Aragon Aurum PreAmp

Or spend you money treating the acoustics of your room, this will blow you away!

I own an aragon aurum, that I have used with palladiums, carver lightstar and musical fidelity amplifiers. I have compared it with preamps made by the above companies. The aragon is a very good preamp. It has strmgths and weknesses different than the MF 308 and the trivista, but I think it can hold its own. Its detail is probably less then the best, but not much. It has very good bass control and dynamics. I think that (IMHO) that you can get a different sound but not obvioulsy superior sound at 1.5 -2.5k level. A super preamp in the ilk of CJ ART, VTL's newest or something of that nature may sound obviosly superior, I wouldn't know. I think stories like Noonans are more related to taste than obvious superiority. The aleph P is an active passive design, and a universally acclaimed component that I haven't heard so there may be a big difference, but that is likely more related to the strengths of the pass rather than weaknesses of the aurum. By the way the aurum was probably aragons best product ever, the potentiometer was pretty much the best available at that time. So I guess I would say, unless you can find somrthing youve heard that you like better, I would make upgrading the aurm a lesser priorty. Speakers and room always seem to have the most dramatic effects IMHO.

Thanks Noonan, Cytocycle, and Rgcards for your information.
I'm debating whether to purchase a Linn SC Unidisk to get into high resolution 2 channel stereo (sacd/dvd-a), as I'm presently collecting hybrid sacd's, and dvd-a's. The Linn has it's own pre section and I've heard that the unit is very good when connected directly to an amp. So, do I keep the Aurum and use the Linn as a multi-disk player only, or sell the Aurum and use the Linn's pre unit? Perhaps there's a musical multi-disk player that's more affordable than the SC? The Linn Unidisk 1.1 would be a no-brainer if cost wasn't an issue. I know, get the source right! However, good value for money is important for average wage audiophiles! Regarding room treatments, tweeking is fun and important, but room treatments are difficult when the living room is the "listening" room...multi-use by family, and the WAF is a problem! Room treatment for a dedicated audio room....fun to experiment! And Rgcards, I agree with what you've said...I'm not looking for the flavour of the year, but the reality of musicality in equipment (different may not be superior!). When I purchased the Aurum (new), and the Krell (used but mint) [almost bought the palladiums], I knew the digital and speaker technology would improve at a greater rate than amps & pre-amps. I also knew that the Penny & Giles? potentiometer in the Aurum was the best of the best at the time; hence I bought the Aurum. So, I do agree that the Aurum is a lesser priority right now (you've probably helped me answer my original question!). I could spend a lot more on speakers, and agree that I would get dramatic improvement, but I've noticed significant improvement with trying different ac power cords on just the cd player for very little cost. I suppose what I'm looking for is a front end player that can play sacd/dvd-a, but not cheap-out on cd musicality. I've heard a $1000 cd player blow away a $5K sacd player's cd playback section, and the sacd unit was rated Class A by a famous audiophile magazine. I suppose I'll spend on the source for now, but any suggestion for a multi-disk player would be appreciated. Or should I wait for Blu-ray or HD-DVD!?