mtber101 Posted February 4, 2004 Share Posted February 4, 2004 Ok I've been looking at: Sunfire Theater Grand III w/ Cinema Seven Signature Aragon Stage One w/ Aragon 2007 Sunfire Ultimate Receiver Any other ones i should look at in this price range? How are they going to sound different? Which one is warmer? What do you think matches with Klipsch speakers the best and why? Any advice would be great. I know I really need to go hear for myself but I have to drive a good ways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrPyro Posted February 5, 2004 Share Posted February 5, 2004 I can't really speak on how these sound, since its been such a long time since I demoed them. You are looking in the $5000-$7000 range for the pre & amp. You don't NEED to use the same company for both the preamp & amp. A little more information is definately required! Exact speakers, will it be used for Home Theater or Music most, musical preference. Also, what do you currently have, are you happy with it? A few other suggestions for a preamp would be Anthem AVM20 Outlaw 950 B&K Ref50 Parasound Halo C1 or C2 Rotel A few other suggestions for a amp would be Bryston Sherborn Outlaw B&K Parasound Rotel I have an older ACT3 (with DSP upgrades), which gets me close to the preformance of the StageOne. I have been very happy with it. I love the clean and easy interface. Some of the units have about 8 million buttons on the front panels, but after using the ACT3 I'm in love with the clean streamlined interface, I could definately never go for the Anthem AVM20 now. BUT that is my own personal opinion! For an amp, I have a Parasound HCA-1205. What is very nice about Klipsch is that you don't NEED 300 watts of power, which can dramatically reduce the cost of any amp. Something around 120 - 200 will be fine, AS LONG AS it is a VERY QUIET AMP. Any signal noise generated by the amp will be clearly heard from the klipsch tweater. -Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicholtl Posted February 5, 2004 Share Posted February 5, 2004 In that price range you can also look at Lexicon's MC-12 unbalanced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jh.csv Posted February 5, 2004 Share Posted February 5, 2004 You won't go wrong with the Aragon. I speak from experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damonrpayne Posted February 5, 2004 Share Posted February 5, 2004 For less money and Excellent sound, I would recommend Rotel gear, perhaps the RMB-1075 or RMB-1080 for amps, and the RSP-1098 for the preprocessor. I have listened to Aragon gear as well, and it does sound pretty good, but at a much higher price points. For the amount of money you are looking to spend, I would get separates over _ANY_ receiver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RFinco Posted February 5, 2004 Share Posted February 5, 2004 I've gotta agree with Dpayne here, at that price point you should avoid receivers. I have a top of the line receiver and if I had that price range when I started i would have went with seperates (I got my receiver for 2k less than you can buy it in most stores) Lexicon is spectacular gear--the standard that most are judged by. sunfire is nice stuff, and bob carver knows what he's doing. for that price you should look at Lexicon or Argon, or the flagship pre/pro from Rotel and some great amps...I've heard Lexicon and parasound together, and they sounded great...also, if you can take a look at PROCEED and Bel Canto.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skonopa Posted February 5, 2004 Share Posted February 5, 2004 ---------------- On 2/4/2004 11:08:13 PM mtber101 wrote: Ok I've been looking at: Any other ones i should look at in this price range? How are they going to sound different? Which one is warmer? What do you think matches with Klipsch speakers the best and why? Any advice would be great. I know I really need to go hear for myself but I have to drive a good ways. ---------------- Somebody already mentioned the B&K Reference 50 pre/pro and the B&K amps. I don't have the pre/pro (yet - using a Denon AVR-3802 receiver as a pre/pro for now), but I do have the B&K Reference 200.7 amplifier. It sounds excellent with the Klipsch RF-7s in my setup. Very smooth, clean and detailed sound. I've seen posts on here that say the RF-7s lack mid-range, but I cannot tell in my setup with the B&K amp. The mid-range comes out with excellent clarity and detail. The bass was very clean, tight, but with a good punch (no doubt helped by my REL subwoofer). The highs were also very clean and detailed. I also did not find them to be to overly bright, nor fatiquing, as some people may complain. The ones you have listed are very good, but just want to throw in my experience with the B&K gear (at least the amp). