LET ME START BY SAYIN THE 8008BB IS VERY GOOD AMPLIFIER THAT NEEDS TO BE CAREFULY MATCHED WITH THE COMPONENTS THAT DRIVE IT AND SPEAKERS THAT IT DRIVES, MY AUDIO RESEARCH LS-16 IS A VERY GOOD MATCH WITH THE 8008BB THERE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESS COMPLIMENT EACH VERY WELL SO THE REST OF MY REVIEW WILL BE BASED ON THAT COMBINATION CONNECTED WITH BALANCED JPS LABS ULTRACONDUCTOR 2 THAT IS 5 METERS LONG CONECTED TO 2 8008BB IN A TRUE BIAMP/BIWIRE SETUP DRIVING USHER BE-718 TINY DANCER . THE ARAGON 8008BB IS FAST VERY NEUTRAL AMP THAT IS EXTREMLY DYNAMIC AND THE SOUND STAGE IS HUGE VERY WIDE AS FAR AS DEPTH YOU GET WHATS ON THE RECORDING THE BASS OF THE 8008BB IS ABOUT AS GOOD AS IT GETS UNLESS YOU GOT BIG MONEY [ LEVINSON PASS LABS, BOULDER, YOU GET THE DRIFT I HOPE] THE 8008BB MIDRANGE AND HI END ARE JUST A BIT LIVELY SIDE OF NEUTRAL WHICH IS WHY I RECOMMEND A HIGH QUALITY TUBE LINESTAGE. YOU GET THE POWER,SPEED,PRECISION OF SOLID STATE COMBINED WITH A TOUCH OF TUBE MAGIG. IF YOU ARE IN THE MARKET FOR A BIG POWERFUL BEAST OF AN AMPLIFIER I HIGHLY RECOMMED THIS AMP 90% OF WHAT THEY BIG HIGH PRICED SUPERAMPS WILL GIVE YOU AT A FRACTION OF THE COST IF YOU CAN FIND ONE THERE GETTING SCARCE PEOPLE THAT BUY KEEP EM THAT SHOULD TELL YOU SOMETHING IN ITSELF HAPPY LISTENING!

Hello,
I truly think the 8008BB represents one of the great amplification values of all time. Over the years, I have owned a 4004 MKII, 8002, 8008ST, 8008X3, and the 8008BB. Aside from the Palladiums, even in this exalted company, note of them compare.

Much of this is due to the dual 1.1 kVa toroidal transformers and twice the capacitance of the 8008ST (140,000u vs 70,000). Many highly regarded 5 channels amplifiers power supplies do not even come close to this. Add exceptional build quality and being made in America and you have a classic.

The only thing I can say negative about it are the relatively low budget binding posts. If using a tough to drive speaker, you have just found manna.
Cheers,
John

I previously owned a Plinius SA 100 MKIII and I must say it was my all time favorite amp,that is until the Aragon. The 8008BB does many of the same things well that the Plinius did. Great female vocals,tremendous layering of soundstage,very musical midrange. Where the Aragon really excels though,is decay of notes produced by piano and cymbals,a viselike grip on low end bass notes,and DEPTH of soundstage If you have the ability to get your speakers away from the rear wall, this amp is unmatched in my experience, for front to back depth of soundstage layering... The minute details of your recordings will come through like NEVER before! Class "A" first 26 watts,A/B after that.This is a great amp for all types of music because of the incredible seperation and "air" between different entities in the recordings.Runs quite hot after full warmup (not quite as hot as the Plinius though).The one thing that may be misconstrued as a "weakness" of this amp is the awesome accuracy.Crap in,crap out,if you know what I mean. The reallly good part though,is great sound in,great sound out... Overall,a GREAT VALUE,especially at $1200-$1500 on the used market,nothing in the same league for the used price.

Everything, sweet, clear, warm music

None

I Love this Amp, after searching years for an affordable yet powerful amp I found this used and bought it with one listen. The amp is on the warmish side but does not hold anything back in terms of clarity or detail, bass if full and imageing is first rate.

Similar Products Used:

Audio Reseach, Bryston,

Supreme dynamics, clarity, bass, you name it, I cannot imagine an amp sounding any better than this!

None!

