Aragon 4004 - Load Capacity Question

I have Aragon 8008BB and love it. Have heard good things about the 4004 and would suspect it would be fine given the Aragons are very stable and conservatively rated. Steve at Aragons tech support is very knowledgable and friendly and I think can answer any question. Perhaps call him.

I believe the 4004 was rated as stable into 1 ohm. It should be fine.

I used the 4004MKII for many years on 3ohm Apogee Stage panels. The Aragon worked fine. The midrange/tweeter ribbon was always rock steady with the Aragon. Lesser amps clipped and made the ribbon dance.

A very dependable amp. Have used it with low impedance loads with no problems. Built like a tank.

I believe the Palladiums while capable, work best on power hungry speakers don't stray much from 8 Ohms. Rather odd birds, no?

Early advertisements for the 4004 stated it was stable into a dead short. That may be a bit of exaggeration, but a 4004 will laugh at 3-ohm nominal loads.

There is ONE caveat: Will the wiring from your circuit breaker panel to the wall socket withstand the 1500-watt maximum load without voltage drop? If you run that amp HARD on a typical 15-amp circuit--and that circuit is also supplying other electrical loads--you'll "brown out" or even pop the breaker. When the voltage sags; nobody is happy.

When I set up my room, I supplied a dedicated circuit for each amp (2-4004; 2-8008BB) and two more circuits for the rest of the equipment. Each circuit is 10-gauge wire instead of the more common 12-gauge. Older houses may have 14 gauge. (Larger number = smaller wire.)

A Palladium is rated at 1000 watts into a 2-ohm load. I'd say it can stray from 8-ohm speakers and be just fine.

The Aragon 4004 MKII is one of those great audio bargains that is tough to beat. Currently I use one driving a 4 ohm load and it does very well. It will get quite warm (driving 4 ohms) if played at higher volumes but it has never shut down. Its model number (4004) means 400 watts per channel at 4 ohms.

One final thought here. After owning both the Aragon 4004 and 8008 I oberserved the 4004 having a better, more fuller midrange, but the 8008 had better bass.