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Aragon 4004 MKii vs Denon POA 6600 monos

dslavey

dslavey

AK Subscriber
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Plugged in a Aragon 4004 MKII in place of 2 Denon POA 6600s. Setting between a Denon DAP 2500 pre and Infinity Column IIs. The source being digital out of my PC. I expected great things from the Aragon, from all the hype. I was disappointed, should I be? Am I comparing apples to oranges? The Denons have much more output with my setup. The Aragon sounds bland. The highs and mids are veiled. Although I always thought the Denons were a little bright, but tolerable. The stereo separation on the Denons is so much clearer. but I thought with the dual mono of the Aragon it would be comparable. Not so! Not even close. I checked and adjusted the bios and DC offset, they are dead on.

Did I expect too much from the Aragon? Any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated.

thanks,
Doug
 
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How long has it been since the Aragon was previously used? Days, weeks, months, years? Leave it in the system and play music through it for a few days(ie even while you're at work). See whether it sounds the same after one week. Tell us what the result is.
 
ryuuoh said:
Everything I've read about this amp says it's great. Maybe change your pre amp?
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I have gotten the same impression from what i have read. I do have a couple other pre amps to try. I will give that a try. Thanks

theophile said:
How long has it been since the Aragon was previously used? Days, weeks, months, years? Leave it in the system and play music through it for a few days(ie even while you're at work). See whether it sounds the same after one week. Tell us what the result is.
Click to expand...

I don't have a clue as to its last use, as I bought it off the Bay. Good thought though. After a couple hours of listening last night, I was hearing things I hadn't when it was first hooked up. I have to say, it really controls the woofers very well. Bass is crazy on some music, but tight. I think the highs and mids are opening up some. Definitely needs some run time. Thanks for the input.
 
Different Pre and some run time made a world of difference. Nikko Beta 20 seems to mesh very well with the Aragon. It is indeed a nice amp.
 
Could it be your Denon colored the sound. One think about audiophile amp, they don't color the sound and they are not supposed to. Like people totally disconnect the tone control and the "Loudness" switch on the integrated amp. When you first do that, it sounded flat, It's more colorful with the loudness and set the tone. BUT if you are patient and listen for a little while, you'll start notice the sound stage starting to show up, more separation and more the 3D effect.

Hifi listening is like art appreciation, you don't appreciate Shakespeare if you are not ready for it, ha ha, I much rather read some mystery stories or others.

Aragon are high quality amp by design. I was told that Mondel is a poor man's Krell and Aragon is poor man's Mondel all designed by the same designer. I have an Acurus power amp that is supposedly the poor mans Aragon, it hold it's own compare with better amps.

Ha ha, now I can't stand using any tone control or loudness. The preamp I designed doesn't even have tone, loudness or even balance. You want to minimize the circuit in the signal chain, more circuit, more distortion.

I attached the schematic of the 4004, it's very much like Krell KSA type, main difference it's a Class AB that does not require as big heat sink. But it still has 5 stages output with reasonable bias to get the first few watts in class A.( very very important). It has separate power supply for each channel.............You cannot ask for more.

PS, I don't keep schematics of Danon, only the top ones.
 

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Just to give you some reference. I attached schematic of Krell big KSA100 and Acurus I have. Look at how similar the circuits are. All use complementary IPS, single VAS and multi stage OPS. Aragon is a very good amp. In fact, Krell has the weakest design, the input stage IPS lack the cascode that really lower distortion like Aragon and Acurus.( I never understand all the fuzz about Krell).

If you still not happy, start looking at your speaker. You need very good speakers to show the amp. Also, check you speaker cables. You better have at least monster type 12 gauge cables. I use 4 pairs of Monster like 12 gauge cable for EACH speaker. You don't have to pay for exotic cables, you just need huge cables. I bought like a 100ft of Monster on ebay really cheap, I don't care whether it's fake or real monster, it's 12 gauge cable with thick plastic insulation to lower capacitance between the two wires. Very important, you have an audiophile amp, not some Goodguys or Fry's special.

BTW, download the schematic I attached in the last post for you record in case you ever have to recap or doing trouble shooting.

ksa 100.jpg

Acurus 200X3.jpg
 
Alan0354 said:
Just to give you some reference. I attached schematic of Krell big KSA100 and Acurus I have. Look at how similar the circuits are. All use complementary IPS, single VAS and multi stage OPS. Aragon is a very good amp. In fact, Krell has the weakest design, the input stage IPS lack the cascode that really lower distortion like Aragon and Acurus.( I never understand all the fuzz about Krell).

If you still not happy, start looking at your speaker. You need very good speakers to show the amp. Also, check you speaker cables. You better have at least monster type 12 gauge cables. I use 4 pairs of Monster like 12 gauge cable for EACH speaker. You don't have to pay for exotic cables, you just need huge cables. I bought like a 100ft of Monster on ebay really cheap, I don't care whether it's fake or real monster, it's 12 gauge cable with thick plastic insulation to lower capacitance between the two wires. Very important, you have an audiophile amp, not some Goodguys or Fry's special.

BTW, download the schematic I attached in the last post for you record in case you ever have to recap or doing trouble shooting.

View attachment 890153

View attachment 890155
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Alan, thanks for the info. Very interesting. And i am with you in the speaker cables. I do use at least 12 ga.

and thanks for the Aragon schematic. I will keep it handy.
 
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