Aragon to Classe.....


I am useing a Aragon 4004MKII for mids and tweets and Carver TFM35 for woofers on my VMPS FF3SRE speakers with outboard crossover. My dad is getting a new amp and I can snag is pair of Classe CA150's he ran in monoblock, I will use these in Vetical Bi-amp or Horizontal it doesnt matter as I am just curious of best way to do this opinions.The amps will ofcourse be level mathced so I wont have the hassle I did with my current amps but the Carver has gain adjustment.
What do you guys think? Is this an upgrade or not worth the hassle to ship and install? Thanks
chadnliz
this would be a huge upgrade. not sure on the power required for the vmps. if you run the amps in mono, you should have enough. my ca-200 amp goes from 200 watts in stereo to 700 watts in mono.
Well, you'll have 300 watts a side @ 4ohms, in stereo mode (vertical biamp)...I'd go there. You could probably get rid of the Carver.

With the bass drawing the most power from the amps, vertical gives you more power supply at the ready. (you can try both ways of course).

Dave
Thanks for the help, yes vertical would be ideal to give less signal creep (I think) I just wondered if its odd to run Vertical when Lch would say be for bass and Rch for mids and tweets......is this ok or go Horizontal so bass is isolated to one amp and mids and tweets to the other?
In horizontal biamp, both channels of one amp are responsible for bass in both left/right speakers, so that one amp is exposed to the heaviest load while the other amp is loafing only being asked to drive the mid/tweets of both channels. In the verticle mode (one amp) is responsible for the bass in only one channel plus the mid/tweet of the same speaker. Therefore the load on the amplifier is reduced. Also, when operated in this manner you are running the amplifier pair as stereo amps and not bridged which may present a problem with very low impedence speakers.

I would also take the Classe over the Aragon for sound quality.
I'm not sure I understand you correctly?

The stereo amps will act as mono amps...one left, one right. Each amp gets two inputs...left channel Hi/Lo for the left amp...right channel Hi/Lo for the right amp.

I'm assuming that each amp has only one transformer?...if so, you could have some extra headroom for bass reproduction with a vertical biamp, because each channel will have it's own transformer.

This may, or may not be the case?...as I don't know the Classe amps.

Of course you already mentioned another advantage that could come into play...I'll add shorter speaker cables to that.

Thats three "possible" advantages I can think of.

Dave
in mono mode, you would use only 1 input, and for the classe it is the left input on each amp.
Mono isnt an option if I want to use both amps, my speakers require 2 amps and without knowing how the amps will mix I am planning on going stereo on both, 4 ohms will give me up to 500w peak power.
Dave you mentioned another idea, is it better to run shorter cables for speaker or interconnect if I dont have deep pockets for premium cables? I guess I am asking which is likely to bess less of a problem, use of longer inferior interconnects or long inferior speaker wire? As of now I run Audioquest lower grade interconnects and long Dayton Audio speaker wire..............fixed income that I cant get around forces limits in cable options. Thanks
Well, you do have two amps for each speaker...each stereo amp is made up of two channels.

The amps are only stereo, if you run a stereo signal to them.

Shorter speaker cables could be better...and cheaper?

You can try biamping both ways...there may be no difference at all?, or at least not one you can hear.

Dave
I would not be in such a hurry to get rid of the Aragon amp.My original purchase of any high end equipment was an Aragon 2004 MK II that I purchased new in 1991. I liked it enough that I kept it until a couple of years ago when I needed more power. I have also owned a pair of the Classe CA 200's (rear heat sinks)that I ran both vertically biamped and bridged on a pair of Legacy Whispers. I also tried Legacy Monoblocks, Aragon Palladium I's and currently own Aragon Palladium II's. The Classe's are nice sounding amps. I ended up with the Palladium II's for a couple of reasons. When vertically biamping the Classe's did not control the woofers as well. When bridging I believe they did not match as well with the Whispers. I think this was due to a very low impedance load that the Calsse's did not like all that much. It wasn't that they sounded bad, it was like some of the midrange life was sucked out of the speakers. For my application, the ideal set up may well have been a Classe CA 400 on the bass with a CA 200 on the mids and treble.
I found the Classe and Legacy Monoblocks to be very close with a slight edge to the Legacy in the midrange. I did not like the Aragon Palladium I's at all which was a major disappointment to me. I thought they made the soundstage 2 dimensional and sounded a little thin in the bass. I honestly expected them to be better than they were. I had also at one time owned an Aragon 8008 x 5 when I was concentrating more on theater and liked the sound of the 8000 series amps. I decided to give Aragon one more try and bought a pair of Palladium II's used. I am certainly glad that I did. To MY ears in MY system, they were clearly the best match to the Whispers of those that I tried. Great bass control with good midrange presence and very nice highs.
If I had to rate them it would be Palladium II's first, Legacy second, Classe a very close third and the Palladium I's a distant fourth. Note that these are just my observations. The biggest difference with the Classe when either vertically or horizontally biamping the Whispers was control of the woofers. Midrange on up was extremely close and would be a matter of preference, with the Classe being very slightly more laid back in the low treble.
I have since sold the Whispers but have kept the Palladium II's. I would not hesitate to buy the Classe CA 200 again because of its grain free sound, but it would have to be matched with the right speakers to perform its best. I hope this helps.