I see that a bunch of people checked this thread out, but no one commented. In any case, I thought I'd follow up for the curious. I wound up going with the Aragon 2004. I got the Aragon because I've always wanted one and I got it for what seemed to be a pretty good price at $365.
Although the ebay seller was a bit less than honest about the shape of the amp, it is in pretty good shape. I pulled the over off of it to check things out and it looks like someone rewired it at some point in its life. All of the wiring looks clean, but the solder joints on the RCA connectors look like a monkey might have done them.
I was thinking about upgrading the RCAs and binding posts, so I think I'll fire up the old Metcal and see if it still works. I'm also getting a very slight hum from the speakers. I get the hum even when nothing is connected to the amp. I don't think it's a ground loop because my last amp didn't hum at all. I'm hoping that it isn't a sign that a recap is going to be needed soon.
In any case, the hum is only audible if I put my ear right up to the speaker and doesn't increase with the volume, so I'll worry about it later.
As far as the music quality goes, it does what I was hoping it would do and that's make beautiful music. This amp is rated at 100WPC at 8 ohms and twice that at 4. According to B&W, my 685s will dip down to something like 3.7 ohms.
The bottom line is that my speakers are now being driven. I'm getting a full rich sound with a very nice 3D sound stage, although I do believe that the sound stage dept could be better if my speaker placement options weren't so limited.
What has surprised me the most is how cool this thing runs. When I opened it up, I found that there was no heat sinking at all, but it never heats up.
In the end, I think that I'd have to say that I'm happy with the purchase. Heck, I rarely run my sub since I got this amp and occasionally have to get up and check to see whether I have it on or not. For a 100W amp, this thing has some muscle.
Although the ebay seller was a bit less than honest about the shape of the amp, it is in pretty good shape. I pulled the over off of it to check things out and it looks like someone rewired it at some point in its life. All of the wiring looks clean, but the solder joints on the RCA connectors look like a monkey might have done them.
I was thinking about upgrading the RCAs and binding posts, so I think I'll fire up the old Metcal and see if it still works. I'm also getting a very slight hum from the speakers. I get the hum even when nothing is connected to the amp. I don't think it's a ground loop because my last amp didn't hum at all. I'm hoping that it isn't a sign that a recap is going to be needed soon.
In any case, the hum is only audible if I put my ear right up to the speaker and doesn't increase with the volume, so I'll worry about it later.
As far as the music quality goes, it does what I was hoping it would do and that's make beautiful music. This amp is rated at 100WPC at 8 ohms and twice that at 4. According to B&W, my 685s will dip down to something like 3.7 ohms.
The bottom line is that my speakers are now being driven. I'm getting a full rich sound with a very nice 3D sound stage, although I do believe that the sound stage dept could be better if my speaker placement options weren't so limited.
What has surprised me the most is how cool this thing runs. When I opened it up, I found that there was no heat sinking at all, but it never heats up.
In the end, I think that I'd have to say that I'm happy with the purchase. Heck, I rarely run my sub since I got this amp and occasionally have to get up and check to see whether I have it on or not. For a 100W amp, this thing has some muscle.