Need Recommendations for a pair of Speakers around $1,000

There seems to be a bit of controversy over the original Adcom GFA-545 designed by Nelson Pass. Some say they're very good while others, some here (I also got a PM), don't care for it.

How is it that audio engineer like Jim Williams who has worked in pro studios with people like Stevie Wonder can say these are good amps and can be made even better with a few mods while others say it's not a good amp??

Is it Adcom in general or have you listened specifically to the Nelson Pass designed GFA-545 to come to that conclusion?

Then again, could it be as simple as the Klipsch Heresy....some love them, some hate them?

over time i have had the 535 545 (i and ii) 555 - it was years ago of course

yes papa nelson pass designed them when he was a pup - but one needs to separate design and execution...

the adcoms were designed and spec’d to a specific (quite modest) price point, even for back in the day, so there were numerous execution tradeoffs in parts spec and quality, mechanical and electrical isolation... result is a nice sweet sounding product at fairly modest volumes but a glare, grain and glassiness that comes through once there are some demands placed on the amp and its power supply, especially into more reactive speaker loads

no free lunch here... take a nice resolving pair of speakers, like maggies, vandersteens, harbeths, revels, focals, get a clean source, run one of the old adcoms and then a modern day pass amp... there is a substantial, immediately audible difference

even leaving aside the capacitor aging issue, if a 30 year old 545 worth $400 could deliver for a discriminating audio lover what high-level modern ss amps can, we would all have them, and hegel, ayre, pass labs, belles, naim, exposure would all be out of business

Thank you jjss49.

It may sound strange but your criticism actually aligns with the mods for the 545 MKI. Select parts are upgraded with higher quality and some with new values as well.

Mods to:

Change to higher uf caps in the power supply

Change resistors and transistors in the input circuit to stabilize Offset Voltage

Upgrade the type and value of the Bias cap

Add shunt caps to increase the Low End and correct Phase Shift

Change select resistors and caps in the signal path with better quality components.

I'm not an engineer but I used to be a tech and still have a bench with a scope, load, freq counter, distortion meter, etc. What if any before and after tests would you or others recommend? I've read these mods which cost a few hundred dollars can transform this amp to compete with those costing thousands more. I'd like to see how this turns out.

Thank you for the input!

knowledgeable well informed diy always saves money relative to buying high grade branded gear ....and can bring other pleasures too (i.e. sense of personal accomplishment in improving a piece of gear) - there are risks too obviously

best of luck

Listen to logic ,in truth ,most speakers as a rule roughly 25% actually goes into the speaker including packaging ,the rest overhead and markup.

Walter  at Underwood  Wally bought LSA Loudspeakers and electronics and has had his engineers do some major upgrading ,you cut out the middle man and these speakers sing , even great stands for $250 delivered if you needed them 

give him a call he has a great pr with AMT drivers coming out ,and for just over $1k

speakers at a retail dealer would be $3k no BS  ,to be using tweeter that cost him over $30 each is a lot Waay better then anything at $2 k ,I have been modding speakers for years , these new LSA speakers , and Electronic line is the real deal 

well worth your time to check it out the info is more on the bottom half of the page .