well liked amongst users and reviewers. The main tipping point for me was that if I ended up requiring more power I could just get a new power amp and use my integrated's pre.
Not sure if this is true for all/many/some/few budget (< $2000) integrateds, but when I eventually did realize I needed more power I saved up and got a beefy power amp. I was VERY disappointed in the result. Turned out that though my integrated sounded great as an integrated (power + pre = very good, right?) the pre section sucked in separate use ... who knew?
My point is, if you decide integrated do not assume a great sounding integrated will sound as great using just its pre (or power) amp section. Not only was mine not great, it was less than acceptable.