Deep tight bass. Limitless power. Remakable timbres particularly with classical music and cymbals. No Grain. Imaginging. Build quality. Appearance. Choice of silver or black. Aragon amps typically do well on the used market.

DISCONTINUED

These amplifiers are simply fantastic. Aragon is known for their extended and tight bass but I have been shocked at the natural timbres and detail that I hear with these units. It's as if my music collection has been rediscovered. The power availble is seemingly limitless which is critical to me as my Thiel 3.6's are a very difficult load to drive (down to 2.3Ohms) and I listen to all types of music, often at unhealthy levels. Soundstaging for orchestral pieces as well as movie soundtracks are deep and wide. My previous amp, a Coda 11 was very sweet sounding in its own right but underpowered for my application. The Palladiums have taken all of those qualities to the next level. Furthermore, It seems as though the volume levels required with these amps are lessened due to what I believe the British refer to as rhythm and slam. At the same time, delicate passages are conveyed as such. Ultimately I hope to elicit even more transparency and layering as my front end is somewhat dated. Otherwise now it's the music and I don't even think about the gear. Normally one should probably wait and draft a review after more listening and break-in time as I have owned these amps for just over 1 month. The units were demo units in perfect condition. If you have been considering the purchase of these, do it now because THESE AMPS AS WELL AS THE 8008MKII and 28K MKII ARE BEING DISCONTINUED. Aragon is sadly getting out of dedicated 2-channel audio and concentrating on theater. If you can find these still avilable new or on the used market, don't pass on them. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Similar Products Used:

Coda 11 (in my current room/system) Otherwise lots of demos elswhere with Levinson, Krell, AR etc.

super powerfull very detailed

needs a cooling fan and heavy somewere 76 pounds thas all noting that can be call a problem

I has to say first that I am a International distributor of all Klipsch products in El Salvador Central America but at the same time audioPhile or really good music listening , lover not the cane of audioPhile that brags about technical details, I have two of this new monsters connected to two front Klipsch Horns the new ones and the preamp out to a carver power 375x2 amp and this one to a two Heresy's for center and a subwoofer RSW-15 and let me tell you that the sound the emits is really close to perfect as you know for an audiophile perfect is hard to obtain but I am more than satisfied and I can recommend this amps to be very good all-around even if somebody can say that this is because I am part of Klipsch family but that has noting to do with it, I know many reviewers say that this amps for being class "A" they tent to get hot and this is true, but I fixed this problem, with a $4.00 cooling fan and with it they stay cool even playing music many hours I have my music in the Kasaa program with a HP 80 Gs with more than 6000 songs in different play lists of about two hundred or more songs, so this way I don’t has to be changing discs and have music of my taste. If somebody is interested in knowing more about this set up can get in touch with me at www.fibrascastaneda.com To all I wish you, to enjoy music as much as I do.

Similar Products Used:

never had noting similar in my entire life.

Power and I mean real power with lots of detail, not mass market junk. Build quality. Weight (67 lbs each.) Looks.

None

An absolute audio bargain. These amplifiers will drive ANY load presented. I find it amazing that this is a fairly obscure and seldom reviewed component. Wake up reviewers (TAS, Stereophile, etc.)and discover what 400 watts of clean, quiet power can do for your speakers at a relative bargain price (you will hear nuances in your music never perceived). I will stack these up against any amplifier under $4000. Audition them for your self and see.

Similar Products Used:

Acurus A100 Aragon 8008BB

Speed, power, low-impedance flexibility. Makes the sub disappear completely for music, but will also move the house off the foundation with the right movie soundtrack.

Temperature-wise, a bit on the warm side.

I was looking for a single monoblock to run a subwoofer channel in a high-end theater setup. The problem I have is a sub that is very hard to drive. It's the isobaric Alon that presents a nominal 2-ohm load to the amplifier, and literally sucks the juice out of it. I was running it with a (very respectable) RBH subwoofer amplifier that really is happier with 4 ohms. It didn't run hot, it just clipped early on high-energy bass content. The speaker is capable of so much more. So when I saw a single Palladium SE on sale for $800, I jumped at the chance. Acarian systems of New York, manufacturer of Alon speakers, will give you personal attention in the setup phase when you're matching their designer's top sub with such a serious piece of amplification hardware. He told me it was liable to run a bit warm since I was showing it such a low-impedance load. Also, at 2 ohms the Palladium is capable of power bursts that might overload even the mighty Alon, so I was to be careful with the subwoofer gain setting. Much has been written about the endless power and speed of this amplifier. When you're using it to drive quite possibly the world's best subwoofer, you have a killer combination. My room is not big enough to even hear some of the notes this thing can put out at prodigious volume levels (you need an auditorium to feel the longest of the subsonic waves, and this thing goes down to an honest 16 Hz before dropping off). You probably didn't even feel T-Rex's full frequency range even at your local multiplex. And U-571 has bass energy in the subsonic region that must be felt to believed. But the delicacy and speed this combo uses to give you everything from tympani overtones, concert bass drums, the meat of a plucked string bass, or the heft of the bottom octaves of a Steinway is a reminder that you ain't listening to no Velodyne or M & K, or even a REL. You're in the big leagues now.