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelerFan Posted February 5, 2004 Share Posted February 5, 2004 Well if it's the $5000 to $7000 range then let me throw the Cary Cinema 5 amp and Cinema 6 pre/pro($6500list) and the Classe CAV-180 amp and SSP-30MKII pre/pro($7000list) into the mix. Just to confuse you even more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kev313 Posted February 5, 2004 Share Posted February 5, 2004 I use Parasound Halo myself and recommend it highly. But, if your thinking Aragon, Audio Advisor has a HUGE CES demo gear sale. Check it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtber101 Posted February 5, 2004 Author Share Posted February 5, 2004 HOLY SMOKES! I thought I had it down to just a few...not anymore. Thanks for the help:) The receiver is off the list...i'll stay with seperates. As for speakers I'm going to be going with the reference series. (7.1) Fronts= RF-7 Center= RC-7 Side Surrounds= RS-7 Back surrounds= RB-7 As for sub(s) I'm not sure yet. Thinking SVS... As for music or movies...I'd say a movie a week (give or take) and music everyday. Thanks for the heads up kev313. A stage one and 2007 for $4300..not bad at all. The Parasound Halo looks really nice. c2, a52, and a23 for $5990 Worth the extra cash over the aragon setup? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HansHurt Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 How is Audio Advisor as a retailer? Pretty reliable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marksdad Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 not true, most "top of the line recievers" do lack when compared to seperates, but after extensive a-bing, i discovered b&k. it beat hands down all recievers i had auditioned or owned, and even some seperates and i used to own many rotel products, of those mentioned on your list, i would give very serious looks at either the aragon or the b&k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kev313 Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 I have had great experiences with Audio Advisor. In fact, I bought a Parasound A51 and C2 about 2 1/2 weeks prior to the Halo sale. I called them up and asked for a discount on the A21. They had to call Parasound to do it, but they got it done. Some people prefer B&M stores for these types of things. If you are familiar with the gear you want and are comfortable buying it over the internet, I highly recommend Audio Advisor. I have used them many times and have never had a problem. Also, they are the only authorized online Parasound dealer. I cannot really compare Aragon and Parasound as I have never heard the Aragon gear. To be honest, despite the fact that they are affiliated with Klipsch, I have not even heard much about it. Check out the AVS forum or Club Halo (just google it, I can't remember what forum it is in) for more info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrPyro Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 I also saw the Aragon CES sale at AudioAdvisor. They usually don't discount anything below MSRP. But, the prices they have for the Aragon products are fantastic prices, and you will get full Klipsch warrenty (might try calling Klipsch to verify that AA is a 'legit' online dealer). I was seriously thinking of getting one of the amps, but the Sony XA9000ES had to take $$$ priority. To be honest, you probably couldn't go wrong with any of the systems that we have mentioned. All are high quality and should produce very good sound. The differences in the sound that each produce will probably be fairly subtile, the speakers by far have the most impact on the sound. Usually the higher $ units have much more flexability and programability, if you aren't going to really tweak the system then I wouldn't spend the $ on a Lexicon, Proceed, or other higher end system. Also, trash the reciever idea, I'm a HUGE believer of seperates. I upgraded from a Denon 3801 reciever (with Parasound amp) to the Acurus ACT3 (with parasound amp) and the difference wasn't subtile. I had always felt that the Denon just didn't convey the passion of the music and was very very unhappy with most of my classical CDs. The ACT3 solved those problems, it was as if a veil was lifted from the music. The soundstage and clarity of the music was MUCH MUCH better, IMHO. -Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 I have similar speakers to you and just picked up a Rotel amp and processor. I've only had them for about a month, but I'm REALLY HAPPY with them. The processor is for 7.1, but the Amp is only 5 channel. I listened to B&K as well - really nice, but couldn't get them were I live. I listened to the Classe 180 - not worth the extra money in my opinion (sounded really nice, just not better). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtber101 Posted February 7, 2004 Author Share Posted February 7, 2004 I think I might have to go with the Aragon Deal from AA. Can't really beat the price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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