I had a pair of Stages on the stands w/o subs for about four years and I loved them.
To this day, some of the best, most fatigue free, uncannily focused midrange I have ever heard. Try Joni Mitchell Blue late at night in the dark for a transcendental experience with the Stage.
I, too, had an Aragon 4004 II which was just fine -- never had a problem -- driven by a Jadis JPL tube preamp. Perhaps they would have sounded even better, but I had them in a relatively small room, about 12 x 18 and experimented with firing across both the long and short walls.
I agree that rear and side wall breathing room is important and I ultimately did not cant them in at all.
Even with the stands, vertical dispersion is limited which creates a slightly squahed image height compared to larger planars or ESLs and is probably the main reason I eventually sold them. So find a low comfy chair.
But it is confusing for me to hear the comments about the subs - I never had them but it was the full mini grand, not the subless Stage that always got the rave reviews and the class A recommendations in Stereophile.
I would have thought that the Mini Grands "flopped" because people in Peoria don't want a tricky to place, physically awkward, and very difficult to drive, esoteric ribbon speaker, not because the subs were "worthless".
But hey, what do I know, I never heard the subs.
In any case, have fun and good luck.