i currently own an aragon 4004 mk2 and after listening to it for years and constantly comparing it to other amps, i still feel its one of the best you can buy at any price. naturally when the 8008 became available i had to try it. i was dissapointed. it seems to have a glare to it that can actually hurt your ears after a while. it may be that the amp is so accurate its merely reproducing the harshness inherrent in digital recordings but since i and most people listen to cd's only and many of them not spectacular recordings, i feel its impractical to have this amp. i, more than anyone wanted this amp to continue and exceed the quality of sound i get from my 4004 mk2 so when i tell you that i didnt like it, its coming from someone who very much wanted to. the 4004 doesnt exhibit any of the glare i heard from the 8008 and yet it seems just as powerful and tight in the bass. when a loud midrange voice surprises you you dont flinch like with the 8008 which can be very piercing. i prefer my 4004 and highly recommend that before you buy an 8008, you audition a used 4004 mk2 in your home with your equipment and see how you like it. these amps are built like krells, sound almost as good, and used cost less than 1000 dollars making them the high-end audio bargain of the century. the money you save would be better spent on upgrading your speakers. the 4004 wont dissapoint!
associated equipment:

aragon 4004mk2
aragon 18K preamp
California audio labs dX1 cd player
martin logan SL3's
MIT 330+ interconnects
MIT terminator 2 bi-wire

Iam sold is this a 2-200watt channel amp thats sounds like a 500watts? I want to get 2 one for fronts and rears. I know its overkill. Hell we only live once.i will get a bwetter deal then the msrp

This amp gets 5 stars for power. Not many amps in it's price category come close to this one powerwise.
3 stars for sound quality. I think the Monarchy SE100 Deluxes sound better. Plinius gear sounds a lot better. This Aragon has a very dry sound. For $2500 it should do better soundwise. Perhaps this amp just did not work well in my system at the time...

Overal I give this amp 4 stars. It is certainly Stereophile Class B. But it deffinitely falls short of Class A (5 stars). Personally, I would listen to the Plinius SA100 mk3 if you are thinking about this amp. A savy (and patient) online shopper can pick a SA100 Plinius up for around $2500 used.

My theory is that you can get very close to the 8008BB sound with the Aragon 8002 for $1000+ less when you take tax into consideration. Spend that extra $1000 on better speakers/source/preamp.

Excellent power output, detailed, warm mid, tight control bass

Heavy and the 1,7mv input sensivity

When I bought the Analysis Omega with external cross I had problems with these speakers because I could not find an amp to drive them. I tested many amps but none could do anything because Analysis with 83db sensivity it was a very difficult load for every amp that i tested. When I put Aragon 8008BB on the rack (Heavy} and connected to the speakers finally all my problems was desappeared. The Aragon was driving my Analysis easily at very high listening levels with warm and detailed full body mid, tight bass and 3d sounstage was very wide and the amp was delivering to the speakers unlimited power with no distortion. I recomment this amp to everyone who wants a powerfull and detailed amp.

Similar Products Used:

Speakers: Analysis Omega
CD: Audio Analogue Paganini
Pre: Audio Analogue Berllini

bass

high input sensitivity

I love my aragon 8008BB but after recently comparing it with two classe CAM-200's i am very seriously considering upgrading. The classes setup is much more natural and musical from midrange on up. The low-bass and mid-bass of the two are identical.

As another reviewer stated previously the B&K is no comparison.

While I will still recommend the aragon I will always mention the new classe amp's as an alternative for a little more money.

Similar Products Used:

b&k 4420, classe CAM-200

After purchasing the 8008BB, 28k preamp and Acurus CD I know that when I sit down to do some serious listening I will experience pure pleasure. To me, that is what HiFi is all about. To be fair, though, the 8008BB does exhibit a mechanical buzz occasionally due to the huge transformers it employs (Mondial confirms this). Buzz not withstanding. I love it!

