Amp for RTia9, Adcom, Emotiva, or????

Inspector 24

Like many others I'm staring down the rabbit hole of upgrades. I figure that happens when you start needing separate amps.

With the help of fellow Polkies I've decided that no AVR can make the A9's shine the way I think they can. So I have a decision to make. I like the idea of a 3 channel amp for the front stage, takes care of my Music listening and gives extra 'oomf' to the center for movies, and let the current AVR take care of the surrounds.

I've loosely narrowed it down to an Adcom GFA-5503 locally for $625, eleven years old, seller claims very little use, looks to be in very good condition (9/10+) Or an Emotiva XPA-3, currently on sale for $599, free shipping.

My question is two fold...First, will one drive the A9's better than the other? If so, which will likely sound better (yes I know this is very relative)...Second, Given similar cost, is it a no-brainer to go with the new amp with a warranty? Or are the old Adcoms not only better amps, but can be counted on to give me years of trouble free service??

Or am I completely missing the boat and there's another option in the $5-600 range that will meet my needs?

Any input is greatly appreciated!!!

Ryan

[Deleted User]

I am currently using a B&K 202 Plus (yes that is the name). Purchased off Ebay for $350.00. Cheers. :cool:

cfrizz

Only you can decide whether or not you want to take the chance on an 11 year old amp or want the peace of mind of brand new with warranty. I would personally opt for the Emo.

larry777

I would go for the XPA-3. Its a good price and has the warranty with free delivery. They are easy to sell later on if you decide to go with something else. For H/T especially, it should do everything you want it to.

Inspector 24

The new-ness, warranty, and ability to re-sell is huge to me...

I suppose I should re-phrase the question, are the other used, long off warranty amps good enough to justify the risk?

larry777

A lot of the older amps turn out to be very good also. But if something happens to it, or their is an existing problem, you would have to get it fixed weither you kept it or tried to resell. On the other hand buying an older amp in good working order could give you better quality. For H/T you may not notice it though.

mdaudioguy

That price seems high for the Adcom - google it, folks were asking that much 7 or 8 years ago...

Also: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?104132-Adcom-GFA5503-vs-Emotiva-XPA-3

My vote is to keep searching. There's bound to be a bargain out there on something "like new." Be patient.

mrbiron

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1329671458&/Parasound-HCA-1200ii-

Never heard one but i know people are here seem to like them.

kustus

I would have to say from personal experience and older Adcom amp is awesome if the price is right. The age on some older amps is not really the question, its more for how it was cared for. They are built lilke tanks and will work for a long time as long as they havent been abused in some fashon. I picked up an Adcom GFA-545 for 100 bucks shipped and all from ebay. Works like new. the day it breaks ill just fix it myself. Its too good to let go. It always helps to ask questions and get to know the seller on older amps first too

nooshinjohn

Emo and a9's is akin to nails on a chalkboard for me. They are not a good pairing IMHO, as the combination is rather bright sounding.

mdaudioguy

nooshinjohn wrote: »

Emo and a9's is akin to nails on a chalkboard for me. They are not a good pairing IMHO, as the combination is rather bright sounding.

In my experience, the receiver feeding the amp can mitigate that somewhat. I didn't find that the Emo added brightness/harshness, per se, but that it amplified what it received. I think that HK -> Emo might not be too bad.

Drenis

nooshinjohn wrote: »

Emo and a9's is akin to nails on a chalkboard for me. They are not a good pairing IMHO, as the combination is rather bright sounding.

Tell that to Toolfan66. He runs Emo and the A9's.

Toolfan66

Get the Emotiva if you want new and a warranty it works great for what I'm running.

Pioneer SC-07
Emotiva XPA-3
OPPO 95
MIT Cables
Samsung 58" Plasma

RTiA9's
CSiA6
FXiA6's 2 sets
PRO 500 and 600 subs

I think my set-up is BADASS as is IMO

Toolfan66

John where have you heard the A9 Emo combo? or are you just riding the Emo sucks and thats all there is to it program?

