Anyone who has followed the world of high-end home theater may recall the Klipsch-Aragon debacle that resulted in Klipsch buying out, and completely abandoning, the Aragon brand 8 years ago. This occurred when Klipsch purchased selected assets of the privately held Mondial Designs Ltd. in 2001, acquiring the Aragon and Acurus brands of high-end amplifiers, preamplifiers and processors. Now, predictably, the leading global manufacturer of loudspeakers is selling the rights to these electronics brands. What wasn't predicted is that they would sell them to two former Klipsch employees.
Discuss "Aragon and Acurus Sold to Indy Audio Labs" here. Read the article.
"one of the poorest (though perhaps not as costly) business decisions we've seen in years."
So the idea of this purchase was right up there with the folks that gave us sub-prime mortgages? "Perhaps" it was less costly? Mike Klipsch is on a par with Bernie Madoff?
I'd rather see more love for Rick Santiago and Ted Moore's current venture, and less hate for Klipsch's 8 year old purchase. I'd like to know more about the new business. Their concept of "providing the A/V realism and operational simplicity" sounds to me like something that could go far.
It's nice that Klipsch has continued to honor warranties on a line that I guess they've lost money on, but the really great story is that Rick & Ted are making an investment in this industry. I wish them much success.
"............operational simplicity........." I would like to see that. I have no use for products with fifty different menus and gizmos that I have no desire to waste time learning to use. My first pre pro was an Audio Refinement. I've also used a first generation Lexicon. They both shared the same, simple approach to being user friendly. Less is more in my opinion.
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Canton Karats,Onkyo TX-SR706,Samsung BDP2550,Escient SE80,Panasonic42PX75U,
It would be nice to see those brands revived. I had an Acurus A200x3 in the past & now have an Aragon 8008x3. Never a lick of trouble with either, but I never had much faith in Klipsch being able to service them if they needed it. The Aragon is about 10 years old at this point. Wonder what they would charge for a check-up?
I used to own 4 Acurus 200X3 amps. I was quite happy with them until someone on this forum said that these amps did not have the speaker-protection circuits that are found on the newer amps and receivers.
So I sold all 4 of them.
I would love to get some new generation Aragon amps and pre-pros, but I'm going to need some assurance that these new amps will have bullet-proof speaker-protection circuits!
I used to own 4 Acurus 200X3 amps. I was quite happy with them until someone on this forum said that these amps did not have the speaker-protection circuits that are found on the newer amps and receivers. So I sold all 4 of them.
Yeah, I sold two of the same for the same reason! But it was also because I realized what a noob I was "biamping" my mains with those two amps.....
I did like the simple approach to home theatre. It seems to have disappeared from the industry. "Feature rich" seems to rule the day.
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Canton Karats,Onkyo TX-SR706,Samsung BDP2550,Escient SE80,Panasonic42PX75U,
So the idea of this purchase was right up there with the folks that gave us sub-prime mortgages? "Perhaps" it was less costly? Mike Klipsch is on a par with Bernie Madoff?
I should have qualified that with "in the industry"
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Clint DeBoer
Editor in Chief Audioholics
Yeah, I sold two of the same for the same reason! But it was also because I realized what a noob I was "biamping" my mains with those two amps.....
I did like the simple approach to home theatre. It seems to have disappeared from the industry. "Feature rich" seems to rule the day.
I recall reading some lab measurements from 3rd party on the Acurus 200X3 and R10 preamp.
The 200X3 had phenominal measurements. The theme I kept on seeing was "12 times better". What's that one word that means this?
Anyway, I read the review on the R10 in The Audio Critic, and they mentioned this same theme - "12 times better", "military-grade quality", "will last 20 years", "better measurements than Krell", etc.
You gotta love a preamp that cost $700 (R10) and measured better than a $4K Krell preamp!
Same thing with the 200X3, which cost around $1K, but measured "12 times better" than many $3K amps.
Aragon and Acurus Sold to Indy Audio Labs
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