I constantly upgrade my system at home and finnaly I decided to throwa couple of thousands$$ on a sterio amplifier. After reading all the audio
magazines out there, and there reviews on most amplifiers I started my hunt
in NY City. Im the kind of audio customer most salesmen love to hate because
I spend allot of there time driving them crazy by listening and comparing
all there amps for hours and then go to a different audio store to listen
to other amps. I think I heard every amp created including the expensive
ones like KRELL A-250, KAV-500 ( which I loved). By my heart stoped beating
when I reached the ARAGON 8008 BB, not only because it sounded just as
good as the krell KAV-500 but for allot less$$.This amp has power, dynamic
smooth clean highs, and warmth. Im not sure which amp I perfered more, the
KRELL KAV-500 or the Aragon but my wallet made the decision for me and I
came home with a broken back after lifting the Aragon from the store.I dont
understand why some say that the sound is dark,or bright, or lacks warmth. I
think it takes hours of listening to other 5 times more expencive amps in
order to degrade the Aragon by a tiny fracture which is hardly noticable.
Defenatly one of the best value and best sounding amps out in the market.
Funny, when asked how others feel about the aragons, they always compare it
to amps. 5 times as expencive and say it lack this or that. But I say, It
takes an amp 5 times more expencive to get any negative opinion on the aragons.
that should say it all about the aragons. they rule

Listen, when BMW and Mercedes found out that Toyota and Nissan where entering the luxury car market the Germans were scared because they knew these companies could make comparable cars for much less money. I liken the Aragon 8008bb to this. This is the Lexus or Infiniti of the audio industry. It sounds almost as good as Krell, notice I do not say better, but it sure wasn't a $1000+ difference. Just listen to this amp, it can do it all. P.S. I am not a rep and I do not sell them.

I purchased my 8008BB after reading the Stereophile review and planned to biamp my Von Schweikert VR4's with my Adcom 5800. After some experimenting with one amp on the top the other on the bottom and visa versa I tried driving the VR4's with the Aragon only - perfection! I must say this combination took several weeks to completely break in and I also upgraded my speaker cables and interconnects to MIT's durring this period, but the wait was worth it! Sound so good I started looking for Aragon's Aurum peamp to see if there may be a synergistic effect of an all Aragon system - Yes. This is as close to perfection as I can afford, sounds very real even from another room! And in the sweet spot - Heaven!

I have listened to this amp for a long time now and I still compare it to other amplifiers. The bryston 3b sounded great! but lacked the power and ability the Aragon has plus the bryston sounded a bit bright. The 4b didnt sound to well (to boomy) lacked airyness and openess the 3b has(less musical). The Aragon sounds like a 500watt amp with smooth, clean, (NOT grainy) highs and detailed Mids. The bass is the best I ever heard putting other amps costing much more to shame.Few people say that the amp sounds a bit grainy and thats because they have to get there ears cleaned out or maybe get better speakers, I wouldnt be surprised if they are use to colored sounding amplifiers which fake the sence of warmth and do not sound the way music is realy recorded,acurate. I found NO brightness to the sound or any sence of grainyness either. When I first heard the amp it did lack a bit of warmth to the mids ( I was using a cheap cd player then) but now that Im using a Sony xa7es player. I couldnt ask for mor, the sound is clean, extremely detailed and dynamic. The highs are GRAIN FREE and very smooth sounding.When listening at high volume the sound just sailes. The amplifier never runs out of juice no matter how loud you play it with a tight grip on the speakers the bass just tears the wall down with clean tight, thunderous bass.I have not heard many tube amplifiers so I realy have no say in comparing sound between the two. Anything under 200 watt just doest pull enough for me since I love the sence of raw power to my music. Tube amplifier probably just colors the sound and does not sound acurate ( im not saying thats bad because many love the sound of tube amps. and thats what matters) but the Aragon sounds like its real, acurate, the way it really sounds in real life, with no coloration. Simply a great amplifier that makes more expencive amps. embarased.