Inspector 24

mdaudioguy wrote: »

That price seems high for the Adcom - google it, folks were asking that much 7 or 8 years ago...

Also: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?104132-Adcom-GFA5503-vs-Emotiva-XPA-3

My vote is to keep searching. There's bound to be a bargain out there on something "like new." Be patient.

Good thread, missed that one.

Sounds like nothing bad is ever said about Adcoms, where opinions on the Emo's are very mixed, seems that's the case wherever I look.

I agree the price on the local Adcom is kinda high, there's another 5503 that popped up for $550 which seems more reasonable, but then there's a Rotel RB993 200Wx3 for $550 plus shipping, and an Acurus 200wx3 $430 plus shipping, which makes the Adcom seem even more overpriced!

I don't mind buying used if it looks good, but I'll only do it if I get a heck of a deal. Would $450 for the 5503 be a good price if it looks good and works? Seller claims to be the original owner with no more than 1,000 hours of use??

nhhiep

also consider HK Signature or Citation.
My system is almost the same as yours and it kicks with the Citation that I scored on audiogon for 360 shipped.

Lego1

Find out if this guy will ship : http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/ele/2711292862.html

dudeinaroom

The only adcom I have had experience with is the gfa 555 which is nice and has some bass drive, but for what my parasound (hca 1000a)gives me in resolution, I can live with out the more authoritative bass for the gains in clarity and imaging. The difference in bass could also be the fact that the adcom puts out 125 more w/ch into 4 ohms. But the adcom still can not give me the decay that the parasound does. From what I have heard here alone for the price the Rotel & Acurus would be a better choice, I could be wrong though. Just my opinion, and you know every one has one. The only way to know for sure is to get your ears on them, but they would have to be in your system to make a the proper decision. If you are going to go new, make sure they have a decent return policy and try a couple amps in the same price range. If you have a local HiFi shop they may let you demo an amp or two. They will more than likely want your credit card number just to make sure you don't skip out on them. Best of luck with what ever you chose.

Inspector 24

How about this guy:

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampsmult&1329976714

I could bridge channels 3/4 and 5/6 to get 350wpc and still power the center at 135w, or 280 if I decided to bi-amp it, high listed damping factor, and 30A peak per channel? It's an old amp, but if it's in good shape what say the Polkies??

tonyb

Keep looking.........

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1330295946&/Adcom-Gfa-555mkII

Inspector 24

Hmm, missed that one...

So, that Adcom > Parasound 1206?

Even though less rated WPC (unbridged) and just a two channel?

nooshinjohn

Toolfan66 wrote: »

John where have you heard the A9 Emo combo? or are you just riding the Emo sucks and thats all there is to it program?

Have not heard the pairing first-hand. My experience with the 9's left me with the feeling that hey were a forward sounding speaker with a tendency to become rather bright when pushed. The only Emo I heard was fine for HT use, but when called upon for two channel duty, the sound was uninvolving, grainy at times and was very forward. I did not care for it at all.

I am not trying to disparage your success with the combination in your application TFL(can we still call you that?):biggrin:, but we all hear things differently. If my impressions of the speakers are paired with my perception of the amp, it would lead me to the conclusions made in my original post. I cannot see a bright(to my ear) speaker paired with an agressive"forward" sounding amp and have it be a match made in heaven. That's just my humble opinion.

leftwinger57

I have little experience w/ other ss amps and none w/ tubes.I see the Adcom gfa555 that I have as a tank w/ 0 muddyness and all the power I would ever need.My model is a little rare according to the rep at Adcom because it has the permenent rack-mount fact w/ feet also.I have mine mounted and it looks and sounds great.Comparison is a very subjective thing especially when there are different speakers involved.Even when comparing specs it all depends on how it sounds to you.The Parasound that some have talked about are a nice looking amp but there does seem to be a power problem that has come up w/ some of the owners.

cfrizz

You basically said it all right here, so get the Emotiva for the peace of mind and you can let YOUR ears decide if you are happy with the sound. We can offer all the opinions in the world, but quite frankly the only one that should count is your own ears. So jump in and find out for yourself.

