I think my feeling on this subject has always closely paralleled bestbang4thebuck's. The independent power supplies could be a benefit to the main channels for music listening (and potentially for the center channel), but without providing multiple dedicated circuits to feed a stack of seven monoblocks I would expect there be to some significant level of diminishing returns involved for a full surround setup. When collected onto a single dedicated 15A circuit, those seven monoblocks have access to no more current than the single seven-channel amp. In addition to that, I would hope that a well-designed multichannel amp would be able to minimize the potential negative effects of a shared power supply. That's why I'll agree that, in theory, monoblocks are better, but the day-to-day reality of it is that the benefits are often negligible, especially compared to the convenience of a single box.



Devil's advocate for a moment, while we're drawing loosely related parallels. In engineering, there can often be a significant economy of scale that should not be overlooked -- a 100HP motor might offer equal power output to a quartet of 25HP motors, but that larger motor can often be designed to provide better fuel economy (potentially significantly greater fuel economy, when compared to four other motors' consumption) and greater reliability. Take refrigeration compressors, for example: the compressor in a 150 ton chiller will be more reliable and surprisingly more energy efficient than 30 5-ton compressors. On the other hand, as you scale up, you do have to accept the reduced redundancy associated with it.

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gonk -- 950 Review | LFM-1 Review | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | Saloon Links

[This message has been edited by gonk (edited April 06, 2004).]