Which Amp????

[keithwit1]

I'm currently looking to purchase and Adcom power amp. Which One do you guy's recomend? 200 wpc with .09 THD or one with 125 wpc and .018 THD? please help. Keith

[Florian]

It is impossible to judge any amp based on those specs. There is no "defined" way of measuring and those results have almost no impact on the sonics. Have a listen for yourself and see how you like it.

Good luck

Flo

[keithwit1]

The amps I had in mind were Adcom. GFA 555 or the GFA 5400. I hope this will help. Keith

[pelly3s]

What speakers do you have

[dean_martin]

check out the reviews here at AR. I think there are over 30 reviews for each amp. The 555 seems to be a well-respected amp thanks in part to Stereophile magazine ranking it as one of the top 100 components over the last 40 years or so. I think this was mainly due to its loads of power eventhough some of the lower rated amps in the the series like the 545 and 535 may sound cleaner.

If you have power hungry speakers and a smooth front end (like a tube preamp or really nice cdp) then the 555 may be just right. If you have easy to drive speakers and neutral to "bright" frontend then the 5400 may be the best match.

If you're looking to add the amp to a system that's mostly for movies I'm not sure it would matter that much unless you need the extra power of the 555.

[keithwit1]

Speakers are Polk RT i8 and a energy 10 sub.

[keithwit1]

Reciever is Yamaha RX v-2500

[Newfiestang50]

I used to own the Adcom GFA 555ii and used it to drive a pair of PSB Stratus Gold i's (4 ohm) which are pretty power hungry. I sold the adcom for that reason, it just couldn't power them, i then purchased the NAD C372 conservitively rated at 150 watts per ch and found a major difference in performance. The C372 and the matching C272 are very underrated as far as i am concerned, if you already have a pre amp i would suggest having a listen to the C272, you wont be dissappointed. Just my 2 cents.