Aragon Soundstage Processor Review

Company History

Aragon began in the late 1980's, headed by Tony Federici, who studied Analytic Philosophy and Economics at Oxford University. Their goal was to create a high end, no compromise audio company that would revolutionize the industry.

Aragon has since then evolved to a world class highly respected high-end audio company for both domestic and international marketplaces. Their approach has always been sound quality first with no added gimmicks. Rather than following industry trends, they set them. They don't believe in simply concocting a device that has more buttons and lights than the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. Instead, they produce hardware that is as sophisticated as the Enterprise, yet easy enough for a Klingon warrior to operate.

Becoming familiar with Aragon over the past few months has been an enlightening experience for me. I have rarely come across an audio company with such a passionate commitment in producing quality products that perform superior to their competitors regardless of price. Two of these products that really opened my eyes, and also closed them with tears of joy, are:

• Aragon Soundstage digital preamp/processor
• Aragon 8008X5 multichannel power amp

These two products serve as excellent examples of the companies commitment to:

• Quality of craftsmanship: ( i.e. 3ù4" aluminum paneling black anodized and finished by hand, solid aluminum knobs, wave soldering of components, etc)
• Utilization of the best electronics: (i.e. epoxy sealed 1% resistors, Teflon jacketed wiring in signal paths, low ESR power supply Capacitors, etc)
• No gimmicky technology: (i.e. Excessive DSP processing yielding echoed and unnatural sound while destroying the imaging and realism of the soundstage)
• Realistic claims on specifications of performance: (i.e. All Aragon amps are conservatively rated for continuous power, not dynamic power, with all amps driven at full bandwidth simultaneously for 8/4/2 ohm loads)