GFA-555 Questions and price?

Theheadsn

Hey fellow polkies. I have been in talks for the past couple of days with a real cool dude that lives locally to me thats selling his Adcom GFA-555 (he actually has 2).

Heres what I know about it

Hes the second owner. He bought them off a friend who was the original owner.
Owned them for 2+ years, normal usage.
Never been or have had to had maintenance on them (yet?).
Hooked up to Polk speakers with Adcom preamp and stereo

Ive tried to check info online with this amp but its been kinda hard trying to nail down some good answers. Here are some of my concerns that maybe you guys could educate me on.

I know its an older amp, how is the quality, sound and build? Is this something I can rely on or if I bought it should I send it off to get work done on it?
I read somewhere you can do mod upgrades on it? NO idea what that is ha
With the current system I have right now, is it even worth me getting? I want to run my tsi's with it
Hes asking 300 for each right now, is that good, bad? He seems like hes willing to work on the price as long as I dont try and lowball the hell outta him

Anything else I should know about the amp would be greatly appreciated. I plan on upgrading my speakers (hopefully rti9s), is this a good amp for them as well?

Thanks again, here are the pics he sent me.

Polkie2009

Without you having a chance to hear if the amp is working properly, hard to say. It looks_ fairly clean so that's a good sign. Do you know if it's been used in a smoke,pet free environment? I know these amps are older but some prefer these 555's to the newer design 555's. Since there isn't a shipping fee involved, what the heck, offer him $250.00 cash,see if he takes it. If not, go up to $275.00. try for the best deal you can get,good luck.

PreCd

The GFA-555 are great values. What you need to do is take a volt meter and check for DC offset at the speaker out terminals with no input. My GFA-555 reads 0.030 vdc which is definitely ok. If you see a high reading such as 0.075 or higher then the amp may need some maintenance.

If you buy it the first thing I would do is get the 4 electrolytics replaced that are on the power board. Really cheap and if you can solder really simple. There are 4 large filter caps which should be a-ok.

Good luck.

Syndil

Love my Adcom amps. Large toroidal power supply, built like a tank, and great sound. I've had several Adcom preamps and never cared for them due to the high noise floor, but they definitely get the amplifiers right. I've got an older GFA-545II that still performs as good as new. Never had any trouble out of it.

The GFA-555 should be more than enough for your current speakers or the RTi9. If you really want to future-proof your purchase, you could buy both of his amps and run them in bridged mode as monoblocks. But that is more than likely overkill unless you plan to get some really power-hungry monsters in the future.

$300 is what I would consider the sweet spot. If it's in as good condition as it looks, definitely a fair price. Might be able to talk him down to $280 or so since he won't have to go through the trouble of shipping it, but I'd have no problem paying $300. Anything less than $280 would probably be insulting, IMHO.

sda2mike

+1 /\

nhhiep

300 sounds like a fair deal, not that good. considering it's an older version. there is one guy on CL selling V2 in my city for 250 before negotiating. I am not buying it because I just bought the HK Citation 5.1 (300WPC x2) on Audiogon for 360 shipped to my door.

cnh

300 is pretty much the standard price for a used 555. I've had mine for 4-5 years. I'm at least the 3rd if not 4th owner. Certainly take a look at some of the caps. But in general the older Adcoms are tanks. It's very very hard to "kill" one and not that hard to maintain. One of the great values in amps and very reliable!

One proviso is that there are no relays in these, so if something spikes it may take out your speakers? I've "rarely" heard of that happening but there is a whole "crowd" over at AK.com that is obsessed with this. And I "DO" mean "obsessed"!

I've also owned a 545 for a couple of years or so--again NO PROBLEMS!

cnh

sda2mike

i paid 3 hundy abt 2 yrs ago...check the bias and dc offset...check the innards for any signs of past or looming troubles..look for burns..wet/sticky stuff where it should be dry..that would be leaking caps - not good...look for bulging caps as well...you're fortunate: you have a chance to test drive it before handing over the loot..bring your test cd's and some listening beverage

dudeinaroom

The 555 is the way to get your feet wet. That's how I broke my amp cherry. There are better amps out there, but that is a good starting point. The best way for me to describe a 555 would be to say they are "fun". Nice bass punch, and a lot of reserve power. I don't know if anyone here has tried the classic yet, it's basically a reissue of the 555. I don't know if they still do, but Kmart had them on line for 699.99.

