Which adcom sounds best?

My gift to myself when I got divorced in 1990 was a system that consisted of an Adcom 545 amp, Adcom GTP 500 II preamp/ tuner, KEF Q55 speakers, and a Magnavox CD630 cd player. These Adcom products were the second generation of their components, which were made in Taiwan at the time.

This was my first foray into separates. I had previously owned a Pioneer receiver/ Dual turntable/ EPI speakers system. I really appreciated the upgrade.

When I finally sold the Adcom in 2003 and purchased a Musical Fidelity A3 amp, I was surprised with what I had been missing with the Adcom set-up.

The Adcom could be sterile and brittle sounding. One day I swapped in a vintage Marantz receiver as the preamp and the sound just opened up and bloomed. Knew I was looking at a change.

Sorry for the trip down memory lane, but at the end of the day if you like the Adcom sound, try some Audiosource amps. They sound very similar and you can buy them new for cheap money.

Rich

Adcom is a great bargain brand and I think was always well made...I've owned a couple of 535s (one new back in the day, others used for studio monitors) and some nice preamps, and now use a 5300 Mosfet for deck speakers and as a backup amp...sounds great for this purpose anyway, cost maybe 100 bucks in "like new" shape a couple of years ago. I think they make a new version of the 5500 now, but plenty of their older amps are a steal...no geek cred, but so what? The 5400 has legions of fans seemingly, but of course you have to try these and decide for yourself. For such small money you don't have a lot to lose.

Designed by Nelson Pass, the GFA 555 is the best in that series.

The GFA 565 monos are good sounding too. You may also like some of the earlier B&K amps.

I had the Adcom 555, (4)555IIs, the 5400 & (2)5500s.
The 5400 & 5500 sounded much better, to me.
Try to get a later 5500 with the IEC plug, instead of the captive power cable.
This will allow you to try different power cables.

Thanks a lot to all the poster!

Daneal, which one sound the best to you?
What is the difference between the 555 and 555 II model?
Did the 5500 sound similar to 555?

Cheers,