Choice of Amps

How old is the Electro? Some of the earlier AW 100's (10+ years had problems as the boards were hand soldered). It is a wonderful sounding amp. An older AW 60 would sound even better. But for the 1K you want to spend, I would go after a DNA.5 and upgrade it as you get more money.

Abex, Mondial Designs started building Aragon amps in 1986. Klipsch acquired Mondial Designs and the Acurus and Aragon brands in 2001. If there is any Aragon history before 1986 I am not aware of it.

I did not check to see how old the Electro is.It has been checked out and the dealer has a return policy.That's a big plus!

I will look into the other amps mentioned.

Do not know why I equated the Aragon's being with Krell.Been awhile and it's hard to keep up with changes.

Have heard alot of great things about Monarchy's though,but I have to wonder why they are on the sell list so often.

The DR8 is a nice amp. Dave Reich (sp) (DR) is the current designer of the Theta amps. I would estimate it would give you a warmer sound. Will the dealer give you any sort of warranty? How old is the Electro? IS it one that Jason Scott (or whoever the current importer is) imports? Earlier Electros were know for good sound but problematic reliability - I have no knowledge of current production. My point is that if the Electro is early production and you have a problem it maybe difficult for your dealer to support you. If I offend anyone with these opinions I do not mean slander and apologize in advance!

I have a pair of DR8's that I've owned since 89 and they are very musical, a nice warm intimate sound for SS. They are not the last word in either bass or treble extension. They do sound better balanced then single ended. They are built like a tank except for the power switch which fails in the "on" position due to arcing of the contacts. I use a home-made external "switch box" to power on/off saving the amps switch.