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Are marantz ma500 monoblocks better than an adcom?

My system consists of: classe ssp-25 pre-amp, musical fidelity v-dac II, denon dvd 2900 (used to play cd's), paradigm studio 10's, and an adcom gfa 545.

My question is this: are marantz ma500 monoblocks going to give me better sound? My adcom does sound a little "tinny" and I think my studio 10's could sound better if they were given more power. Also, if I do get the ma500's should I bi-amp the speakers? I've read about some negatives to bridging the amps like impedance loads being too low, overheating amps, distortion issues etc. One last thing to keep in
consideration is I will probably upgrade my paradigm studio 10's to paradigm studio 20's, both of which, I think' are pretty inefficient and power hungry. Also, I'm sort of stuck with the paradigm's unless I try to sell them for a loss in order to get something used, in which case my budget would be around 1k. Thanks in advance for your input!
128x128b_limo
richmon
243 posts
 
I used to have Paradigm Studio 60's and was bi-amping them with 4 Marantz MA-500's so I'm typing from experience.

The MA-500's are not bad sounding at all and the dynamic punch was excellent in this setup. But in the end, between needing two extra preamp interconnects, two extra speaker cables, and the cost of two extra MA500's my opinion is you'd be better served by putting this extra total-cost-of-ownership money towards a superior amp to the MA500.
I moved onto a Conrad Johnson MF2250 and am now ready for a tube amp.
b_limo's avatar
b_limo OP
2,277 posts
 
Alot has happened since I originally posted this thread. I got a classe ca-150, running xlr's between that and my classe ssp 25 pre amp, got some better speaker cables, upgraded from studio 10's to studio 20's to studio 60's and also added an svs sub. Whew! Can anyone say upgradiates!! If the classe ca-150 didn't pop up locally and in my price range, I would have gone conrad johnson mf 2250.
foxxnet
1 posts
 
Hello,
The MA-500's in my system sound great! They are smooth and warm yet detailed. I use the big ADS 1590 digital towers with 8 more ADS for surround. They like power. The nice thing about monoblocks is that you will get a constant 125 watts. Receivers are notorious for losing power the more channels you use. So for a 5.1 surround you will lose up to 40% of your power. The power ratings are based on only 2 channels driven. Over the years, I have acquired 11 Ma-500's. I bridge two for the left and 2 for the right front speakers. I get about 385 watts per channel with bridging. I have not experienced any negatives with the MA-500's. I plan to aquire two more for my 7.2 system and later another 2 for 9.2. I wouldn't keep buying them if there were any negatives.
Go for it you won't regret it. Better than Adcom? Can't say since I have not owned one but if you think it sounds tinny, this will not be an issue with the MA500's.
I hope this helps
Foxxnet
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