Aragon 4004 mk2 vs Adcom 555 mk2

A friend of mine has an Adcom 555 mk2 and he brought it over to my house a couple months ago because he wanted to hear it power my Paradigm Reference 100.2 (his stereo got piece-mealed when he moved and is still that way). He just had it checked out and it was ready for a test. I took my McIntosh MC7100 out and put his amp in. We listened to the same music on both and the Adcom was definately lean, a little bright, and somehow not as extended in either direction as my McIntosh. We were both surprised. It also started clipping at the same point as my amp desite the Adcom power being rated much higher (gain is similar). He left disappointed and last I heard, it is up for sale.... Anyway, depends on the type of sound you like and your system synergy, but in our test and in our opinion, the Adcom failed. Audition if you can. I don't know the 4004 but I auditioned the 2005 with a Stage One and it sounded very good with Definitive Tech speakers. Good luck! Arthur

Kool39...My observation about "way more musical" was general in nature, interpreting Johngalt47's observation.

With regard to the particular Aragon amp: no I do not have experience with it. From what I see and read it appears to be similar in concept to Adcom products, and I am sure that I would be quite happy with it. (But how do prices compare between comparable models?) I only see one power transformer, so I can't agree with the "dual mono" description. Adcom and some others went from bipolar to mosfets because of inherently better distortion characteristics, but bipolar can be good, and Adcom has returned to bipolar for their multichannel HT products because of lower heat dissipation.

My next amp, if there is one, will be digital. Maybe the Carver ZR 1600. By all accounts it will blow all this stuff away, for less money.

One point I want to make (I have done research in this) about bipolar vs. MOSFET is that the notion "bipolar to mosfets because of inherently better distortion characteristics" isn't quite right. Distortion (due to nonlinearity - not noise which is design related) is lower in BJTs than in MOSFETs. This is why most makers today only use BJTs in output stages. In the near future, with recent developments in lateral MOSFET doping, this may not be the case anymore but for now, the BJT is the undisputed champ for linearity. One of the main advantages of going wtih MOSFET is that you can lower the amount of feedback before instability ensues. Design is a matter of weighing the trade-offs....

As for Class D, there is still some work to be done before all digital kills off analog IMO. There are many issues still to be resolved and talk about non-linearities!! I will stop here because I will get carried away with this one. Arthur

Well Arthur I have owned the Mcintosh 7106 and compared to the 585 adcom. I think it would sound thin.Why ..well the Mac has a thickness to it.It sounds like Mcintosh tried to make this amp sound like tubes.Which was not a very good idea. The 585 Adcom is more transparent,better bass and voices are more distinguishable.This amplifier sounds like whatever you stick in the front of it.Nothing more.. nothing less.My 7106 was slow in comparison..maybe because of the current limitng circuits not really sure. The Mac retailed for 3500.00 the Adcom $1200.00 but you can't tell this when doing a fair comparison.The 7106 couldn't dream of handling the loads this amplifier can.A person has to decide if he wants a neutral amplifier or buy something to cover another flaw in his system.I'll take the neutral amplifier and work on the flaws.The highs are rolled off on some of the SS Macs.. this would give someone the impressions that another amplifier is bright.But before I point a finger at the amp I would look at my speakers and cables.Not bashing the the Mac but it is definitely not a neutral amplifier.

Kool39 it's cool everybodys got a favorite.I have no problem with that.
I have nothing against Aragon...so to each his own.I like some mosfets amplifiers , some bipolars and some tubes.But the bipolars are supposed to have 1/3 the distortion of mosfets.And to my ears this holds true.It's definetly a cleaner sound but I still love the Monarchys,and think their a great buy!Especially when paired with some fairly efficient speakers.

Happy Listening!

Eldartford, the Aragon 4004 mkII does indeed use seperate transformers. IT is a true mono design.