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Does Adcom make good Amps ?

braincramp

braincramp

Active Member
I've been reading some stuff about the Adcom GFA-555ms power amps and the reviews have been pretty glowing. Does anybody here have any experience with the Adcom stuff? I've decided to go new instead of vintage with a power amp and a pre-amp. Or if you have a recommendation on something else in the same price range that you may think is better let me hear about it.
 
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One of my friends has a 555. He is quite happy with it driving a pair of Magnepan 3.7's. IMO his system sounds superb. I have two 545's that drive my bi-amplified Acoustat Model 1/SPW-1 speakers (rear/surround). Actually using something is IMO the highest recommendation one can give.
 
Hello Brain, I bought a Adcom 555, 535 and a GTP 5something all brand new back in the early nineties. Sold the GFA555 a few years back but still have the 535 and preamp. The 555 would really deliver the goods! Very powerful sound to it. I displaced it with vintage Sansui gear. In my set-up the Sansui sounded fuller and warmer. IME the 535 has a warmer sound than the 555 did so I kept that one around, even though it doesn't get much use. One thing I was not wild about regarding the 555 is it did not have speaker protection so it was easier to let that one go.
I also have extremely efficient speakers so power was not a priority.

As for power they will drive most speakers fairly easily, and still sound good.
The gentleman I sold it to loves it.

Good luck.
 
Holy Crap playit! A Dubuque Guy! Lived across the border in Stockton for most of my life. I have customers in East Dubuque so I'm over your way every 2 weeks. Thanks for the input.
 
braincramp said:
Holy Crap playit! A Dubuque Guy! Lived across the border in Stockton for most of my life. I have customers in East Dubuque so I'm over your way every 2 weeks. Thanks for the input.[/QUOTE


Yeah it's cool to talk with a "local" once in a while.
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Adcom makes very good gear. Their products sound good, and just as importantly, they are reliable and serviceable.
 
The Adcom amps that I am familiar with (535,545,555) are excellent designs and have good overall build quality.They sound quite nice,and gave the (generally much more expensive!) competition a run for their money back in the day.

There is a very simple circuit available that crowbars the output in case of excessive DC offset or output transistor failure.
 
braincramp said:
I've been reading some stuff about the Adcom GFA-555ms power amps and the reviews have been pretty glowing. Does anybody here have any experience with the Adcom stuff? I've decided to go new instead of vintage with a power amp and a pre-amp. Or if you have a recommendation on something else in the same price range that you may think is better let me hear about it.
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Adcom makes quite capable gear. The new Adcom power amplifiers IIRC do have speaker protection. You may want to peruse Stereophile reviews to see their opinion of Adcom power amplifiers. What speakers to you plan on using?
 
I think they generally represent very good power amp value, the 5#5 mk-2 versions by Walt Morrey address the shortcomings Adcom cost cut on the first 5#5 series based on the Nelson Pass prototype. The 565 and 585 MUST be recapped before failure from catastrophic capacitor leakage, which ruins the driver board. The rest of the 5#5 bipolar line is ok regarding cap failure.
Blown rail fuses are the usual failure mode, normally correctable simply by replacement. Otherwise, clean sounding, reliable, bulletproof amps. Simple logical direct layout assures eaze of servicing if required.
 
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Just picked up an GFA-535 and GTP 500 Combo just yesterday. Still in the original boxes with the original remote and antenna... great build quality, the remote still works fine, and I love the automated volume knob. One of my marantz slimline amps did the same.

As for the 555s it's a great amp, lots of info on the site.. powered house at 200wpc.

Adcom builds good quality amps for the money. Sound quality is quite nice as well. Good stuff!

Kind Regards,
John
 
I like 'em.

Currently own 1x GFA-535 1x GFA-545 1x GFA-555 (all Mk1) as well as 1x GFA-5200 1x GFA-5300 1x GFA-5400 (all MOSFET).
I also have 1x GTP-450 1x GTP-500 (Mk1) and 1x GTP-502 (all w/remotes),and still hunting for a GFP-710 and/or a GFP-715.
I've also been on the hunt for a nice deal on a used GFA-5500 GFA-5002 and/or GFA-6002 as well.

Other Adcom bits & pieces around here include 3x ACE-515 1x GFS-600 1x GFS-3 and a bunch or their rackmounts.
Would'nt mind having a GDA-600 and/or GDA-700 either...

So yeah,I'd hafta agree that Adcom represents a good value for the $ spent.

JM2¢ ~ YMMV

Bret P.
 
I have a GFA-585, GFP-565, and a nifty power switchbox that has a built in delay for amp power on, and have had a bunch of others. No complaints other than the lack of a speaker protection circuit.
 
If you run an Adcom GFA-535 into an Adcom speaker selector switch with the protection button on will my KEF 104/2s be ok in case of massive DC power output?
 
bhunter said:
Adcom makes quite capable gear. The new Adcom power amplifiers IIRC do have speaker protection. You may want to peruse Stereophile reviews to see their opinion of Adcom power amplifiers. What speakers to you plan on using?
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For right now I'll be using my Series II Bose 901's with a sub but I plan on updating to something newer in the future.
 
I still use a GFA-535 II in the bedroom for the Fortes. Did have a 5500, and a 5503, 200wpc high-current, rather beefy direct descendants of the 555. The 5500 two-channel, the 5503 three-channel. Traded one, sold the other for speaker upgrades. Very good amps imo, ime.
 
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Adcom contracts others to build their gear. I had a pair of Adcom GFA-555s (Great effing Amp) a few years back to run a pair of biAmped JBL 4341 Studio Monitors.
I liked them, better than the JBL/UREI 6260 amps they replaced, not quite as nice as the B&K ST202plus amp I have now.
My friend Steve had some of the Adcom GFA-565 mono blocks - used them to run his JBL subs - but they were a funky design - original caps leaked and ruined the circuit board
(which was some weird Hard-pressed paper material) and he paid a ton to have them flushed, washed, and rebuilt. (completely different design than the original 555s)

The rack below has 2 styles of Adcom GFA-555s the bottom one is older and has rack mount handles, the upper is a slightly newer design with the finned front panel more common today.
(2 blank racks space between them for cooling airflow)

Adcomx2_4513.jpg
 
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