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Which Adcom amp is best?

Bullistik892 said:
Most pieces of equipment that I've had fail have always given me some kind of warning signs long before the failure has progressed to the point it's blown something up.

I'm not saying that sudden failures don't happen, just that they are not the norm.

If the equipment checks out good then I'd run it if it sounds good. I would not discount a good sounding amp just because it doesn't have output protection. But that's a personal choice and for me it has worked fine.
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I'll have to disagree. Speakers are delicate, even big woofers with a high watt rating. If you've heard clipping or even the slightest amount of sizzle, you've likely damaged or overheated your VC even if you can catch it fast enough. IME, amps that passed DC gave no tell tale warning sound at the speaker. Just gradual loss of volume to nothing when the VC melted open. Like aluminum car engines, for VC's any overheating is bad overheating. If you have ever lost an unobtanium driver, you will kick yourself for not being more careful. This is why I will not put an amp with no speaker relay on any speaker that I care for.
 
I can count on one hand the number of tweeters I've destroyed in my lifetime.

in fact, I've never blown one in thirty plus years,, and if I'm awake, music is playing.


back on topic, its funny how many of you 'prefer' the 535s sound. I absolutely love the sound of my 5300, and only swapped in a carver (pm 1.5)because as previously posted, I actually drove the Adcom into clipping for the first time. To my ears, up until clipping the adcom sounded better then the carver, especially in the mid-bass/bass regions.

jaz
 
555, bridged for Mono, one per side. Wide open, dynamic sound. Ran my system that way for several years, driving Vandersteen 2Ce Sigs. Never damaged a driver, not once, ever, have no idea what you're talking about.

Dave
 
In the past, I owned a GFA-535 and a 535 II. Both were very nice amplifiers which I really liked; the Adcoms I have now simply have more power. My Paradigm 7se IIs can use that extra power on occasion, though 95% of the time a 535 would supply all I need as I don't often drive them to very high levels. However, last Sunday was one of those times, and I had a fun time for almost two hours of high-wattage playback, rockin' out with a MOG playlist. And we had fun, fun, fun 'til daddy took the T-bird away.

Yeah, the 535s were very sweet amps, and I wish I'd held on to at least one of them, but I wouldn't agree they are sonically superior to some of the more powerful models. Obviously, the case could be made for their inferiority when pushed beyond their limits, but I don't see it that way, either. No amp sounds great under those circumstances; you match the amp to your speakers and needs, and if more power is required, it is not the amp at fault but the amp user. I have no quarrel with anyone who feels the 535 is the best model; while I may not fully agree with that perspective, I can certainly understand it since I liked mine so much, too.
 
musichal said:
Yeah, the 535s were very sweet amps, and I wish I'd held on to at least one of them, but I wouldn't agree they are sonically superior to some of the more powerful models. Obviously, the case could be made for their inferiority when pushed beyond their limits, but I don't see it that way, either. No amp sounds great under those circumstances; you match the amp to your speakers and needs, and if more power is required, it is not the amp at fault but the amp user. I have no quarrel with anyone who feels the 535 is the best model; while I may not fully agree with that perspective, I can certainly understand it since I liked mine so much, too.
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My understanding of Adcom's philosophy in the early 80s was 'all of our amps sound the same , some just have more output watts'

Of course that is loose interpretation and may be wrong
 
Flawless and reliable performance for 20 years now on my unaltered GFA-555II. Have never had a compelling reason to "upgrade" and they drive my MG 1.7s beautifully.
 
I just win 5400 model - thanks everyone for your voice of experience - I really appreciate them. I wanted to be safe so I went with a newer model.

I thought I would appreciate 125 watts per ch. so i went with this one, as oposed to 50 watts one.

Cheers,
 
so...the GFA 5500 does have some sort of speaker protection?? I happen to have one and was gonna use it anyway( after having it serviced)..but feel a lil better about seeing this
 
llanger said:
I'd like to know how many speakers have been damaged or destroyed by an Adcom amp that lacks speaker protection. Many say it's a problem, but I've yet to read a post in which a person experienced speaker damage, anecdotal experience aside.
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Certainly mine haven't been damaged. I'm running a pair of 555's alternating their use from Bridged mono or as in the case today. using them in stereo to bi-amp a set of Henry Kloss' original 4 piece Ensemble speaker system. ( arguably the only way to really get them to perform at their peak).

There's certainly a lot of web chatter about the "Potential" for damage but I've yet to read any actual accounts where someone has experienced it with the 555 ( not the II). I've read the same web chatter warnings about the Phase Linear 700 B and Crown DC 300. Never had any issues with those amps either when I owned them. Maybe I'm just lucky.

I'm all for the recap idea, if nothing more than to keep things fresh under the hood. given the age of the 555 , it's well due.
 
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Frank Sol said:
Is this pretty or what... ?

I'd think a pair of Magnepan's 3.6 would mate well with this system...

:music:

ulti-adcom-1.jpg
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That is not unattractive. ;)

I sold a 555ii which had died and it didn't hurt my speakers when it happened. I also still have a 5300 (it's listed in BT) that only had one operational channel. No damage to speakers then either.
 
My first "real" audio purchase after coming here was a GFA-555II and a GFP-565.... still use the 565.... needed more power so I sold the 555II.

The amp was very nice though and I never had a leaky cap issue in the few years I owned it... not saying they don't have a penchant for such. I'd say my pre is very good but then again I've never had anything else to compare it to.

Sounds good to my uninformed ears.


Matt
 
plug-n-play said:
"$3,000 speakers on a $200 amp with no relay??? All amps will fail. The question is do you want to replace a $500 driver in your L300's as well".

I have lots of extra drivers for the L300's, in fact I just scored another set last week for $225....3K for the L300??...In what world do you live?
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Here in the Big City, that is what a clean condition pair goes for. I just sold my pair not too long ago for $2500 and mine did not have the coveted AlNico woofer. A dealer acquaintance got $3k for a $400 score earlier this year. Not sure what you are thinking or seeing in the sticks. BTW, congrats on your score.
 
Old thread I stumbled into today while researching Adcom's.

Don't know if anyone cares now but there was a lot of talk about old Adcom's lacking output relays to protect speakers. Easy fix for that, install output relays in the amps or simply fuse your speakers. Either one works, I know very well!
 
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