Bryston or Aragon

Usually there is no clear answer to the question. The best the OP can hope for is perhaps several anecdotes of poor reliability which could steer them the other direction by default. In this case both amplifiers are great examples of top notch design and sturdy build.

You really have two choices. 1) Buy the amplifier that your gut tells you is the best choice. Both are great and you really can't go wrong. It may boil down to buying into the story of one amp or the other. Or maybe you like the looks or one more than the other. Make a decision and don't look back. 2) Buy both amps and test them in your system. After a few weeks or months of comparing them pick the one you like best and sell the other one. If you got them at a fair price you shouldn't be out more than $100 in transaction costs.

Thanks go to pipebro for narrowing it down to two choices and providing a good context of associated equipment. The posts that kill me are the open ended questions of "which amp should I buy?"

aragon because magic wins over accuracy

When I was auditioning amps many, many years ago, I borrowed 2 Aragon amps.  A 4004 and 8008.  Both sounded great and what bass!  I love the sound of the Bryston cubed series, but the much older Bryston were known to be bright and wasn't for me.\

First off thanks for the helpful feedback.  I’ve decided to go with Bryston for two reasons, their customer service and the fact that being a bass player my son would be happy with a strong bass performer.  Also, for future reference the current Aragon does service legacy products made by Mondial and Klipsch.

It's apples and oranges. With those components, he will enjoy either one as long as the amp doesn't have issues in the near future. Most people just getting into audio have a low threshold for fixing gear.

If you have the money, for fun and a learning opportunity for both of you, buy both. Try them out and sell off the one you don't love.

A while back, I did something like that with two amps. One had lower power and no power protection circuit, but sounded sweeter than the more powerful amp. I went with the more powerful amp thinking that's what I needed. It may have been better to keep the sweeter sounding amp. It was a little more lively in presentation.

Don't get your son to bogged down in comparison's like this. At the very least, buy the amp that is in better condition, and he'll be happy.