Adcom

Looking at maybe buying the GFA-5300, anyone have anything good to say about these amps? I have not heard them before, are they a warm sounding amp? Is it a deal at 499.00?

its a goodie! the 5400 is the most powerful sounding 125wpc i have ever heard. the 5500 is even moreso at its rated 200wpc.

i am using a 555II with great results, and it drives very low impedances easily.

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Originally Posted by Dharris

I have not heard them before, are they a warm sounding amp?

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Warm?.............................UH- No.

In your face?...........................Yes!

Natural?.......................................Arg uable.

Adcom makes good gear- I owned some fo their stuff, but their amps are very up front and BAM right at you. Rotel is far more natural and laid back. Any other gear I have heard has been more $ and unfair to compare.

I get the model numbers mixed up. I have the 125w version 52 or 5300. If you are looking at the 125w version $499. is not such a good price. This amp is a couple years old and MSRP was only $699. If it's the 220w version you had better jump on it. That's a good buy. The 220w version has more output devices and sold for over $1k. You would still be hard pressed to find a better 125w amp at $499. I use mine on a second system to drive some Dynaudio 62's. My impression is these amps have a bass hump that is nice if you are into Rock and Pop. They tend to get grainy long before they should when turning up to high volumes. My Adcom don't have any problem driving my 4 ohm Dyns. I don't find this a particular strong 125w as far as remaining clean power. I wish you would have told us what other gear you have.

Adcom is a "wham bam, thank you ma'am" product. The only exception I have found is their "high end" stereo pre-amp...as long as you keep it OUT of passive mode.

Rotel is more laid back, but I think it is hard to beat Parasound as an "all arounder". Their entry level piece is right around $500 if I remember right.

I can't back tommy with his 555II. I had a 545II and it was bright and "in your face" on Maggies. Happy to get rid of it. Did real well on resale though. Adcom was still a hot property when I dumped it. Not like today, then they were still kind of a Stereophile darling.

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Originally Posted by spacedeckman

Adcom is a "wham bam, thank you ma'am" product. The only exception I have found is their "high end" stereo pre-amp...as long as you keep it OUT of passive mode.

Rotel is more laid back, but I think it is hard to beat Parasound as an "all arounder". Their entry level piece is right around $500 if I remember right.

I can't back tommy with his 555II. I had a 545II and it was bright and "in your face" on Maggies. Happy to get rid of it. Did real well on resale though. Adcom was still a hot property when I dumped it. Not like today, then they were still kind of a Stereophile darling.

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Yep! I just got some Dynaudio 82's and thinking about Mr. Peabody- he said he haid Dyn 62's. So- matching an in your face amp with a laid back speaker may not make it as n oticable. SO, that combo may be ok, but I find that a laid back sound makes you just want to keep listening. In your face makes you get bored and turn the stereo off faster. My experience at least. Dramatic does not always mean better.

ADCOM does not necessarily stand for "Another Damn Company Offering Midfi" ;)

Nelson Pass helped design the GFA-5800 and the revision is the 5802. This is a very nice amp. It is well superior sounding to any of it's predecessors.

The GCD-750 is a very good cd player, and the GFP-750 is a very good preamp.

his comments are consonant with what i have heard from the adcoms. note his reference to having owned 555s.

i have heard the 5802, 5500, 5400, and 555II at length and never felt these amps are in your face. just my experience.

I still can't make up my mind...

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Originally Posted by jamie_the_dude

Warm?.............................UH- No.

In your face?...........................Yes!

Natural?.......................................Arg uable.

Adcom makes good gear- I owned some fo their stuff, but their amps are very up front and BAM right at you. Rotel is far more natural and laid back. Any other gear I have heard has been more $ and unfair to compare.

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I agree. Nice for the price. Stay away from the higher priced SS stuff if you're happy with Adcom.

I was reading the concerns about Adcom amps. My 2 cents...keep looking. I bought one and thought the bigger one might be better. Bought a second...same thing, so I got a third bigger yet. Few weeks later, they all went back to the store. Just wasted my time believing the hype some people told me about Adcom being good. Could have done just as well buying a Bose table radio. Again...just my 2 cents and sometimes the truth hurts.
Carlos

Brigrizzme....you did say owned...as in the past? You moved on?
Carlos

ADCOM, the worlds most expensive amp; http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...&category=3280

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Originally Posted by CARLOS

Brigrizzme....you did say owned...as in the past? You moved on?
Carlos

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Yes. I owned (2) 535's, the 555, and the 555II. I've also owned an old Belles Model One, a McIntosh 2505, a McIntosh 250, and now use a Jolida 1501. The Adcoms I've owned, between other peices of equipment. Most of the Adcoms I owned came off the used market. I used the different Adcom amps with a variation of preamps ranging from Adocm GFP555 to a McIntosh C36. The Adcoms were all VERY forward and harsh to my ears regardless of the pre-stage used. If a forward sound is what you enjoy, then great. This is only my opinion. Everyone has different ears. I'm in no way trying to insult Adcom owners. After multiple auditions and multiple lines I've decided they are not for me. I used the Adcoms with KEF 140's, Magnepan SMGa's, Dunlavy SC-1's and Klipsch Forte II's.

