Are Adcom Amps any good? (for the $)

aaharvel

I'm looking to enter into the arena of "Separates"- to extend my H/K 235 receiver to pre-amp duty and buying the following pre-owned:
Adcom 5300 2channel amp (L&R fronts) -80Wx2
Adcom 7300 5 channel amp (center, sides/rears)-60Wx2

i'm driving rti4's for the front, csi3 for the center, fx300i for sides and rears and a velodyne cht10 sub- all speakers set to "small"

My question is how do Adcom amps sound? Does anyone have any experience with Adcom amps? I'm not looking for audio-phile perfection such as Lexicon, B&K or Parasound (i'm in college) just a notable good step up from my receiver into separates.

Music/SACD- 60%
Home Theater- 40% Thanks in advance.

Spawndn72

I have an Adcom 545 that I love. It makes my Monitor 7's very happy. I am new to all this stuff, so wait for some more opinions. But my 2 cents is that Adcoms are a nice solid place to start.

danger boy

Adcom amps are good and powerful for the money... i think you'll be happy with an Adcom amp for starters. buy used.. as new prices for Adcom amps are way overblown.

aaharvel

(yeah, the amps are used, years 1999 and 2000 i believe.)

brand new the amps were $500 and $1000 respectively. no way in hell would I spend 1500 bucks on something my H/K already does well- but used for 7ch. it seems to be a good deal.

VR3

Big fan of Adcom myself...

I owned 5 at one time, but eventually replaced it with a B&K amp... the sound difference wasnt that big either.

The old Adcom is a very in-your-face sound. The series II is anyways. The first series is a bit more laid back in comparison and has a lil more grunt to it.

The current series is much more laid back than the older series. Probally due to the mosfet design.

Excellent amps though. Cant go wrong for the money

danger boy

does your HK have pre outs? you'll need pre outs to hook up external amps.

aaharvel

oh yes. absolutely.

i've got the 235 model just for that specific purpose.
was going to get the 135 but doesn't have prologic IIx, is only 6.1 and most importantly DOES NOT have preouts.

i got the 235 for a deal at J&R- for only $350. shopped around for about a month and claim to the conclusion that that was the best deal i could find- regardless of manufactorer.

dorokusai

They're nothing fancy but certainly solid, affordable and reliable amplifiers.

shiu

After more than 15 years my GFA-555 still sounds as good as new. One think I like about it is that its toroidal transformer is extremely quiet. I can hardly hear the 60 hz hum even if I stick my ear to the enclosure. I would think that the newer models should be even better.

hamzahsh

I love my ADCOM GFA-7605 which is 125w RMS x 5 all channels driven. Very clean and warm sound, sweeeta!!!

I drive my center, surrounds and rears and it is simply a powerhouse. Huge Torroidal Transformer, 100,000 microfarads of capitance. It has a 5 year warranty, It weighs 42 lbs. Built like a tank! I paid $1500 CDN. for it. Never gets warm and no fans inside. IEC detachable cord.

125w x 5 in 8 ohms
175w x 5 in 4 ohms

Love you ADCOM!;)

ntculenuff

picked up the gfa 7500 last year made huge improvement over the rcvr i love it great sound and plenty of power when it delivers

heiney9

Don't hesitate to buy Adcom. They are rock-solid; sound great; are well designed and can't be beat for the $$$.

As far the comment about the new ones being overpriced....they are alot more complex than their earlier counterparts so yes they are more expensive but still worth it. But why buy new when you can buy used!

I've had my GFA-545 for close to 17 years and enjoy it every day.

H9

unc2701

I love the Adcom 5x5 series... I'd put it down as one of the best buys in audio- You can pay a lot more for a slightly better sound, but it's hard to go wrong with adcom. At one point or another I've had 545, 555, pair of 565's and a 585. The only one I _might_ caution against is the 585- they just tried to cram too much Amp into too small of a chassis. Every time I dump one, I find myself getting another and I think that speaks for itself.

Ron-P

I've got 4 GFA-535's powering my HT and I love'em. Great amps.