m00n Posted May 4, 2004 Share Posted May 4, 2004 How does aragon stack up to the rest. I am totally uneducated in the relm of sepparates.... How would an all aragon system compare to my Harman Kardon AVR 7200. How well does aragon match up with Klipsch? Are they warm, bright? What? This would be for my theater... I'd have 8 channels I would need to power. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dflip Posted May 4, 2004 Share Posted May 4, 2004 Aragon has always been the high end and the company used to also make Acurus amps and preamps. At that point they were known as Mondial. I bought both an Acurus amp, A150 (150W) and a RL-11 preamp with a remote about eleven years ago. I still have both pieces of equipment and have used both with my Cornwalls. At the moment, I have the Acurus amp hooked up to the Cornwalls with a Mapletree Audio preamp. It has way too much power for my purposes, 2 channel, but it sounds better than my 50 W SAE amp that I have had since highschool days. I wanted to try separates and am half way there at the moment. Since they are the same company, the amps should have some similar characteristics. The Aragon amps run in the 200W a side range. I guess if you want to set your preamp to 9 o'clock to get a decent sound and can only raise it to 10 o'clock then it is a possible solution. A tube preamp helps produce a more mellow sound, but it continually borders on bright, especially with older recordings. It really brings out the lack of bass and a ton of mids and highs which brings about listening fatigue within 30 minutes. The Aragon units do produce a more solid bass than it's lesser sibbling, but it again comes down to way too much power for what you want to achieve in sound. If you have a pair of Krell speakers then it could be a very good mix. I remember hearing them being run from a nice Bryston SS amp with a lot of power and they sounded very nice. 98 - 104 dB jspeakers ust doesn't require that amount of power.Something in the 60W range it will give you all your could possibly ask for and more. Can you go this way, yes. In the long run it is not a choice that I would make if other options are available to me with what I know now from three years on this forum. In the next couple of months, I will be looking for a tube amp to go with the Mapletree and Cornwalls. It will be a more pleasureable mix, IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m00n Posted May 4, 2004 Author Share Posted May 4, 2004 so you are saying it would be overkill for home theater with RF7s and RC7s? I've been told the RF7s REALLY open up at 200 watts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ez8947 Posted May 4, 2004 Share Posted May 4, 2004 hey m00n could you please check out "Room Size" in the HT forum, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dflip Posted May 4, 2004 Share Posted May 4, 2004 I was thinking more in the 2 channel area. If you are using it for home theatre, then it may be a different story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damonrpayne Posted May 4, 2004 Share Posted May 4, 2004 m00n: I've heard a full reference 7 system powered with the 2007 and Stage One. It was very very good. I would call it slightly on the warm side. They are definately not bright, and I would hardly call 200 wpc overkill even for efficient klipsch speakers. Everyone who went on the Indy trip last year had nothing but good to say about Aragon separates. I'm trying to track down deals on a 2005, 2002, and Stage One right now to power heresyIIs and some day khorns. 8 channels is sort of an odd number so you're going to end up with 2 or 3 amps and at least one unused channel. Maybe you should move up to 9 speakers, a channel is a terrible thing to waste. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m00n Posted May 4, 2004 Author Share Posted May 4, 2004 warmer than harman kardon? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j-malotky Posted May 4, 2004 Share Posted May 4, 2004 Moon If you are looking for Warmer amps, you may want to look at McIntosh SS amps. I bought my three MC-250s off ebay from just under $200 to $375 per amp, so they are very cost effective, plus they are very nice sounding amps. Do you really need 200 WPC? My 100 Watt MC can be driven to louder SPL's than my other higher watt amps, mainly because they sound less fatiguing to my ears at higher volumes in comparison. Just a thought?? I went separates in the early 80's and would never, ever consider going back to an all in one box. Just a friendly warning JM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m00n Posted May 5, 2004 Author Share Posted May 5, 2004 ---------------- On 5/4/2004 11:59:20 PM j-malotky wrote: Moon If you are looking for Warmer amps, you may want to look at McIntosh SS amps. I bought my three MC-250s off ebay from just under $200 to $375 per amp, so they are very cost effective, plus they are very nice sounding amps. Do you really need 200 WPC? My 100 Watt MC can be driven to louder SPL's than my other higher watt amps, mainly because they sound less fatiguing to my ears at higher volumes in comparison. Just a thought?? I went separates in the early 80's and would never, ever consider going back to an all in one box. Just a friendly warning JM ---------------- Not necessarly looking for warmer amps than my harman, just trying to get a comparrison. As mentioned, i've hear the RF7s open up at 200. Not that they sound bad under, my hk has 100 per channel. But i would like to hear 200. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdm56 Posted May 5, 2004 Share Posted May 5, 2004 There were recently some TREMENDOUS deals to be had on some Aragon gear that had been used for trade show demos. The ad was on the Stereophile web site, and I think it was for Audio Advisor. They are probably gone by now, but you might wanna check. If I was a rich man, a rich man, a rich man; Oh if I was a rich man...I'd be looking pretty hard at Aragon myself. It sure would go well with klipsch, methinks. Now whether or not you would actually need that kind of power is another story... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chops Posted May 5, 2004 Share Posted May 5, 2004 Hey m00n, I'm using an older Aragon 2004Mk II on my KG 5.5s with great results. I wouldn't say the amp is warm or bright, just neutral. It matches up very well with my KG's, and it's only 100 watts p/c but gets plenty loud enough, even for movie playback. I like my music and movies loud and this amp/speaker combo does it right without making your ears bleed. I read another thread on here a couple days ago where one of the members owns both the RF-7's and the KG 5.5's. To him, he says both these speakers sound very much alike. If this is the case, and my Aragon works for me in my system, then it should work fine for you as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kev313 Posted May 5, 2004 Share Posted May 5, 2004 There were just GREAT deals at Audio Advisor - check them out. They have also had some good prices on the Halo gear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artto Posted May 5, 2004 Share Posted May 5, 2004 The only time Ive heard the Aragon gear was at Klipsch in Indy last year, in the Heritage demo room. Considering the sparse room treatment (mostly just a few bass traps around the room, bare walls), I was quite surprised at the smoothness & open, detailed sound considering the conditions (as most of you know, not quite what Im used to). I have an entry level HK AVR130 I bought for the video system (I guess most would call it HT nowadays, but thats stretching it IMO). I was favorably impressed with its sound so I decided to try it on my main system. But alas, no match for the Luxman MB3045. Took it out after 5 or 10 minutes. BTW, you should be aware that for all the bad rap Crown amplifiers get, they pioneered the Class AB+B type amplifier. In this design, the output to the speakers is actually derived (initially) from the pre-driver & driver (Class AB) stage until higher power output is required whereby the Class B stage kicks in. This technology was originally developed by Crown (now part of HarmonKardon International) in the legendary DC300 (1966). So whether you like Crown or not, the fact of the matter is that today, nearly all solid state audio amplifiers use this general configuration. http://www.crownaudio.com/pdf/amps/grbgpapr.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damonrpayne Posted May 5, 2004 Share Posted May 5, 2004 Yes there are great deals to be had on audio advisor. They "reserved" an Aragon 2005 for me untill tomorrow when my PayPal transactions find their way into my bank account. They seem very friendly and knowledgeable, and they are an authorized dealer as well so you'd be getting full warranty and support. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted May 5, 2004 Share Posted May 5, 2004 artto: Some great points about Crown amps!! When I was running stage shows back in the late 1970s, we were literally using banks of Crown DC300-A's and they ran rock-solid! They were very dependable power amps and they never shut down, unlike some other popular commerical-level brand amps that shall remain nameless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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