Inspector 24 wrote: »

The new-ness, warranty, and ability to re-sell is huge to me...

I suppose I should re-phrase the question, are the other used, long off warranty amps good enough to justify the risk?

Theheadsn

cfrizz wrote: »

We can offer all the opinions in the world, but quite frankly the only one that should count is your own ears.

couldnt have said it better myself

tonyb

Inspector 24 wrote: »

Hmm, missed that one...

So, that Adcom > Parasound 1206?

Even though less rated WPC (unbridged) and just a two channel?

I wouldn't bridge the amp to begin with. Most amps bridged don't like impendence swings below 8 ohm plus they usually don't sound as good in bridged mode. Thats just my opinion based on my own experiences.

Gadabout

I think that you might find that the Emotiva works very well for HT, but you might not like the sound of it for music. Your amp choice might depend on HT vs Music usage. Emotiva still offers the 30 day home trial. Let your ears decide. If it works for you then it's a great deal on a decent amp. If not, then your only out the shipping costs.

Personally, I would be looking for something like this:
B&K Reference 4430 3 Channel Amplifier Orig Owner In Box - Ebay

I prefer the sound of B&K.

Good luck in your search,
Scott

Inspector 24

Wow, that B&K looks like a good deal.

I also found this guy on Ebay, two 1.2kva transformers!


But a bit of research showed it was the Mk1, much older than the Mk2 version and according to Mr John Curl himself should get the input IC bypassed:
http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/t.mpl?f=general&m=179924

Tony, good point about bridging, can't just get something for nothing.

As far as the sound of an amp, I'm less critical about movies than Music, where I like to sit and just listen for a couple hours at a time, so smooth sound is a definite plus. I realize the only way to know which is the better sounding amp is to let my ears decide. My main concern is with quality, I'd much rather buy something that was good quality but didn't sound good to me, than a piece of crap that I'll regret buying because it's either too cheap, or broken, and still doesn't sound good.

BTW, thanks for the help everybody, I've learned a ton, and realize how much more I've got to go!

Geoff4rfc

I'm a little lost on the whole Emotiva amps sounds good for HT but not so good for music.

I have a pair of 70's powered by an XPA-3. HT is awesome in my 7.1 set up. For music, I've done a lot of "Pure Audio" mode with just the mains, but as of late, I listen with a 2.1 configuration.

CD after CD, no fatigue, just great sound. I know there are better musical speakers out there, I've demoed a handful of expensive high end brands, but what I've got here is really quite enjoyable, hour after hour.

cfrizz

Everyone hears things differently. Others on here despise the original tweeter in my RTA-8T's and immediatly switch it out. I have never had a problem with it & I listen to my system all day long with no fatigue. To each their own.

Emotiva, just like Outlaw Audio makes good, reasonably priced brand new gear that is perfect to get ones feet wet in separates. The only ones that have a problem with it are the ones who have moved on to bigger & better, and now talk it down.

Neither brand has a quality problem except with the so called audiophiles:rolleyes:. Is there better out there? of course there is. But neither company has gotten slammed for poor quality in audio magazines if so, they wouldn't still be in business.

And even the best companies have had quality control issues, it happens.

Again, if it is important to you to have something brand new with a warranty, you shouldn't let any of the so called golden ears influence you out of it.

reeltrouble1

I would not make a decision to buy an amp because it had a warranty or because I can re-sell it, if I was thinking about selling it before I even bought it why would I buy it to begin with? I sold my emotiva amplifier fairly quickly as I found my B&K more pleasent with my Polk RTi line-up, that amplifier was lacking in delivering a refined sound I expect from a hi-fi. As someone above said the sound of the system is influenced by all of the components in the chain, this is where you might benifit from the memberships experience with different gear and how it all sounds together.

So if your still looking I would include B&K as well NAD, Parasound, and Rotel as those are the ss amps I have used that I found worked nicely with Polk RTi.

RT1