New Adcom GFA-555 se - Special Edition

Hey, sorry 'cause I am newly a member to Audiogon but I had to say something about this amp. I guess I need to spend some time here and say more about myself. I'm not yet familiar with the way things work around here. My intent was just to see what people think about this amp, I am somewhat excited because it goes back to the basics of an excellent well-proven design, I had one back in the early nineties and there has never been anything quite like it before or since.

welcome to audiogon Power_hungry. I apologize for misinterpreting your motives and post. Certainly there's nothing wrong with expressing excitement about a new, and/or old product.

I'm looking forward to the new Edsel.

I haven't owned any Adcom products, but I was very, very interested in a pair of Mirage M-3 speakers years ago.

I went to the dealer and listened to the speakers several times (he was driving them with a pair of Adcom 565 mono's).

The amps must have been pretty good....because the speakers sounded outstanding.

Dave

FWIW, I used to work for Adcom and I own or have owned one of every non-MOSFET amp made from the GFA-1 up to the GFA-565 monoblocks.

I was curious about this 555se - I cant seem to find any real information on it. How is the balanced input implememnted? The Adcom GFA-555 PRO (and the 565 balanced option) used opamps for balanced operation and they did not sound as good as the unbalanced input. Also, if this amp is a really a hopped up mk II, then it will have a DC servo and capacitor input instead of a directly coupled signal path like the original. The mk II, BTW, is not a Nelson Pass design, it is an "improvement" of the original circuit by two other designers.

I'm a big fan of the original 555 (only when modified), but I'm curious to see if the new Adcom can make this amp as much a value as the original.

Cheers,
-JamesW-