SteelerFan Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 Was all exited when I got up this morning because I FINALLY decided to buy something to upgrade my HT. Yesterday I was checking out the Audio Advisor site when I ran across some Aragon demo products from CES. I picked out the Stage One pre and 3005 amp for a combined price of $4500. That's $500 under the budget I set! I got in touch with IndyKlipschFan because I've seen where he runs Aragon. He was very helpful, told me Aragon sounds great with Klipsch and agreed it was a great price. My project for the day was to run a dedicated 20amp circuit for my HT. (Seemed like a doubly good idea since I was planning on buying a 300watt X 5 amp). I crawled through the attic like a rat but couldn't get the wire down the wall. I was pissed, running it outside the wall is not an option. To top everything off I discovered the black Aragon demo's are sold out. To each his own, but I don't care for silver components at all. I chose the Toshiba DVD player over the Panasonic because the Panasonic was silver. Now here I sit still stuck with the old Yamaha and the awful (to me) Yamaha combined with Klipsch sound. What are some other amp/pre-amp ideas for under $5000? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skonopa Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 ---------------- On 2/16/2004 7:27:03 PM SteelerFan wrote: What are some other amp/pre-amp ideas for under $5000? ---------------- Bummer to hear about your mis-fortune. As to suggestion for others, well, being the big B&K fan that I am, well, the B&K Ref 50, and the B&K Ref 200.5 amp will be an awesome option for the Klipsch. If you want to stretch it a bit, you can go for the Ref 200.7 amp, but if you don't need those extra two channels, than save some money and get the 200.5 instead. You can always add a two-channel amp later if your needs change. Also to add: I don't know how good those Sherbourn pre/pros and amps are, but it seems that "Griffinator" can hook you up real good an that, and I am willing to bet it is well under the $5,000 you have set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arthurs Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 I would second Skon on the B&K. Terrific product and you can probably make your budget. Call elegantaudiovideo.com and dicker with them, they will deal. They're about at your price point on posted pricing, but call them. I've gotten a few things through them, including some Klipsch speakers, and never been disappointed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cluless Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 Take your time. Alot of things in that price range that were demo-ed at the CES convention have yet to reach the market. As far as the color of components go, my thoughts are that is the way the manufacturers "date" the items. When I was growing up all components were silver...then they were all black, now the trend is back to silver. Think first about eargonomics, then ergonomics, then aesthetics. Have Fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 ---------------- On 2/16/2004 8:02:22 PM skonopa wrote: Bummer to hear about your mis-fortune. As to suggestion for others, well, being the big B&K fan that I am, well, the B&K Ref 50, and the B&K Ref 200.5 amp will be an awesome option for the Klipsch. If you want to stretch it a bit, you can go for the Ref 200.7 amp, but if you don't need those extra two channels, than save some money and get the 200.5 instead. You can always add a two-channel amp later if your needs change. Also to add: I don't know how good those Sherbourn pre/pros and amps are, but it seems that "Griffinator" can hook you up real good an that, and I am willing to bet it is well under the $5,000 you have set. ---------------- I won't argue that the B&K's are going to be superior to the Sherbourns. Sherbourn amps are damned fine units for the money (7x200 for less than $2K) but they're not on the same level as B&K, Rotel, Crown, or some of the other more esoteric amp companies out there. The general opinions I've read online since we started carrying them is that they are definitely a step up from Outlaw, for a very similar price point. This is one of the big reasons I'm working tirelessly on expanding my amplifier offerings to include some companies like Rotel, Marantz, and other well-respected very-high-end manufacturers. The whole concept behind this company we're building is that we offer the best - and if Sherbourn is all we have, we're just not delivering on that promise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 Steeler, I would recommend sticking with the aragon, I understand it is a step up from B&K, now that I have given you MHO, I have the B&K 507 avr, my buddy manages a tweeter store, I can hook you up with him for B&K seperates and he will ABSOLUTLY beet any price your quoted. Also you get 5 year warrantee from a national chain. That being said, B&K also is upgradablor for the pre, and the current ones in stock I believe the upgrades for 04. I still understand Aragon (may be better) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 By the way: Have you attempted to fish the electrical wire down from below, rather than force-feeding it down from the attic? All you need is a good flexible plastic rod, about 6 feet or so long. Feed it up from the outlet hole, tape the electrical wire to it (with good electrical tape, and a large amount thereof!) and then pull it back down through the hole. Blammo - you're done. I do wire fishing for a living. It's not that hard when it's a straight vertical drop (or horizontal run) - it's when you start getting into corners and crap in a finished room with no attic or basement access that you start having problems... