Aragon 4004 mk2 vs Adcom 555 mk2

Jsujo...I think your on to something. My Mac did have the autoformers.Maybe this is what I was hearing.It was great for speaker protection but not for sound quality! I admit I don't like the sound of Adcoms on 100v2 Paradigms but hooked up on some Maggies it's a different story!

I'm the owner of the Aragon 4004 MK II with current pictures and actaully if I remember there are two transformers, stacked. As I look close at the photos I took I'm even more sure of it. I too have owned an Adcom 555 and do prefer the Aragon sound to the Adcom. Just an opinion. My favorite is my Bel Canto EVO 4, thus the Aragon sale. BTW the Adcom sold for $350.00 and all the 4004's on AudiogoN are at $750.00. I'm not sure where it'll finally sell at but I'll keep it for a hood ornament before I go down to Adcom prices.

If the toroidal transformers are stacked that could explain the disagreement.

By the way, think that the Aragon amp costs more than twice the Adcom price, so it ought to be better.

My Adcom 5503 (like a 5500 but with three channels) is hooked up to Maggies. Although Maggies are often called low impedance speakers, they actually are a very uniform 4 ohms regardless of frequency, which makes them an "easy" load for the power amp. Maybe that's why you can get good results with a less exotic (expensive) amp. (But they do like lots of watts).

I wouldnt compare a basic adcom amp with an Aragon. But the GFA5802 is regardless of price a great amplifier. Nelson Pass designed the GFP-750 preamp, but the GCD-750 cd player and the GFA5802 I dont think he can take credit for.

Eldartford..that could be true .I have a soft spot for Maggies and Martin Logans.But I doubt the sounding better is due to price,it's more of system matching.Even the little Monarchy SM 70 for $350.00 smoked that Mac that I used to own.I'am one of the few audiophiles that will admit...Even if I payed more for one product doesn't give me an excuse to think or hope it sounds better than one that cost less.I have already proved this in my own system and no longer look for the flashy gear but for what sounds true to my ears.If CC Poon put his Monarchy products in a chrome chassis ,he could sell them at almost triple the price.And no one would be the wiser!