The interior design gods (all right, goddess, singular) have decreed
that henceforth all electronic devices in the living room must be
hidden, to the greatest extent possible. (She concedes the point on
speakers, though I foresee future troubles on the size question.)
Obviously I don't want to put an amp inside a wood cabinet, but I can
tuck it away on the floor in a corner. I'm not too worried about
putting a preamp in the cabinet, especially since there's a good amount
of headroom and a partial opening in the back.

But would it be inadvisable to use an integrated amp as a preamp only,
and put it inside a cabinet? Is it going to run just as warm, whether
or not the power amp section is engaged?

bob

wrote:
The interior design gods (all right, goddess, singular) have decreed
that henceforth all electronic devices in the living room must be
hidden, to the greatest extent possible. (She concedes the point on
speakers, though I foresee future troubles on the size question.)
Obviously I don't want to put an amp inside a wood cabinet, but I can
tuck it away on the floor in a corner. I'm not too worried about
putting a preamp in the cabinet, especially since there's a good amount
of headroom and a partial opening in the back.

But would it be inadvisable to use an integrated amp as a preamp only,
and put it inside a cabinet? Is it going to run just as warm, whether
or not the power amp section is engaged?

bob

If your integrated amp is not class-A (and most are not), then it will
run cooler with no load on the power amp. Exactly how much cooler
depends on how the power amplifier's bias is designed, but I would not
worry about putting it inside a cabinet if there is some ventillation.