Acurus or Parasound

steve donaldson from aragon can still repair acurus equipment. he is a moderator on the klipsch website forum. i owned an acurus 200five amp. it was a great amp for the price. bignerd100 is right though, pre-klipsch aragon was much better. my acurus has a capacitor discharge whine on shut down that i didn't care for.

The A250 will continue playing for a solid 60 seconds after being turned off with efficent speakers. With something like a Klipsch you could probably listen for half an hour on the stored charge.

I would go with the Parasound as well, havine had Parasound, Acurus A250, and Aragon 4004 MK II, the Parasound house sound is more to my liking. The Acurus amps are a little harsh in the upper mids and highs, and yes the 'run down' when you turn it off is a little annoying. I always thought that was just poor design on their part. The Aragon's never did that.

I am not very familiar with Acurus, but I am very impressed with Parasound. I have an HCA-1200 II that is very similar in age and design to the 2200 II, and it continues to amaze me with the dynamics, clarity, and detail. It drives a pair of B&W N804's, which require a lot of juice to really sing, and it does so effortlessly. The amp was originally hooked up to an old Harmon Kardon receiver that had been in the closet for awhile. I bought a Parasound P/SP 1500 preamp on 'Gon for $200 and the first time I played a tune with the Parasound amp/pre combo I almost fell on the floor. Even the wife came in and remarked on how awesome it was. Just thought you might like to know about the synergy when hooked to a Parasound pre.

Having had an Acurus 250, I feel you can not go wrong with it. Drove my NHT 2.9s which were power hungry very well. It has a great built quality and really a great taste of getting into better gear. Only ever had a problem with the power on/off indicator light. Which was replaced by myself with part from Acurus easily. Having said such, you may be better off going with the Parasound, it has always had a great rep, and has shown to yet be in production.