Interesting to hear your description of how the Adcoms sounded to you. Yes we do hear differently for sure! My 3 Adcoms ( I don't remember the model numbers ) were new and at the time, the smaller one, middle and largest they had - at the time. All I remember was it was as if I had pillows over my ears. No definition, no soundstage to speak of, just left and right channel. They sounded soft with Phase Linear ( now I forget the model name of those...oh, Andromeda speakers...flat with Bose 901 speakers, washed out with the Magnepans and just all round waste of time and money so I took them back. I tried several pre amps from Tandberg, Perreaux, Crown, Phase 4000 and at least 3 more that have fallen into the black hole of memory. I certainly don't want to insult any Adcom fans either and thought long and hard before even saying anything. But from experience....and again, it was only my experience. I started getting into Crown amps when I heard some very revealing material. Actually, it was REO Speedwagon who I have always considered to be a very tight group but during casual listening to a borrowed amp that you had to turn on with a screw driver because the on/off button was long ago broken along with the filters missing and upon looking inside the amp with a flashlight appeared as if it had been salvaged from the bottom of a cargo ship but the sound was something else. All of a sudden I started noticing the singers were out of sync in a number of cuts and occaisionally you could hear one singer turn their head away from the mike for a mere moment. I was blown away from the details. Not to mention the very focused sound of the letter "t" and "s" without the shsp that followed and is normally associated with these letters. Sort of like listening with a microscope. All of a sudden, some of my favorite groups were starting to sound like some not too much practiced mariachi group during happy hour rather than the professional people I thought they were. That is revealing and as Crown states in their logo past...when your ready for real.........This is by no means a Crown commercial. I don't work for Crown or push Crown. Like you say, we all hear differently but I thank God I discovered Crown. Guess thats how I wound up with 6 of them and looking for a 300(A?) upon Bills reccomendation. It would serve as a great back up for the bedroom system provided it is not fan cooled. Guess i've babbled enough...anyway...have a great week!
Carlos

I actually own the amplifier in question. Even though this thread is a couple years old now, I wanted to put this in for people who may wonder about this amp or adcom in general. I paid 450 for my 5300. This amplifier has gotten slammed time and time again by all kinds of people on the message boards. It seems you either love or hate this amp. I think it is absolutely useless to listen to anyone says either way due to the fact that whatever preamp, cd player, cables, speakers, room people use all make massive differences in the way they all sound. I was ready to sell my 5300 just recently due to me thinking that it was the problem in my system. Didn't find out that the adcom was innocent until i replaced my Harmon/Kardon cd player.

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Originally Posted by hifitommy

its a goodie! the 5400 is the most powerful sounding 125wpc i have ever heard. the 5500 is even moreso at its rated 200wpc.

i am using a 555II with great results, and it drives very low impedances easily.

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Contrary to the assertions others have made here, I found the 555II to be fairly warm and rather "earthy" sounding with my Maggy 1.6's. I bought the amp for $305, (hull of a bargain), and sold it for $350. :cornut:

Relative to more expensive amps I've own, (Bel Canto and Monarchy), the 555II was a tad grainy and lacking detail on the top end, but there was nothing raunchy about that I could hear.

Today I run the GFP-750, (top of the line), preamp, mainly in passive mode. The only thing wrong with it, IMO, is a rather boring appearance. I like the balanced outputs that I use to drive my current Monarchy amps.

I have to admit that after putting a Conrad Johnson DAC in the chain of my Adcom system I gained new respect for my 5400. The gfp450 I'm using is the weak link now but I won't do anything about it since it's a second system. Also, the 5400 is driving Dynaudio Audience 60's and not breaking a sweat. It didn't impress as being above average strength but with a more efficient speaker.....All in all, for the price the Adcom is at it's hard to beat. I wonder how much more they would be if Adcom added some more clarity?

try a tubed preamp (such as an ARC sp9 0r 3a1 or 6) in front of that 5400!

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Originally Posted by hifitommy

try a tubed preamp (such as an ARC sp9 0r 3a1 or 6) in front of that 5400!

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That's exactly what I do! The ARC and modified Adcoms sound very good.:ihih:

i would probably have ended up with one after hearing my friend's sp9/classic 60/vandy IICEs but i got a steal on the sp3a1 and was stunned. its been sent to arc for update to sp3c status, still stunned.

say what they may about adcoms, they ARENT bright. if they sound that way, its something else in the system; they werent bright on martin logan reQuests with counterpoint preamplificatoin nor nad 1020 preamping either.

yipity yap as they say.

In 1982 I bought an ARC SP-3A-2 and a D-76. Selling them was a very large mistake. I'm not unhappy with my SP-9. It has been brought up to ARC's latest specs. That SP-3 and D-76 were my first high end preamp and amp. Those and some MG-1's were super sound for 1982. I could kick myself for selling those ARC products.:incazzato:

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Originally Posted by JoeE SP9

I'm not unhappy with my SP-9. It has been brought up to ARC's latest specs.

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Actually, the final version was the MKIII. I had my MKII updated to that version several years ago. The sonic result is greater resolution, more bass punch, and a warmer tonal balance in the lower midrange. The list of changes and pics are found on the ARC database site.

<a href="http://www.arcdb.ws/SP9/SP9.html">SP-9 family</a href>

rw

Mine was updated to MKIII status in Dec 2004. I can't forget that because it's the month and year I shot the burglar.:ihih:

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Originally Posted by JoeE SP9

Mine was updated to MKIII status in Dec 2004. I can't forget that because it's the month and year I shot the burglar.:ihih:

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Perhaps then it is time to update your equipment signature. :)

Did you find similar improvements after the change? I found the tonal balance of the II to be far too lean.

Hopefully, the burglar was convicted!

rw