Similar Products Used:

RBH Sub amp.

Fabulous midrange. Endless power reserves. Excellent technical support from Aragon and dealer.

A set of 5 will require changes in your HVAC. These amps run hot and their effect on the listening room temerature is not subtle. Plastic nuts on output binding posts.

The original pair of Palladiums replaced the 4004 powering the front mains. The 4004 was then used for the rears. The change was obvious immediately. Small and soft details in the music could be heard more clearly. I found myself listening at lower volume levels because it is not necessary to have it loud for it to sound great. This is a fine thing since all of us want to avoid damage to our hearing ability and enjoy the music as long as possible. This is not to imply that these amps don't sound good at high output levels. The music just gets more powerful as the volume is increased. I have compared these amps to Krell stereo amps. Never had the chance to compare directly against Krell monoblocks. To me, even if the Palladiums were more expensive than the Krells, I'd still opt for the Aragon pieces. I think the Krells also sound good, but there is just something special and natural about the Palladiums. If you are in the market for amps of this caliber, give these amps an audition. The dealer I purchased these amps from is outstanding as well. I purchased the original pair in Feb. '99. I recently purchased three more for center and surround duty.

Similar Products Used:

Aragon 4004 Mk2, 8008X3, various others from Sony ES to Krell.

Transparency, power.

None.

The Pall II's are one of the best amp bargains in all of high end audio. Excellent performance, abundant power. Very transparent sound.

I regret having sold these while experimenting with other gear. The grass isn't always greener on the other side. The Pall II's are as good an amp source as anyone clearly needs.

If you see these used for $2400 (as I did when I acquired them), run, don't walk, to the bank to obtain a check for them!

Enjoy~

Similar Products Used:

Plinius SA100, SA250. BAT VK500. Pass Aleph3.

Full Range Detail, especially the background @ tight bass

Size

Upgrading from an Aragon 8008BB dual mono amp to run Martin Logan SL3 speakers, I bought almost the last 2 of these fine mono blocks before the new model comes out. Right away I notice more detail in the background instruments & tighter bass while giving the same tube like smoothness as the Aragon 8008BB. Very simple design that comes in either Balance or RCA, mine being the Balance that runs into an Audio Research LS16 pre-amp to Sony XA7ES CD transport, & Aragon 47K phono pre-amp to Rega Planar 3 turntable. I read a professional review of these amps where the guy writes to leave alot of room for the heat because they were hot to his touch, but I have been burning the amps in for 3 days & only feel a little heat coming from the vents. Either that guy was running some werid speakers or very load that required a lot of juice, or I am doing something wrong because I thought about placing these amps under a 11 inch stand, now I am thinking 9 inches should do it. Get to your local Mondial dealer right away to get 40 percent off of last years model before the new model comes out at $11000 a pair.

Similar Products Used:

Aragon 8008BB

Utterly effortless, tremendous midrange resolving power, very well controlled bass; articulate, extended top end. Relatively compact considering sound quality and output power.

Plastic Binding Post outputs; replaced with CARDAS binding posts. Runs class A to 125 watts; generates a fair amount of heat.

Associated equipment includes Sony SCD777ES, pasive preamp, custom electronic crossovers with Jensen balanced tranformer outputs, DIY clones of Wilson X1 SLAMM's. The Pallium II's I purchased are balanced input versions, not having the unbalanced to balanced converter internally.

The Palladium's exhibit a substantially more open and detailed midrange and soundstage; evident on a wide variety of program material, including acoustic jazz, classical, and even jazz/pop fusion matieral. Very articulate but natural sounding upper mid and high end. Stunning reproduction of voice; with excellent performance with choral works because of this characteristic.

Definitely NOT a laid back amplifier; requires pristine sources with good dynamics to display it's full potential, particularly inner detail and microdynamics. Very revealing of poor sources, but note that when paired with SCD777ES using DF3 filter, even bright CD's sound more natural, less spitty and papery. Excellent reproduction for SACD playback- not the least bit "dark", so what's on the SACD shines through. Other solid state amps used sound slightly dark and papery in comparison, as well as generally muddled in the midrange in comparison with the Palladiums.

I'd only recommend speakers and associated equipment that are as free of resonance in mid and treble as possible; conventional metal dome tweeters might not be a good match, but works very well with focal tioxid tweeters. Note, to do justice to this amplifier, rest of system must have well above average resolving power; least expensive setup might be a good passive preamp, SCD777ES SACD player or comparable playback quality CD player or good turntable with MC cartridge), and moderate price Magneplanar speakers. Available power is well suited to Maggies, considering clip at 8 ohms is over 300W, over 600W at 4 ohms.
In conventional dynamic speakers, Matrix Series B&W, Avalon, or Hales would be the baseline.

Value rating is high because of excellent sound and output power in relatively small chasis's, at moderate cost.

Similar Products Used:

Aragon 8008ST, Sony ES, Adcom monoblocks, Denon POA6600 monoblocks