SRTer

I'm running a Adcom GFA-555 MkII on my RTi A9's right now. It was a nice upgrade from the internal power of the Pioneer Elite SC-35 ICE amps.

This weekend, I was asked to DJ a party and found out they had no audio in the place the party was going down at. I took my RTi A7's and the Adcom 555 and played 4 hours in a 2 story room with about 2800 square feet.

The Adcom held up to its end of the bargain. It was hot as hell but it was fine while running at -8dB most of the night driving the speakers full range.

Very durable is the word that comes to mind. I still want more power but you don't need it in your case. The 555 should push those TSi out the box.

I also paid $300 for mine from a Polk Audio board member.

Reading for you...

Stereophile
http://www.stereophile.com/solidpoweramps/678/index.html

Hope this post helps.

SRTer

nhhiep wrote: »

300 sounds like a fair deal, not that good. considering it's an older version. there is one guy on CL selling V2 in my city for 250 before negotiating. I am not buying it because I just bought the HK Citation 5.1 (300WPC x2) on Audiogon for 360 shipped to my door.

What do you have that HK running? Do you like it? Do tell.

nhhiep

SRTer wrote: »

What do you have that HK running? Do you like it? Do tell.

Like it a lot when pushing my Rti12s. In fact, I always like HK sound. Before the Citation 5.1, I was running the Signature 2.1 100WPC x5 in biamp config to send 100W to upper part and 100W to lower 3 7" subs, but still couldn't get much bass out of it. Initially, I wanted the Signature 1.5 with 200WPC x2, but lost the bid on ebay for $500, then lucky me, I ran into the Citation for just 360 shipped. I thought the Signature built quality was good, but man, the Citation is solid like a tank. Same WPC in multi channel config, but 60 lbs vs. 47 lbs, and the Citation is smaller in size too. Not sure how is that possible?
Right now I am looking for 7.1 version, which will push 475 WPC x2. does anyone know if this is the last Citation by HK?

Just to show what power does to my Rti12s. Here is what my Denon AVR 3806 set to with Audyssey MultEQ. the sub is a Deftech Supercube 1

Signature 2.1:
FL +2db
FR 0db
C +4db
SL +3
SR +2
Sub -7

Citation 5.1
FL -.5db
FR -2.5
C +7
SL +5
SR +3
sub -12

Basically, the denon lowers the fronts and push all other channels up to match.

I'd get the Adcom 555v2 for $250 on local CL now if I don't already have the Citation.

PreCd

Theheadsn wrote: »

Hey fellow polkies. I have been in talks for the past couple of days with a real cool dude that lives locally to me thats selling his Adcom GFA-555 (he actually has 2).

Heres what I know about it

Hes the second owner. He bought them off a friend who was the original owner.
Owned them for 2+ years, normal usage.
Never been or have had to had maintenance on them (yet?).
Hooked up to Polk speakers with Adcom preamp and stereo

Ive tried to check info online with this amp but its been kinda hard trying to nail down some good answers. Here are some of my concerns that maybe you guys could educate me on.

I know its an older amp, how is the quality, sound and build? Is this something I can rely on or if I bought it should I send it off to get work done on it?
I read somewhere you can do mod upgrades on it? NO idea what that is ha
With the current system I have right now, is it even worth me getting? I want to run my tsi's with it
Hes asking 300 for each right now, is that good, bad? He seems like hes willing to work on the price as long as I dont try and lowball the hell outta him

Anything else I should know about the amp would be greatly appreciated. I plan on upgrading my speakers (hopefully rti9s), is this a good amp for them as well?

Thanks again, here are the pics he sent me.