This is actually a review of the Aragon 8008 MK II, but since it does not exist on this site yet I will put it here under the unit that it replaces the 8008BB. Well I own a Sony TA-E9000ES and 3 TA-N330ES 300 watt mono amps. I have had these Sonys for 10 years, but a few weeks ago I blew up the two fronts by shorting the speaker wires between the two amps... apparently this was too much for the protections and bam, bye bye Sonys. We I then so I bought a B&K Reference 3220 with three channels at 220 watts each. It was a step up from the Sonys but barely... I am not sure I would have been able to tell the difference in a blind test... maybe, the B&K was better but it was subtle. I really had to listen for a difference (one of my sonys still works so I was able to compare a lot.... as long as it was not worse than my sonys I was happy, I did not thing an amp could be much better anyway). Then one of the B&K channels dropped its power output by quite a bit... making it softer than the other channels, I could get it to fix itself if I hit the side of the cabinet, but it eventually would vibrate itself back to a slightly muted state (even at low volume levels). Must be a loose output transister or something? I was very sad because the B&K Reference 3220 is discontinued and I got a great deal on it, so I am going to return it. But it turns out that luck was in my favor, otherwise I would never have found the Aragon 8008MK II. The difference really is STUNNING. No doubt which amp is better! The Aragon just blows away the B&K amp. No contest. I had no idea an amp could make this much difference in the sound, and I honestly had thought that in this day and age all decent amps are pretty close to each other. I was wrong. This amp was like lifting a viel that had been over my music for 10 years! There is no way this amp is just 200 watts per channel. Talk about conservative rating! It blows my supposedly 300 watts per channel sonys away, not to mention the B&K at 220 watts. I now wonder what other upgrades I should do that I "thought" would not really make much difference. Regards, Sean

Similar Products Used:

Sony ES, B&K

Neutral, just lively enough so that it's not lifeless; powerful as heck. Possibly as close to unvarnished sound as you can get in an amplifier. If this is what you're looking for, great. If you want an amp with "character," however, you'd be better off looking at tubes.

Binding posts. Horrible design. Using some spades, it's probably possible to short the two posts. Don't know why Aragon didn't design these more intelligently.

A lot of great things have been said about this amp. As far as I am concerned, this praise is deserved. To my ears, the 8008BB is a perfect power source: uncolored, muscular, and just lively enough to avoid sounding, well, lifeless. I’d even go so far as to say that to call the 8008 BB a giant-killer is to do it a disservice: It’s probably the amp of choice in many high-end systems (it is in mine) -- and deservedly so, at that. I use it to drive a pair of Avalon Eidolons. I chose it over a handful of other models, including Krell (FPB-650), Pass (X250) and Spectral (DMA-360). Full disclosure: After plunking down $17,000 on a pair of Eidolons, I was understandably in a bargain-hunting frame of mind when it came to shopping for a power amplifier. Nevertheless, there was no way in Hades that I was going to skimp by pairing my Eidolons with a power source. As a matter of fact, I didn’t even think of auditioning the inexpensive 8008BB until a dealer suggested it to me. I had been singularly unimpressed with the Krell FPB-650, and he speculated that I might find the sound of the Aragon amp more agreeable. Now, I’d heard that Krell’s Dan D’Agostino designed the 8008BB, so I’ve got to admit that I was surprised when I found its sound much less hard and solid-state-like than the FPB-650 mono blocks. At home, in my listening room and in my system, it literally blew me away. The experience was akin to when I first brought the Eidolons home and plugged them into my existing system (see below, with McCormack DNA-125 power amplifier): I heard music in an altogether new way. In the case of the Eidolons, I learned what imaging and breath-taking realism could sound like. In the case of the Aragon, I heard what music uncolored by a power amplifier with “character” could sound like. The final choice came down to the 8008BB and the Spectral mono blocks. I made it largely based on price alone: The sound of both amps when playing through the Eidolons – though distinctly different – was euphonious. The Spectral was more lively than the Aragon, which helped to improve the sound of poor recordings, I think. Its sound was also warmer than that of the 8008BB, which, in most rooms, helps to compensate for the very slightly analytical sound of the Eidolons. That’s not to say that the 8008BB didn’t sound warm, however. In fact, the Aragon struck me as the more musically accurate of the two amplifiers, and – here’s the clincher – was the imaging champ with the world-class imaging of the Eidolons. Compare the $2,700 price tag of the 8008BB with the $14,500 that a dealer wanted for a pair of DMA-360s, and I think the case was pretty solid. By the way, I hope that my experience doesn’t lead you to conclude that the Aragon is a better amp than the Spectral. I’m just saying that I preferred its sound when paired with my Eidolons. Your mileage may vary. Considerably, at that. A couple of other things, this amp runs hot – its first 25 (or is it 30?) watts are Class A, so it tends to dissipate a lot of heat when idling. It’s a monster, as well, and easily drives my (relatively) demanding Eidolons. I think it can master almost any loudspeaker on the market today. I also think that its sound – neutral and life-like – is a good complement for most loudspeakers. Again, your mileage may vary, but the 8008BB is one heckuva power amplifier. System Avalon Eidolon (quilted cherry veneer) Aragon 8008BB No pre-amp – just single-ended attenuator pairs in 5 dB steps Sonic Frontiers SFT-1 transport Dodson 217 Mk II DAC All cables by MIT

