What to do with two identical integrated amps?

[NikolajDH]

So, I own a Luxman LV-103U integrated amp and I'm considering buying one more, as one just appeared on an ebay-esque site here in Denmark in perfect condition and at a really reasonable price.
At first I considered getting it just for spares, but now I'm wondering if it would be possible to somehow hook them up together/utilizing them both in a sensible way in one audio system. If so, what would I gain by doing it?

 

[sqlsavior]

Redundancy.

 

[Silentnet]

Can your speakers be passively bi-amped? If so that might be worth playing around with.

 

[pch300]

Well, Luxman I heard is pretty good already.

If I had two identical gear that's mod-able (e.g. Dynaco), I'd verify the two are identical. Once verified, then modify one and compare their sound via a blind test to assess the difference the modification caused, if any.

 

[heyraz]

My 2 cents....
A spare is nice (I say this owning more than one identical back up preamp) but (to me) vertical improvement makes more sense than horizontal redundancy.
When I got into this hobby, I made it a point to always replace a component with something better. Whatever got replaced then became my spare (if it still worked) and gradually I built a great sounding system.

If you don't need a spare I'd recommend saving for something better.

Good suggestion to get identical Dynaco's as a platform to experiment on if that's your thing.

 

[OMGCat!]

As a guy with not two, not three, but four of (almost) the same integrated amp I can offer advice.

Restore (or have restored) one of them and stick the other(s) in the closet where you can continue to wonder what to do with them. I don't know that you'd gain anything by trying to run both at the same time.
It is fun to pop the tops and see if there are any differences. Two of mine are identical with the third being full of a different type of film cap than the first two. The last is a Japanese market model which has quite a few differences.

I agree with heyraz about buying in an upwards trajectory but these all kind of fell into my lap at about the same time so I just went with it and now have a lot of spares. They're all boxed up and not in the way so at this time I'm fine with it.

 

[KingBubba]

They do not make them any more. Your chance of seeing another one again is very low. Buy it now before you lose it. A month from now spending the money won't hurt anymore and you will have a nice spare or additional amp.

 

[tcdriver]

Two identical stereo amps? All you need is a quadraphonic decoder and four matched speakers.

 

[Balifly]

Alpine era (1988-90) Luxman integrated amps.

Keep one as spare/backup.
https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/luxman/lv-103u.shtml

 

[rwartner]

There are many good reasons we all need more stuff. I have living room and office speakers. Connect integrated amp 1 to 2 Tape/Rec (output) to Aux input. Connect set of speakers to each amp.
If you don't have 2 sets of speakers, that is next on the list.

 

[NikolajDH]

First, thanks for all the replies, much appreciated and a lot of good suggestions.
Unfortunately, the guy who had the LV-103U for sale, sold it to someone else despite having agreed to sell it to me... So, for now, I'm on a single LV-103U, but I do see these pop up every now and then here in Denmark, so perhaps in the future I'll pick one up. Still, I have a few questions/answers to the different replies:

#2 I'm aware what the word redundancy/redundant means, but not in this context. I'm very new to everything hifi, so any hints would be greatly appreciated. Tried googling "amplifier redundancy" and the like, but didn't really find anything that made sense. :b
#3 Unfortunately not (as far as I can tell). I'm running a pair of Cerwin-Vega A 103s.
#4 You're very right, I really enjoy this amp as it is. Don't know if they are modable?
#5 I'll definitely pick one up as spare, should the opportunity occur again. And I think that's a good way to go about, replacing components with something straight up better, not just something different. Not sure I get this "vertical improvement makes more sense than horizontal redundancy".
#6 Spares are definitely nice.
#7 Very true, unfortunately it slipped away, but I'll keep looking.
#8 That sounds interesting, if I get a second one, I might look into it.
#9 That's the one - and yeah, keeping one as spare makes sense.
#10 Good suggestion, and a second set of speakers would be nice regardless.

Again, thanks for all the suggestions and input, much appreciated!

Now, as a bit of a twist to it all, I picked up a Denon POA-2200 Power Amplifier a couple of days ago at an insanely low price (by DK standards). It works/sounds really well, cosmetically it's a bit "worn" to say the least - the power button won't stay in by itself, so I have to put a small piece of whatever to get it stuck/keep it powered on. Any suggestions how to fix something like this - or what it should cost at a technician? As far as I can tell it's just the button that's worn out after many on/offs.

Anyways, I'm not sure I'll keep it, might resell a bit further down the road, but for now I'd like to test it a bit more and get it up and running in my setup. However, I don't own a pre-amplifier currently, so I was wondering if I could use my LV-103U temporarily as a pre-amp? It has "Signal Processor In & Out" on the back which I'm currently using to run the signal into a Kenwood equalizer and back. Now I'm wondering if I could run the signal from my Luxman LV-103U into my Kenwood EQ and then onwards into my Denon POA-2200? Is "Signal Processor In & Out" the equivalent of "Pre-out & Main-in" on other integrated amplifiers?

 

[Will S.]

If they have pre-outs, they are bridgeable and you have 8 ohm speakers, you can use the preamp section from one and treat the power sections of both as monoblocks.

 

[OMGCat!]

Processor loops are different than Pre in/out so you won't be able to use that integrated amp to control your new power amp.
I feel like manufactures who made both separates and integrated amps did this on purpose so you couldn't just upgrade the amp with buying the matting pre.