Aragon 8008 bb vs. Krell KSA-150

Nrchy is right. I auditioned a 8008st. Very dynamic, but the treble and midrange region will not compare to either the krell FPB200 or the MCCormack DNA 2 Deluxe. Years ago ... I was blown away at how confused and slow the Aragon amp sounded compared to my stock Mccormack DNa1. Eventually I wanted more power, and the Dna 2 Deluxe was an awesome upgrade. Krell will sound great with preamps that connect with it in the balanced mode. If you use single ended connections like I do(cj 17ls) Mccormack is a great way to go. You will find that if you play cd's, you will want an amp that has a smooth top end. Aragon's tend to emphasize the bass. They are not that detailed, smooth, dimensional...though they do put out the power and through difficult loads. They are better than most mid-fi stuff. Depends how finicky you are. Fred

Tim, you have already started down the rabbit hole. The best advice I can give is to buy things that are definate improvements. DO NOT make lateral moves.

While the Aragon 8008st (or even better the 8008BB) is a good amp, it will not compare to Krell of only a few years ago. My FPB 200 (not the cx version) was far and away a better, more musical sounding amp.

If you can, get an amp around which you can continue to build a system. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that a system should be built around the amp, but since that's the product for which you're shopping it doesn't make sense to focus on any other direction.

Any journey begins where you are at the time. Just step wisely.

You're on the right track. Just keep reading. Something that will help more than an amp, preamp or dac is room treatment. This can be fairly inexpensive and reward you with big dividends. Your system will not perform as well as it could without room treatment. When you improve your room acoustics you'll be able to easily hear it. Realtraps.com has good articles and there's an acoustics forum at audiocircle.com that Ethan from Realtraps frequents.

Most of us learned many years into this hobby how important a good acoustical environment is. I'd consider it early in the game. By all rights the room should be the first thing considered, not the last. Best of luck to you. Audio is a great hobby if you love music.

wow, as always, the more i learn the less i know.

thanks gents for giving me some valuable insight. guess i need to sit down and consider just how far down this here rabbit hole me wants to go. this stuff has had a strange hold of me since i was a kid and i am just now getting to the point where i can start modestly rewarding myself.

hands down - i believe that any of the above mentioned amps would greatly improve my current setup. the pressing question is which one will i likely have my most m~ u ~ s ~ i ~ c ~ a ~ l experience with? having not logged any time in front of these killer {i'm assuming} pieces above really does entice me - but due to inexperience - it might cloud the water a bit.

i did hear an early rickie lee jones on a $40,000 2-channel krell system about five years ago and almost lost my lid. it was the best thing i ever heard. then again, there was a time when i thought the best tangerines in the world were right off of my grandpa's tree. might have even taken a swing atcha if ya said otherwise. my tune humbly changed when i traveled a bit and tasted what raw/organic farming principals could do to the flavor off such a wonderful fruit... different world indeed.

far as i was concerned i was tasting tangerines for the first time. this the kind of magic i want my system to reveal.

i'm relatively fresh off this hi-end boat and anxious to learn. what sorts of things do you need to know about me and my listening environment/tastes that may lend itself to more specific upgrade recommendations? something i might consider growing into?

do i even have a strong enough sonic - foundation to begin asking such questions?

where do i go from here?

who's on first?

p.s. upgrading the cables makes a lot of sense and should be a great start to my journey... will look into that asap.

thanks again

I've always admired the the real Krells. I've never been really impressed by Aragon. While the Aragon was a step up from entry level, it never stepped up to the top tier, IMHO.

I had an 8008st and replaced it with a Krell FPB 200. Although their rated power is the same, as are most of their specs, there was no comparison between the two amps.

I'm not sure what your budget is, but the newer FPB products are a lot better than the KSA series. Since they are newer and run considerably cooler caps will not be an issue for a longer time.

I wrote a review of the FPB 200 and compared it to the Aragon. check it out if you're curious...

I've owned the Aragon 8008ST (BB was supposed to be better) and the KSA 200. Both were nice amps. A lot depends on your room and speakers. At the time, I had Nautilus 805's and both were overkill. Although the Aragon seemed tipped too much to the bass IMO. Like others have mentioned, the Krell will run hot. It is also bigger than the Aragon, so think about those factors before you buy. I saw your Aragon go for about $1200 on eBay recently, and the Krell should be in about the $1500-1600 range. At that price, you should also check out Pass Labs, and Plinius. Nice bargains too on Lexicon/Bryston.

The Aragon is a great amp and there's a pretty well documented synergy between ARC and the 8008BB. That's the way I'd go. Never heard the older Krell stuff but have owned both their newer stuff and Aragon.

I'd buy the 8008bb and call it good. They're much less money and newer. If you buy an older Krell that runs pretty hot I'd plan the possiblity that it could use some new caps. Same person designed both amps. The Aragon is also a brute. When it comes to sound you pretty much have to try it in your own system anyway. That's the beauty here on Audiogon as you can buy used and not take much of a hit if you don't like it. I'd be very surprised if the Aragon didn't work out well for you though. Good luck.

The weakest components in your system now are the interconnect (the weakest) and the speaker cables. Consider the Transparent Music Link Plus interconnect (about $150 used) and the Transparent Music Wave Plus speaker cables (about $250 used). Look for the current version (MM) of the interconnect and the previous version of the speaker cable.

Consider upgrading these before the amp.

I've owned both. I recommend that for about the same money (+$100-200), you take a step up from both of those, and try a BAT vk200.
Good luck.