Similar Products Used:

Krell FPB-650, Pass X250, Spectral DMA-360

Low End realism, clarity, power, soundstage, musicality pure and simple

The V shape is ugly to me, binding posts, Klipsch bought the company...:-(.

WOW!!! Of all the words that passed through my mind as I listened to this amp in my system, the one word that sums it up is WOW.... Everything has already been said about this amp, powerfull tight bass, cristal clear highs, vocals that are right on. The soundstage is open and detailed, the sound is airy yet very full. Music sounds like MUSIC, wonderful rich sounding music that is backed up by all the power and control you could ask for in an amp. I had narrowed my choices down to Bryston, Aragon, Classe and Audio Research (SS). The Bryston was dry and harsh compared to the Aragon, the Audio Research and Classe had a simular sonic signiture but the Audio Research lacked the real power and authority of the Aragon and the Classe lacked the air and soundstage of the Aragon IMO.

Similar Products Used:

Classe, Audio Research, B&K, Bryston

Amazing sound and power!!

The binding posts could accept bigger wire if you want to call that a weakness.

I was going to write a review, but after reading JEFF''s from Brooklyn, NY I feel I can do no better. So just read his and mine is the same, except I upgraded from an ADCOM GFA7500. Make no mistake, you have entered the domain of tremendous power. This amp is being replaced by the ARAGON MKII. I spoke to someone at Mondial, and he told me that aside from a different face plate they where exactly the same.

Similar Products Used:

ADCOM, ROTEL, KRELL, and SUNFIRE

For those looking for a good powerful ss amp. Look no futher than this.It had I would say the best low end control at this price range.The highs are clean and
smooth and not grainy as mentioned by some people.
Superb value for what it offers.

Unlimited power
Detailed but smooth and natural sound
Deep, controlled bass
Neutral
Expansive, detailed soundstage
Excellent dynamics

Binding posts

An awesome amp overall! This amplifier has been able to really get the most out of my B&W 801 speakers.

We wanted to upgrade our 10 year old Hafler amp a few years ago and so we tried out the Rotel and the Classe (100 watt, I do not remember the model). The Classe was a little too laid back and dark in my system. The Rotel sounded good at the time, was neutral, drove the speakers adequately, and was a good price ($1000). We bought the Rotel but I later noticed that at high volume levels, it seemed to be straining to reach the musical peaks.

After a couple of months, we tried the Aragon against the Rotel and there was very noticible difference in the ability to drive the speakers. The Aragon was absolutely effortless in it's ability to sustain high volume levels and produce deep, controlled bass. After breaking it in, it had similar detail and neutrality to the Rotel, but a more expansive, 3 dimensional soundstage, greater dynamics, and a more warmth. Before break-in, I did notice a little bit of harsh treble. After 40-50 hours of use, I have never again noticed the treble problems that a few others have reported.

The dealer allowed us to trade in the Rotel for full value towards the Aragon and we have never regretted it. The Rotel is great for the money, but was just not adequate for my speakers. Although the Aragon was more than twice the money, it was well worth it, and is a great value for the money. Build quality is excellent, its built like a tank (and almost as heavy).

After more than 2 years with this amp, we have never been tempted to go to anything else. The only problem I have had with it was a blown fuse due to accidently crossing the speaker cables. In fact, I have just bought an Aragon 8008X3 for the center and surround speakers of my home theater to complement the 8008BB.

Other components in my system:

Audible Illusions Mod 3A preamp
Marantz 63SE CD player
MSB Link DAC
Sota Jewel turntable
Sumiko blue point special cartridge
B&W 801 series 2 speakers
MIT Terminater 2 speaker cables
Kimber cable PBJ interconnects
Velodyne F1800xr subwoofer (mainly for home theater)

Similar Products Used:

Rotel 990
Hafler 550
Classe