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndyKlipschFan Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 I would wait for the Aragon to come back at ya. Or, look for a dealer in another city too. Maybe as a thought, you can get away with your purchase without spending sales tax... and he might cut you a good deal too. As for fishing the wire through the walls, I agree they have these at most electronic stores. Just tape the wire to the semi hard plastic rod and feed it to where you need to go. Good Luck. Gotta love watching Antawan Randel El too. We miss him at Indiana University. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avman Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 steeler fan- you've got mail! avman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom67 Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 From Mt Lebanon and have been using Yamaha with Klipsch for years....best combination out there...really strange how these silly rumors become religion like one brand of amp not being compatible with a given speaker... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelerFan Posted February 17, 2004 Author Share Posted February 17, 2004 Well first let me say thanks for all of the support guys! I feel better about it today. I kind of had a public hissy fit after the day I had yesterday. This is dumb, but I just remembered there used to be a door where I was trying to run the wire. It's been fourteen years since the two rooms were combined and the door space was walled over, I just forgot about it. I went back up there and shined a light thru the hole I drilled in the top plate and sure enough about a foot down I can see a 2x4. Must be the old header for the door. I ran a stud finder horizontally across the wall and thought I was OK. I'm going to have to get one of those drill bit extensions and see if I can drill thru it. Since you do this for a living Griff, have you got any other ideas on how to go about it? Steven & smilin and arthurs, I haven't forgotten about B&K. My local dealer is Sound Advice and last time I checked they STILL wanted $3000 for the Ref 50. They tick me off alot of times. The only other thing I don't like about the Ref 50 is I'd have to box it up and send it back to them every time I wanted it updated. I used to work on a receiving dock, I know how things are treated in shipping. With my luck my Ref 50 would get destroyed. Avman sent me a message about Fosgate, I'm going to check them out and see what's up. What I'm really planning is to visit a local place called Sounds Teriffic. I hear they carry alot of cool stuff. I'm exited about Classe and Cary audio. Probably out of my budget but I'm going to look anyway, if only see all this neat stuff I've read about. Just got quite a bit of income tax money back I hadn't figured in my upgrade budget. The economy the way it is, maybe they will cut a good deal. Be fun to look anyway. I'm also excited to see what products Griff is going to carry. Won't he be a great connection for all of us on this forum. Thanks again to all. And Indy, the Steelers need to figure out a way to get Randal the ball more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelerFan Posted February 17, 2004 Author Share Posted February 17, 2004 ---------------- On 2/17/2004 6:04:08 PM tom67 wrote: From Mt Lebanon and have been using Yamaha with Klipsch for years....best combination out there...really strange how these silly rumors become religion like one brand of amp not being compatible with a given speaker... ---------------- I grew up in Monroeville tom. As much as I hate to argue with someone from Mt. Lebanon I'm going to have to say I've been running my Yamaha DSP-A1000 with Klipsch for 13 years now and while it was somewhat tolerable with my Forte's, it's much worse with the RF-7. At least to my ears it is. But if you like the combo well I say enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 ---------------- On 2/17/2004 6:38:52 PM SteelerFan wrote: I'm going to have to get one of those drill bit extensions and see if I can drill thru it. Since you do this for a living Griff, have you got any other ideas on how to go about it? I'm also excited to see what products Griff is going to carry. Won't he be a great connection for all of us on this forum. Thanks again to all. And Indy, the Steelers need to figure out a way to get Randal the ball more! ---------------- Actually, the last job I was on, we ran into a crossbeam. I took a jigsaw and sliced the wallboard straight up, cut through the crossbeam, fished my wire from there, and spackled the wall back together when I was done. Came out beautifully. I'm working furiously on price lists for the forum. We're not going to get much of a lineup in name brand equipment initially, simply because the "showroom" isn't going to happen until this branch of the company is a little more well-established. What we're going to end up doing, to keep overhead down, is buy a small house in the wealthy section of town and set it up with a full-blown HT system (one of our $75,000 packages) and basically give demos by appointment only. That way we don't have to pay someone to hang out waiting for walk-in traffic that will never happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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