Review: Aragon 8008 BB Amplifier

Dear Nrchy, I am answering your posting after a while, and talking with the certainty that a good comparison will make, I have had a couple of Krells in my system as well as a couple of Threshold, through the years, and of course the Aragon's which I presently own among others such as Sunfire, Crown, also some tubed gear.
The fact that many people compare the Aragons to the Krells seems to be the bass control, the Slam on the mid bass and off course because they were designed by the same gentleman yes the very well respected Mr. D'Agostino.
Well, the Aragons will never have the finesse and creamy and silky top end of the Krells because simply they were not designed to that price point in mind.
They were supposed to be the Working Man's Krell, and they were if nothing else they are wonderful sounding Amps that just will beat the pants of any amp coming close to their price range and even more . . ..
They do share the slam and bass as well as many characteristics of the Krells, after all a family resemblance is only natural don't you think?
I don't know what Klipsch have been doing with them I hope something reasonable . . . As far as Amps go; the Aragon 8008 and any of its encarnations same as the old 4004 MK-II's they were designed to beat any competitor out there in the price range, Krell is just not a Competitor.
I am reviewing a Threshold from the new generation now and will post results here on our little corner. Stay tuned, as it is a good one, and for the price ($2,500) . . .
Good luck to you Gentlemen

Gonzalo

It always amazes me how brand name lemmings feel compelled to jump to the defense of their "pet" brands. I've compared my Aragon 8008BB amps (I have three) against a good many big-buck amps that I've actually owned and used extensively in my own system, in my home, including the Rowland Model 10 and monoblock 12, the AR VT-200, the McIntosh MC352, the Bryston 14B-SSt, the Classe 401, and most recently the Krell FPB 400cx. All of those amps are orders of magnitude more expensive than the Aragon, but they are not orders of magnitude better, and a few, like the big Krell, are too close to justify the huge price premium. In fact, once I tried using two Aragon 8008BBs to vertically bi-amp my extremely accurate and revealing PMC MB-2 monitors, I realized what I was missing with the timber-challenged and soundstage-flattening Krell. The ONLY place the Aragons gave in to the Krell was a slight bit of congestion in the extreme highs. The Krell had to be history when two used Aragons that cost far less than half the price of the Krell showed it up in bass control and slam, dynamics and timbral accuracy. After listening to the Krell for more than a year, the two 8008BBs were a revalation. Jeez, maybe I've become an Aragon lemming.

Turbo:

How did you balance the gain between the Aragon and the X5 in the horizontal biamp set-up?

Tailor3

On reputation alone I was ready to buy an 8008 BB, but when I went and heard the one I was interested in buying, I knew I had to have the thing. Nothing I could afford came anywhere close to controlling a speaker as well as this amplifier did. I recently got a pair of B&W Nautilus 802s, and even this power hungry speaker does well on them. They don't have the absolute dominant control they had on a pair of B&W 604s and other speakers of the same class and size, but they do awfully well. Their sound is every bit as musical as it is powerful, too. I'm considering getting a pair of Palladiums for the 802s if I can find the space for them. Without winning the lottery, that's the only true upgrade I can imagine being able to make. Then I can do 7.1 with my BB and 8008x3..

I've owned an 8008BB twice....upset that I got rid of it both times, once for Krell, once for Levinson. Awesome amp that lets you choose other places to put the savings...i.e. speakers. It's a pretty neutral amp that acts damn near a voltage source down to 2 ohms. What's not to like?