AR 100.2 or Aragon 8008BB?

The AR 100.2 is not a tube amp. It is a solid state amp and has got to be one of the great "sleepers" of all time. I own one and I love it. It is 100 wpc and I have found it to have plenty of power. I have used mine with Thiel 1.5 speakers (86db efficient) and I am now using it with Gallo Nucleus Reference speakers. This amp is sooo musical I can hardly stand to turn my system off. I cannot recomend it highly enough. Before I bought mine, I compared it to a AR VT100 mk2 tube amp. I prefered the sound of the 100.2.

I will have to agree with Slowhand. At this point and time it is good circut design that makes the difference, not solid state vs tubes, it is the year 2001 not 1978.For gods sakes listen to the designs of Jeff Rowland and Charlie Hansen! Both solid state both killer! This is only my opinion but in earlier posts I have mentioned that..."I never thought I would say this but you really owe it to your self to hear an Audio Research 100.2, depending on what your impedence match is between your amp and preamp the difference can be night and day. I had been useing an Audible Illusions M3A with my Ayre V3 and it never came to life. The Ayre is fairly low impendence wise. The 100.2 was a text book match with my AIM3A. The difference is better high and low end and dynamics in spades. I could never figure it out why reviewers never empraised the 100.2 although that should never be an issue when auditioning an amp. Do yourself a favor and go listen to one." Also read the other posts named "Audio Resarch Convert"
If you would like to see a desciption of my system go to: http://cgi.AudioAsylum.com/systems/1875.html
All the best-
Gary

Tok20000 and Slowhand: Great posts! I just got finished auditioning the Aragon. It made Diana Krall's voice sound "veiled" or "filtered" and Wynton Kelly's piano on Miles Davis' "Someday My Prince Will Come" appear lifeless. To boot, after about a solid half hour, it got hot enough to fry an egg. I wasn't very impressed. Slowhand, I read your other post and I'm beginning to feel like I've stumbled on a gold mine. My dealer's got 2 100.2's that are 5 months old in mint condition on demo bi-wired to a pair of B&W Matrix 801's. (Stunning!) His initial asking price was $2,600 each (he's selling them separately). I'm taking it home tomorrow evening for an audition. If I like it as much as I think I will, what do you guys think is a good counter offer? Also, I'm eyeing a pair of Nautilus 803's down the road. Will a single 110.2 be enough power and a good match? Remember it's going in a large open room with 10' ceilings. Thanks for any advice!

I bought mine on Audiogon for $2000 and it was only 6 months old. Remind the dealer that Audio Research recently dropped the price on new stock from $3500 to $2995. He should go lower than $2600.

....just funished auditioning the AR 100.2. WOW! I wish I could splurge and get both of them. Maybe later. It's crisp, sharp, and accurate, with a magnificent soundstage even on a crappy old Sony 5 disc carousel changer! This one's a keeper. Next on the agenda, Rega Planet 2000. (Although, the same dealer's got a used Wadia 830 for $1,900.) Any thoughts?