Aragon 4004 - Load Capacity Question

I used the 4004MKII for many years on 3ohm Apogee Stage panels. The Aragon worked fine. The midrange/tweeter ribbon was always rock steady with the Aragon. Lesser amps clipped and made the ribbon dance.

A very dependable amp. Have used it with low impedance loads with no problems. Built like a tank.

I believe the Palladiums while capable, work best on power hungry speakers don't stray much from 8 Ohms. Rather odd birds, no?

Early advertisements for the 4004 stated it was stable into a dead short. That may be a bit of exaggeration, but a 4004 will laugh at 3-ohm nominal loads.

There is ONE caveat: Will the wiring from your circuit breaker panel to the wall socket withstand the 1500-watt maximum load without voltage drop? If you run that amp HARD on a typical 15-amp circuit--and that circuit is also supplying other electrical loads--you'll "brown out" or even pop the breaker. When the voltage sags; nobody is happy.

When I set up my room, I supplied a dedicated circuit for each amp (2-4004; 2-8008BB) and two more circuits for the rest of the equipment. Each circuit is 10-gauge wire instead of the more common 12-gauge. Older houses may have 14 gauge. (Larger number = smaller wire.)

A Palladium is rated at 1000 watts into a 2-ohm load. I'd say it can stray from 8-ohm speakers and be just fine.

The Aragon 4004 MKII is one of those great audio bargains that is tough to beat. Currently I use one driving a 4 ohm load and it does very well. It will get quite warm (driving 4 ohms) if played at higher volumes but it has never shut down. Its model number (4004) means 400 watts per channel at 4 ohms.