B&K vs. Aragon

I'm not familiar with your speakers. Amps and speakers require more attention when being matched than most other combinations. I mention this because my experience with B@K components lead me believe that while the ST-140 has some nice qualities the larger ones with more current out put are amongst the best deals in audio. The M200's offer tremendous value. No, they are not as good as the very best but they come fairly close and at a steep discount. They do sound different than the ST140 in that they are not as warm (in fact perhaps a bit cool) but are so much better balanced as a whole, without the sloppy bass that plagues the St-140. I can't help but think that improving your amp rather than your pre-amp would give you more satisfaction. By the way I like Sonic Frontiers pre-amps with the B&K amps.

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.

I will take acurus. B&K has a stale boring sound compaired to acurus. Though is is still much better than any receiver.

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

I have a Modded ST-202(original) that I love,but am trying to upgrade to Monarchy's SM-100Deluxe's.

B&K's are great amps.SOlid and will last forever.I auditioned a Rotel Reciever with B&W CDM speaker's and the B&K's my system edged it out in some places.

B&K--Highly recommended and Aragon's are noted for great sound also.It comes down to synergy between speaker's I think.

Even though I love the B&K my speaker's gesigner recommends the Aragon's for his amps also.