Adcom Gfa 1a

[stereoandy78]

Sorry, I haven't been on in a while. I love this AMP!!!!!!!!
I am going to get another to run a second set of ditton 44's. For the money I couldn't be happier. Even with a huge dent in the housing (there when I got it) it seems bulletproof.

 

[gyusher]

I bought the GFA-1 when it first came out along with the rack mount face that makes it full width. Later I bought the 1A model then a couple years later the 555 then ultimatly I had 7 GFA-565s for one hell of an HT system. Then a direct hit by lightening got everything. . .

The GFA-1 and 1A were incredible bargains new when there were few consumer grade 200wpc amps around much less at a price even double what the Adcoms brought.

I also bought the GFP-1 Preamp then upgraded to the 555 Preamp that I used until I went HT with a Marantz AV-9000 that I used to drive my 565s.

After the lightening strike I finally went to receivers as it was too hard to replace 7 amps and a 2K Preamp at one time.

I miss driving my L-250s with the Adcoms along with JBL L-112 and 150s that I used during that period.

Lots of great memories. . .

 

[m4rz]

gyusher...that sux! I have been going strong over the last couple of months with my GFA-1A and am very happy. Would love to find another one that was in as good shape.

 

[gyusher]

gyusher...that sux! I have been going strong over the last couple of months with my GFA-1A and am very happy. Would love to find another one that was in as good shape.

I've had several used 1A/s over the years including one Audio Metrics 200wpc amp that was virtually the same amp. One or two needed work and I had them fixed. as I remember it was a pain to work on at least my problem was. I'm no tech but according to the tech that did the work. IIRC I had fried outputs or some such. I've never hurt one myself but the two I had were toast when I bought them.

I like how they sound. Just don't play any big Polks with it using that wire that connects the two speakers. . . 555/s will do that job. The 1 and 1A will not.

 

[goldenear]

I agree with robbie38

These are amazing amps.

I own a GFA-1A and have never had any problems with it - I HAVE abused this amp - a LOT.

clips softly, runs into low impedance loads well, - mine DID have a phase problem which was the result of incorrect wiring at the factory???

the output was 180 degrees out of phase with the input - so when I used this with other amps - this amp always resulted in the speaker outp[uts being out of phase - drove me crazy for a little while until I fixed the problem myself.

great sound quality.

this unit is still in commercial service in my inventory.

I might someday buy another if so moved and the price is right.

TCB

 

[unreel]

i can give you my input

Dude! Does anyone have any real hard specs on the Ascom Gfa 1a? I sent e-mail to adcom and they were great, very quick response, but there was something weird with my email browser format. It was all this strange computer code. I am just trying to find the performance specs, and if anyone out there is using them, if so is the fan very noisy? Are you owners happy with them?

Thanks,

Andy

i used 2- of the gfa 1 and 1a for over 20 years as apart of a dj system the 1 came with a low speed fan but under a big load for a period of time it could over heat and the 1a had a low and hi speed fan much better and as far as being noisy not bad but i sugjest spraying it a freion base elect contact cleaner and if that doesnt work blow it out with a air compressor lol that amp is built like a tank and over all i rate it a 11 and the only problem i ever had with any of them was out put conectors over time needed resoderingno owers manual i just seen one today on ebay hope that helps you out

 

[unreel]

it was rated at 200 watts per channel in 8 ohms

 

[unreel]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Adcom-GFA-1-GFA...ptZVintage_Electronics_R2?hash=item58855c9e8c

 

[jahshines]

Yeah, this post is resurrecting a thread from the dead, but I'm curious what club was this?

Re: GFA 1A's

Hi all,

These were actually good-sounding, rugged little powerhouses. My ex-partner and I installed probably 60 or so of these in discos in the NY/NJ area, were really rugged, as long as you cleaned 'em once in a while with a hoover or the like. They did quite well with difficult loads, one place we did, we had three of them, two drove TWO pairs each of E.V. Sentry IVB's, and the third drove a pair of w-bins with Gauss 18's. That system KICKED ASS, and required little to no maintenance. Plus, it sounded VERY good! The rest of the system was a Bozak CMA10-2DLS mixer/preamp, three Thorens TD125's with Stanton 681 carts, a Pioneer RT1020H reel to reel, some Rauland-Borg 1/3 octave e.q.'s, and a DBX 500 BOOOOM! box (subharmaonic synthesizer). Beautiful system that ran, and ran, and ran for 10 years with almost no problems. So, needless to say, that GFA1A is a fine souding , and running amp. Just don't EVER try to bridge it! Each channel is already a BTL, true-balanced circuit. Bridge it, you blow it. Adcom, as of five years ago, still had parts for these!

Cheers,
Robbie

from the dead

 

[JimL1]

They are very powerful amps and sound very nice. Unfortunately they are not real easy to work on and the casing screws strip easily. They run a bit warm with fan on low and fan is quiet. I wish they had true clipping lights like later Adcoms did. They do have a "peak" indicator light which seems to be in definite clipping before it is illuminated. While I was trying to illuminate the Peak lights just for a second the amp did shut down once.