How good is the Aragon 8008mk.2 amp?

Guess my experience is just different - I think that amp is every but the equal of the others mentioned. I'm not a believer that all amps sound the same, but I also don't think they sound as different as many would have you believe. Just found a post on the old usenet group that I was thinking of...take it however you like.

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.audio.opinion/browse_thread/thread/e7d7b36322972842/39af202ebc13f5a8?q=8008bb+33h&rnum=1&hl=en#39af202ebc13f5a8

My experience is based on the 4004MkII, which I owned for a couple of years. In my system, I can easily hear differences in the amps I have owned. The 4004MKII was a bargin as discussed by others above. You could tell it was a sort of mid-fi SS amp (a little grain, fast but a little flat in the midrange) but its strength was that it sounded musical and did nothing really wrong. I upgraded to a Classe DR 25, which I thought was smoother, and displayed better dynamic range, and it can't touch my current McCormack DNA 500 for purity, power, midrange texture, HF decay, etc., but I would certainly like to own one again for my second system. IMO it kicks Adcom, Acurus, Rotel and others in its range. BTW, they are a great stepping stone since they are built very well and still sell used for the same price I paid 4-5 years ago.

Yes I would say a great amp in that price range is the mccormack Dna225. The 500 is 2 under 1 case.

I own the 4004MKII & a pair of the Paladium monoblocs.
I've had them all modded locally here in Phoenix, by a highly respected, retired Honeywell employee. They've all had the most basic mods - soft recovery diodes & bypass caps. They sound very good (IMO). They definitely are excellent for bass control, I prefer MOSFET amps in the midrange, on some speakers....
I'm going to guess the 8008MKII is a hard sell, since you can still get a pair of the closeout monoblocs for only $800.00 more......