Thank you, no parties yet until MKII.
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Thanks James.
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Made a couple of changes to the system recently. First was getting rid of that giant 32" monitor on the back wall behind my listening seat for my Roon Core PC. It has been replaced with a little 8" monitor that is now hidden in the cabinet along with the rest of the gear. Not that it matters in this particular situation, but this little monitor has excellent picture and color quality. All of only $82 shipped! It’s perfect for just running Roon on.
Before…
After…
The second change was swapping out the AudioQuest CV-8 (72 volt DBS system) speaker cables with the Tara Labs The One CX cables. These Maggie 1.7i’s take extremely well to cable changes because holy cow, what an improvement! A wider sound stage with greater space and air within the stage, more grunt and energy in the bass and a more natural, realistic body in the midrange. Treble also benefits some with a bit more snap and refinement.
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Nice setup. The Maggie 1.7’s are an excellent speaker to build on. For a few dollars, consider an upgraded fuse and jumpers. Cardas makes the jumpers and there are a bunch of better fuse makers.
A couple weeks after replacing my XA100.5 monoblocks and XP30 preamp, I can confirm that 5 boxes are better than 1 for overall sound quality.
The INT-250 has all the benefits of Pass’ Point 8 designs:
Better soundstage
Better imaging
Better dynamics
Far more impactful bass
But missing:
Overall refinement
Midrange liquidity, texture
Truthful reproduction of the personality of instruments; for example, the difference between a carved top archtop guitar vs laminated.
The human behind the voice.
Life is full of trade-offs.
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You can put a lot much more goodies in 5 boxes, separate beefy power supplies, more circuit isolation, and better separate of channel paths, even if parts quality are the same Those things has got to amount to some sonic benefits. Down side is more equipment space, more interconnecting cables, and a big one, cost.
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I have 3 preamps, 2 power amps, 2 speaker systems, and 3 subwoofers. And prior to getting my 3rd preamp I said I was done upgrading for a while, lol.
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Thank you. I do plan on getting jumpers for them. I actually wish Kimber still made the ones I had on my MGLR-1’s years ago. Those were nice and made with the PBJ cables and IIRC, Cardas bananas. Never looked into replacing the fuses, but guess it couldn’t hurt.
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I just joined the 5 box crowd and it is pretty darn nice! (XP-32 and XA160.8’s) although an integrated may be in my future as it does remove a whole lot of clutter.
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It appears by these photos I have a serious bass addiction! But I have a set of REL No. 25 subwoofers thanks to @minnesotafats.
Just hooked them up and I like what I hear! With the CR1 I can shut the bass off to the JL Subs and listen exclusively to the REL subs. I’m still dialing them but so far pretty, pretty, pretty good.
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That is so wrong in so many ways. That picture will haunt me for years 
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Gorgeous!
That looks like a sci fi movie set! In a good way. 
What was it, that made the trade-off (assuming replacing the separates by a single integrated amp) worthwhile? - or are you regretting it and plan to put the separates back in?
Very nice looking (and I am sure great sounding) room and system!
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It was all about space and two people now occupying the space previously taken up by just me.
I’ll be selling this wonderful integrated soon and going back to 5 boxes.
Live and learn…
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I think that 5 boxes, you and your new partner will coexist perfectly! 
Edit:
Keep me in mind if you decide to part with the INT-250
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Will do.
Thanks for sharing. That Pass Integrated Amplifier seems like a wonderful compromise for having very little space. But I can imagine that you want to go back to separates once you were used to them.
I sold my Nikon D700 DSLR including very nice glass last year. When my wife saw me looking at a new system camera she looked at me that way … and I responded, “what can I say”. There are times when the agreement to disagree proofs the strength of the bond. Although iPhones take beautiful pictures, I just don’t like to tap through menus to get to the camera and change settings.
I love to get that box and glass back. Am even happy to carry it around. Just love it as it shoots instantly and has buttons and dials that allow me to operate that camera intuitively.
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