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How do Adcom power amps sound?


Hi,

My system is : PSB Stratus Mini, Cambrdige AZUR 540a and a Toshiba 3950 ( unmodded) in a 20x20 room with the speakers placed about 6 feet apart and mostly listened to in the close range.

If you arent familiar with my speakers they are a pretty tough load, 4ohm at 86db.

My amp only puts out 40-50 watts into 8ohm and 65 into 4ohm, as you can tell its having trouble powering my speakers, so im considering buying a power amp for them.

Im on a pretty tight budget , and the Adcom power amps seem to be priced right, so im considering something like the GFA-555 ( 200 wpc 8ohm and 325ohm).

Does anyone have any experiance with this unit, or similiar Adcom units? How do they sound, would it be an upgrade, power and quality wise over my current cambridge amp?

Id probabaly use the cambrdige as a pre- amp untill i can afford something better.
dave123456a1b3
daltonlanny
301 posts
 
The Adcom GFA-5802 is a warm and sweet sounding amp from my experience. It also has outstanding vocal reproduction, and a great midrange, IMHO. It is a really great sounding amp in its price range, and is not hard or edgy at all. It is basically an all MOSFET design. It sort of reminds me of a tube amp in some respects.
It does match up extremely well with the Adcom GFP-750 preamp.
The only slight drawbacks that I heard from the 5802, in comparison to high dollar amps, is the bass isn't quite as tight, deep, or controlled, the sound is slightly slower and not as detailed, and the highs are VERY SLIGHTLY rolled-off.
Would I buy it again for a secondary system? OH YEAH!
twilo
357 posts
 
I have the Adcom 5802 with the Stan Warren mods.
DaltonLanny your right what you said.
But with the mods, the bass becomes fast and tight.
bufus
149 posts
 
I have had an Adcom GFA-555 since about 1991.? Sometime around 2000, I bought a used GFA-5503 (3 channel MOSFET) and compared it to the 555. The 555 sounds pretty bad in comparison! The mosfet design is much better! I would not recommend the GFA-555 unless you were going to use it bridged mono for a subwoofer amplifier. It would be a bargain for that at about $325. However, I WOULD recommend the GFA-5500 (2 channel MOSFET), for the used price of about $450, as a bargain. Of course, if you are willing to spend more, the 5802 would be even better. But then for that much money, there are probably alot of other good choices. (BTW, there is one up for auction right now.)

It is funny how the GFA-555 got such rave reviews when it was on the market and it actually isn't that great! I'm pretty sure it was a Stereophile Class B recommended component. Of course, I still have mine on my rear speakers. It won't die! It is well built and dependable!!
nhtran
45 posts
 
I have a 5400 w/ Stan Warren mods. I also owned a 555II and 545II. Go for the current models. The older series amps can sound bright/hard.
philjolet's avatar
philjolet
2,306 posts
 
I own an Adcom 5300 and in comparison to my Plinius SA100 MKIII it was surprisingly not too bad with a fairly nice tonal balance and good power. Going back to the Plinius I went AHHHH!! and noticed it was way more refined and controlled but the moral is the Adcom held it's own for a $200 amp that is for sure, (driving Maggie 1.6s too).
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