I have been following the prices of GFA-555s since buying mine in October. These you are looking at look to be in excellent condition. If they have no scratches and have the original box I would not mind paying $350 for one. In that condition they are selling for about that and sometimes more with original box.

Theheadsn

no original box, but i think all the original material that came with it.

how hard is it to do the maintenance yourself? or how much would it cost to send it out to get worked on? I dont even know where I would send it to even GET worked on haha

Im waiting to hear back from him. Wish I had the money to buy the two he was selling.

PreCd

Theheadsn wrote: »

no original box, but i think all the original material that came with it.

how hard is it to do the maintenance yourself? or how much would it cost to send it out to get worked on? I dont even know where I would send it to even GET worked on haha

Im waiting to hear back from him. Wish I had the money to buy the two he was selling.

Looks like the original 555 box in the pictures.

Monster Jam

Buy it. $250-$300 is the going rate. Last forever, and if they dont, well, its about $75 bucks to fix at any good electronics repair shop.

Theheadsn

o there is the box haha nvm ha

leftwinger57

When I wasn't very happy w/my h/t set up all you guys suggested first go w/pre-outs which my Yamaha did have ,see how that sounds and then go from there. I wasn't overly impressed so I got some Infinity SM112S at a unbelievable price on C/L and then bought an Adcom 555 from AUDIO Classics and couldn't be happier. Firstly I'm not a tube guy so ss it was and and for $300 w/ shipping thrown in I think I got a good deal and then I tried to push the amp and speakers and there was not even a pop squeak sqelch or any other ill sounding effect. The amp is built like a tank and at about 50 lbs feels like it. It has an on /off rocker switch and some smaller clipping leds which never came on. As a non pro reveiwer I would totally reccomend this amp for the ss guy getting into 2-chl stereo. Again for $300 I haven't seen it much cheaper than the shape I recieved it in. One other note my model is the rack mount face which is mounted and does look great...

Syndil

All Adcom gear is rack-mountable. If you look at the sides of a GFA-555 you will see 3 rubber plugs per side. Pull those plugs out and there are screw holes for attaching the rack mount ears. The ears are usually sold separately however.

heiney9

There were also 555's which the faceplate was designed with rack mounts, no add'l hardware needed.

H9

Syndil

Interesting, did not know that. Googling turned up that there were at least 3 variations of the rackmount faceplate:

Syndil

Also, if you were not aware, it appears that all Adcom amplifier circuits (even the car audio) were designed by Nelson Pass himself, with the GFA-555 being his first for Adcom. Guess that could be why (IMO) their amplifiers are so much better than the rest of their gear, excepting of course the venerable GFP-750 which was also designed by Pass.

http://www.linearaudio.nl/interviews/np.pdf

Here's a thread from 2002 in which Nelson Pass discusses the 555 and the MKII. Interesting stuff:

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/solid-state/5280-adcom-555ii-nelson-pass.html

DON73

The 555 should be all the amp you'll ever need........unless you keep reading audio forums $300 would be a fair price for a 2nd owner 555 since you can see the amp and wont have to deal long distance.

newrival

They're very nice amps. Like anything it depends on the ultimate sound characteristic you're looking for. These are very detailed amps for the price. Some people what call it bright. Some people also feel its bass shy, but it certainly is not. It is, however, very controlled bass. No excess overhang or flabiness. I preferred these amps with my Audible Illusions 3b tube pre. Additionally, I prefer the original 555 over the mkII. I have never hear the mkII SE.

newrival

They're very nice amps. Like anything it depends on the ultimate sound characteristic you're looking for. These are very detailed amps for the price. Some people what call it bright. Some people also feel its bass shy, but it certainly is not. It is, however, very controlled bass. No excess overhang or flabiness. I preferred these amps with my Audible Illusions 3b tube pre. Additionally, I prefer the original 555 over the mkII. I have never hear the mkII SE. Bluebook Average price is $340 but recent sales are as others have suggested. $275-$325 for units in very good-excellent condition.

leftwinger57

syndil, mine looks like the first one you showed w/ the thinner handles.That other model's handles are huge