B&K vs. Aragon

Finsfan, the B&K models I was referring to are not receivers.
Cheers,
Mike

I have owned both B&K and Acurus (Mondial's cheap line) amps. I currently own a B&K ST-140 and a B&K Reference 4420. I owned the Acurus A250 and 100x3. I extensively A/B'ed them, and found the B&Ks to be more laid-back and display much more accurate stereo imaging. They were more detailed and sweeter sounding than the Acurus amps. The Acurus amps were very congested, forward, and unforgiving. Sterile and harsh. The only thing they did right was bass - lots of it, and smooth. I can't say how the Aragon gear compares to Mondial's cheaper Acurus line, but the Acurus stuff was so hard to listen to that it scared me away from anything else from Mondial. Ironic, in that I am a huge Klipsch fan!

Another good value, which IMHO sounds much better than either the B&K or Acurus, is the Conrad Johnson Sonograph and MF lines (both solid state). They just cancelled the Sonograph line after they purchased McCormack, so there are good deals to be had in that series.