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What 5ch or 3/2 to match Aragon 8008bb?

Hi everyone, I'm hoping to solicit your advice; I'm having a hard time finding any answers to this question.

I'm picking up an 8008bb Aragon for my mains, but i'm running a 7.1 system, and need to get amplification that will match well with the 'bb'.

Any suggestions? I've heard the acurus a200x5 is voiced similarly; and I've thought an 8008x3 for the center and 2 side surrounds, with a cheap amp for the rear surrounds might work as well...

I'd like to keep it around $2k total if I can, but I'm not sure if that's possible.

Thanks for any advice you can give!

-Kincade
kincade

Showing 2 responses by shayner

shayner
41 posts
 
I don't know why many seem to think the new Aragon amps are not as good as the old. Internally, they're all still the same; only the outer cosmetics are different. Having owned both(still have an 8002 and 8008BB), the Acurus products don't have anywhere near the dynamics and lower noise floor of the Aragon products. I even bi-amped a pair of Paradigm Eclips/BP's with 2 Acurus A200 amps, then switched to the 8002- the 8002 was far superior in every way, all by itself.
Stick to the 8008x5.
shayner
41 posts
 
Hi Kincade:

DO NOT leave your Aragon amps on all the time. I don't know if anyone else can attest to the same sort of experience, but I didn't pay much attention when I first had my 8002, so I left it on all the time. Aragon amps tend to be havily biased into class A, and I didn't realize my little 8002 drew 1000watts just sitting there doing nothing. My first $400 electric bill(for ONE month)
stopped me from doing that. Besides, they only need about 10-20 minutes to warm up and sound their best anyways.
By the way, all "Class A" amps switch to class A/B when putting out more than several watts(varies a bit). The reason the 8002 and 8008 pull so much idle current is because they are heavily biased into A, which is very inefficient, but switch to class A/B probably when output exceeds around 10-20 watts. I can explain more if you wish to be bored to tears sometime. Oh, and I have had a
Sherbourne 5/1500 connected to my JM Labs Electra 936 speakers a while back, and it was ok. Haven't heard the one you have, but the one I heard simply couldn't keep up with my 8002, let alone my 8008BB. Frequency extremes were where the Sherbourne seemed a little lacking. Still, if your only going to use it for non-critical listening, it would be good for a hometheater. I'm also a fussy pain-in-the-butt 2-channel snob, so take my advice with a grain of salt. Using the Sherbourne for the surrounds? Probably should stick with it and save some cash. $1200 buys a lot of movies! Whatever you decide, good luck, and ENJOY...

Shayne.
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