Adcom history
- Thread starter thedelihaus
- Start date
BULLWINKLE
Super Member
Good thread. Just bought a GFA 555 and a GFP 555. Waiting to arrive and hook up to some Vandersteen 4's.
I read somewhere that some/all of the Adcom gear was built overseas and then shipped to the US for a faceplate and subsequent sale. Any truth? Doesn't really matter to me, but I've had my share of "Japanese gear sucks, get a good US amp like Adcom" e-spats over the years and if the rumors are true...well, it would be pretty funny.
panhead
Mac owner for life.
i have a pair of adcom gfa 565's that i really like alot,my experience with adcom gear is that their amps are ballsy but i wish they were a littler better made,dont think im saying that they are cheapily made because they are not but the build quality of the chasis on their amps seems just like any off the shelf reciever at a major appliance store & for the price they charge for their gear i would prefer a more sturdy build.
sound wise adcom makes excellent gear.
sound wise adcom makes excellent gear.
Adcom has no manufacturing facilities. As mentioned above. Their gear is built by the lowest bidder. Just like the government.Toka said:
markdi
Natural born thread killer
I think my adcom gfa-2 looks nicer
it has great specs too
each channel has less than 4 mv offset - cold or warm - sounds great.
spec'd at 100wpc 20hz to 20 khz .02% thd both channels driven at same time into 8 ohms.
110wpc at 1khz into 8 ohms
100db snr
frequency response +/- 2db dc to 100 khz
2 - 4 amp 120 volt slow blow fuses.
I think adcom could have put it in a smaller box.
$ 67.00 shipped - ebay.
1 corner of the face plate was bent when I got it
pictures
http://audiokarma.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=17822
it has great specs too
each channel has less than 4 mv offset - cold or warm - sounds great.
spec'd at 100wpc 20hz to 20 khz .02% thd both channels driven at same time into 8 ohms.
110wpc at 1khz into 8 ohms
100db snr
frequency response +/- 2db dc to 100 khz
2 - 4 amp 120 volt slow blow fuses.
I think adcom could have put it in a smaller box.
$ 67.00 shipped - ebay.
1 corner of the face plate was bent when I got it
pictures
http://audiokarma.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=17822
markdi
Natural born thread killer
rjcardinal
Member
I have run Adcom componets since the early 90's. To me they sound great and they are built to last. I have a GTP 450 preamp, ACE 515 power center, GCD 600 cd player, two GFA -1A amps, and a GFA 545 II amp. These pieces have handled everything I have thrown at them and performed flawlessly. I have noticed that a lot of people look down on Adcom gear, especially on a couple of other online forums. The reason they give for disparaging the gear is the gear is considered to bright for serious audiophiles. I guess once you get used to the squashed sound of a tube amp clipping you think all amps should sound that way. I think Adcom is a giant killer and this bothers some people. I mean just look at the specs on the amps and for a moderate price. Nothing but clean high current power and my gear has lasted for years and still performs as new.
Ron
Ron
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lasminit2
Well-Known Member
This is a VERY late addition to this 2006 thread, but it might interest anyone who is reading up on Adcom in general.
My understanding is that they had (and have?) good relationships with several top notch factories overseas. You can do this badly, of course, but if you have good partners, and are not simply awarding the contract to "the lowest bidder" the results can be both well controlled and remarkably high quality. I can think of companies that have done it both ways in my industry (musical instruments), and the results are what you would expect depending on the level of "involvement" the designers have. I have been told that Adcom was very much involved at every level.
As far as internal design and quality, when I opened up my GAF-545 II to inspect the caps and check voltages, the internal boards proved to be of superb quality, the solder traces clean as whistles, and the caps used are of very high quality (including Black Gate, which you don't often see as factory spec). The design and build quality leave little to be desired. I think it sounds fabulous as well. Here is an interesting link with the beginnings of a review, with measurements:
http://www.kenrockwell.com/audio/adcom/gfa-545-ii.htm
Please note that the amps rated output is 100W per ch at .02% distortion. At .1%, the
measured power is 128 watts per channel, even though it appears he needs to adjust for DC offset.
Additional note:
I have been told that Adcom is getting very serious about "stereo gear" again, and that they have new preamps with truly great sounding phono preamps. I haven't heard one, however, so if anyone has, we would love to "hear" your impressions. :yes:
My understanding is that they had (and have?) good relationships with several top notch factories overseas. You can do this badly, of course, but if you have good partners, and are not simply awarding the contract to "the lowest bidder" the results can be both well controlled and remarkably high quality. I can think of companies that have done it both ways in my industry (musical instruments), and the results are what you would expect depending on the level of "involvement" the designers have. I have been told that Adcom was very much involved at every level.
As far as internal design and quality, when I opened up my GAF-545 II to inspect the caps and check voltages, the internal boards proved to be of superb quality, the solder traces clean as whistles, and the caps used are of very high quality (including Black Gate, which you don't often see as factory spec). The design and build quality leave little to be desired. I think it sounds fabulous as well. Here is an interesting link with the beginnings of a review, with measurements:
http://www.kenrockwell.com/audio/adcom/gfa-545-ii.htm
Please note that the amps rated output is 100W per ch at .02% distortion. At .1%, the
measured power is 128 watts per channel, even though it appears he needs to adjust for DC offset.
Additional note:
I have been told that Adcom is getting very serious about "stereo gear" again, and that they have new preamps with truly great sounding phono preamps. I haven't heard one, however, so if anyone has, we would love to "hear" your impressions. :yes:
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Are those the ones that have a pile of dual transistors in it ?
I think it is like two mono bridged amps, no common speaker grounds.
I am not a Adcom sound authority, and have only really listened on a repair bench setting but I can hear it sounds like an open ended amp design, not my cup of tea.
If your talking about the 5 pin dual transistors such as the 2SA798 and
C1583 then yes.
I can't agree with this statement -- not after seeing and hearing Ampzillas, Dynaco 400s, Phase Linear 400s and various Heathkit models in the mid-1970s. Adcom arrived relatively late to the super-amp party.
I also remember an opinion that Frank Van Alstine published in his Audio Basics newsletter, probably in the late 1980s or early 1990s. The supply of new old stock Dynaco chassis from Sound Values was drying up and Frank was looking for an amp brand (in addition to Hafler, which he carried at the time) that he could use to house his MOSFET amp circuits. He was profoundly unimpressed with the GFA-555 that one of his subscribers brought in; he disliked the component layout in the chassis, the way the chassis sheet metal went together, and the heat sink arrangement. He also had unkind words for the stock 555's sound, stating that it sounded like a louder version of a Japanese receiver. He decided against offering his circuits in the 555 chassis and ended up tooling his own amp chassis designs instead.