Adcom?

I have owned Adcom amps and preamps since the late 1980's, and have found them to offer good quality for the money. The audiophile community often gives unsufficient respect to the "value" manufacturers, such as Adcom, Rotel, etc. Adcom does not spend a lot of money on the exterior, choosing instead to provide good parts quality (good toroid transformers, MIL-SPEC parts and circuit boards, etc.). I have recently been using an Adcom GTP-760 that belongs to my wife, and to be honest I am really impressed with it's sound quality. The GFP-750 preamp -- the successor to the excellent GFP-565 -- is a superb unit regardless of cost. The GFA-5802 is also an excellent power amp, though a bit large for some installations. When it comes to audio gear, my best advice is: Trust your ears. Audition the product, and if you like it, and the price meets your budget, buy what sounds best to you. I think if you approach Adcom, B&K, and Rotel equipment, you will find that it provides 85-90% of the performance of much more expensive stuff.

Adcom has ben around for a long time; I have no experiences with it, but very probably is a safe buy for 'entry-level' highQ equipment. However - Carver / Sunfire would get my vote for the "Bose" of electronics.

The Adcom 7500 is a superb home Theater amplifer. I purchased one and was extremely happy with it. It is well built, THX Certified, uses quality components and can drive low impedance speakers without breaking a sweat. This amp has the muscle and finesse to bring home theater to life. Lucas Films uses this amp when mixing THX sound tracks. That's as good of a recommendation as you're going to get for home theater. Is it the best amplification you can get for home theater? In a word, no. I think the Adcom 7500 does represent a very good value for your money and that you would be hard pressed to find better for less. If you're looking solely for 5.1 home theater amplification this amp is a winner. Regards; -Jerie

While i have never heard the GFP-750 first-hand, i would like to. I was thinking about buying one just to check it out. It does have some nice features and was designed by one of my favorite's, Nelson Pass. Whether or not it is up to his standard of build quality may be another question though.

On the other hand, i did own another product that Nelson designed for Adcom and was not pleased with it at all. It was the GFA-5800, the predecessor of the GFA-5802 that is currently in production. Both of these amps were pretty highly reviewed in more than a few magazines. I "traded" my Dad for this amp as a favor to him. Quite honestly, it sounded so bad in his system that i took a several hundred dollar loss on the amp that i gave him just to get the Adcom out of his system. I tried it here in two different systems with similar results, i.e. hard glaring treble, bloated, indistinct bass, flat soundstage with no imaging, etc... It was just a mess. While it did drive some very low impedance, very low sensitivity speakers with no problems, it didn't sound good doing it.

When it came time to selling the 5800, i had a HELLUVA hard time even though it was priced quite reasonably, in excellent shape and i had the box, manual, etc.... As a point of reference, i listed 4 products at the same time that i did the Adcom amp. I sold all three other products within 48 hours while the Adcom took a half dozen listings on various websites and about 3 months to unload. It was the hardest thing that i have ever tried to sell. Besides that, i've had a few other pieces that they've made. The one thing that i will say is that they use the CHEEZIEST switches out of any manufacturer that i've ever seen. This goes for their power amps, their surround processors, their older passive line sections, etc... I know that the power switches on their amps have a high failure rate, as i have replaced more that a few of them for friends.

As to the good side of these products, Adcom DOES support their products VERY well. I have dealt with customer service on more than a few occasions and always been happy with the results. They also a VERY REASONABLE "flat rate" on rebuilding / repairing their products and being in the electronics service industry myself, that tells me that they ARE taking care of their customers.

As to Jerie's comments about the 7500, it is probably one of the better amps on the market for HT use. I will say that it is conservatily rated and will "beat up on" several other amps in the same power / price range. Adcom is one of the few companies that actually states "all channels driven" for their multi channel amps while also giving legitimate power ratings for 4 ohm loads. Compare that to the much "classier" Anthem multi-channel amp and see what you get.

As to Bob's comments about Carver / Sunfire products, i would disagree 50%. While the Carver products were quite lacking and Bob is always "up to something", i have found that the Sunfire amps, when properly matched, are quite phenomenal for the money. Quite honestly, i have owned several of these and never knew what they were TRULY capable of until just recently when i made some changes in one of my systems. I know that i am not alone in my findings as the manufacturers of the large $75,000 "Pipe Dreams" speaker system recommend the Sunfire Signature as the best amp for the money. While they will readily admit that there are better amps and the Signature is not without shortcomings, they have found none that will do what the Sunfire Siganture does for anywhere near the same amount of "cake". Then again, if you have enough money for ANY of their speakers, i doubt if your worried about a "budget" for your amp. Either way, i thought that their saying this was a rather strong endorsement of the product in question. Sean
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Always "up to something" Sean? Yes I've been known to 'stir the pot' a bit now & then if that's what you're referring to :~)
Then again, you realize that my point-of-reference is a bit above that level - but no, business here at the uplink hasn't been worth a damn lately. I just got tired of messing around, & decided to go the whole-hog approach vs. trying-to-get-by as usual (I'll let you know later if it was really worthwhile).
My very brief experience with Sunfire left a lot to be desired, although certainly under the right conditions the equipment can really shine through as you've so aptly demonsrated. Glad that it worked out for you.