Adcom's are up and running

Ron-P

Got home last night, gave the wife and daughter big hugs and then vanished into The Green Room.

Opened the 3 boxes, unloaded the popcorn, unwrapped them from the bubble rap and to my amazement, they were in beautiful condition. Very clean, undamaged, nearly brand new looking less a few minor surface scratches on the top, all face plates are perfect looking.

Next, tore up the flexy rack to make space. Put'em in, wired'em up and then put in AVIA for a quick calibration. Everything is working perfectly. I ran a single interconnect from the pre-outs on the Marantz into a 'Y' splitter. From there, to the L and R inputs on the Adcoms. I used the right and left channels to bi-amp my RT55s and CS400.

Next up, Black Hawk Down. I know exactly what this sounded like with my Marantz as I watched it the night before.

Let me say, I have never, never experienced sound like this. The front soundstage just exploded. So clear and wide with such deep mid-bass. It was as if I removed towels that were wrapped around the speakers. Everything was so alive (for a lack of better words). These Adcoms just brought the movie experience to life. It really is hard to put into words. I did not break out the SPL meter during the movie, but on the Marantz dial, I am usually around 65-70. Last night I was at 80 and the sound was awesome, not fatiguing at all. The most I've had the Marantz to was 75 and after about 5 minutes the sound started to get fatiguing.

Currently I am using 10+ year old cheap Monster interconnects. I should get my new interconnects from Frank in a week, the check is going out today. I know this will bring even more improvement.

Thanks to all who talked me into these and answered all my questions. I had no idea it would sound so much better, simply awesome. I need another amp for my surrounds and then a pre-amp processor. Ohhhhhhh, I'm hooked.

Didn't have time to test much more as it was nearly 10:30 and I was tired. Tonight though, weeeeeeeee.


Peace Out~:D

RuSsMaN

Dang, I guess this means I won't be getting a deal on a used Adcom...

Ron, I'm so happy that you are happy. Can't wait to see pics, and hear more of your thoughts.

Cheers,
Russ

TroyD

HELL YEAH! Get some RON!

Man, another guy has seen the light of the benefits of good power amps......

Glad to hear it, buddy, enjoy.

Troy

hoosier21

Cool Ron, don't know if you will find another 535 for 100.00 but they are out there for you to finish the back channels.

You got three upgrades in one, you upgraded the amps, went to bi-amping and bi-wiring your front soundstage all in one night, what a deal.

Ron-P

Quite the experience, I really had no idea seperate amps could sound so much better than a receiver, was I wrong. The difference really is VERY noticable.

I cannot wait to get some good 2-channel on and re-watch some of my favorite movies agian.

One happy audio camper Out~:D

Ron-P

One thing I noticed is that when I do chapter skips or pause/start or stop a dvd I get a minor pop sound thru the speakers. I know it is from the Adcom's, any way to stop it? Or what might cause it?


Peace Out~:D

madmax

Let's all say this as a group...

"We told you so"

madmax

TroyD

before you know it, Ron is gonna throw all that HT stuff into the living room where it belongs and get his 2ch mancave on....


BDT

Ron-P

I think my question got missed.

One thing I noticed is that when I do chapter skips or pause/start or stop a dvd I get a minor pop sound thru the speakers. I know it is from the Adcom's, any way to stop it? Or what might cause it?

Anyone have any ideas?

No way Troy, 5.1 first and formost, above all else. I'm a movie buff to the bone, 2-channel runs only skin deep.


Peace Out~:D

TroyD

Ron,

You a puddle deep, supericial, mass market appeal ****, man.

Just hackin'

I get that popping with my amps as well. I read something about it somewhere, but the short of it is that it's pretty normal and not harmful...

BDT

RuSsMaN

Might just be the wax in his ears popping, years of harmful buildup from receiver usage.....

Cheers,
Russ

Ron-P

I'll head to the doc and get her to flush my ears.


Peace Out~:D

madmax

I didn't miss the question, just not sure of the answer. It is probably HF noise getting in through the amp input cables. Keep the cables as far from the DVD as possible, try grounding the amps to the DVD, foil shield around the amp inputs, that is all I can think of.
madmax

madmax

Ron,
In the future if you want a similar thrill look into one of these! I paid $1200 for mine used so the "buy it now" for $750 is a great deal. The best I've seen. My friend bought one for around $1100 right after he heard mine. The original list was $1999, not $1699 like the add says.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1359626480
madmax

sgtgto

Hi:

I have a B&K 200W X 3 channel amp that I really like. I haven't ever connected anything to the front R,L, and C of my new Denon 4802. Don't know what it sounds like.



Gary

Ron-P

Now, my surrounds sound crapy, damn-it. I need another Adcom. Last night I broke out my dts demo disks, wow, very impressive. The sound is so very crisp, clean and detailed. Who woulda thunk.

Peace Out~:D

tony27

ron, do you get a popping sound from your speakers when you power on the adcoms?

Ron-P

No, but I do when using the chapter skip or menu selections on DVDs.


Peace Out~:D

Ron-P

Well, the weekend yielded very good approval results. Wife said the difference with the Adcom's is 100% better then with just the Marantz. Friends that watched BHD on Saturday said they love'd it. Between the Tempest Sonosub and the new Adcoms they were very, very impressed. The general comments were how very crisp, clear and detailed everything sounded with bass that vibrated your guts during some helicopter sequences.

I tried everything I could to separate any and all power cables away from interconnects and speaker wire's to try and stop the popping sound when jumping chapters. I even plugged the Adcom's into a separate Monster surge protector, to no avail, the popping sound it still there. It's no big deal, just one of those little things I'd like to tame.

Are there additional ways to ground out the amps other than thru the standard AC plug?


Peace out~:D

hoosier21

Ron, popping between chapters is either in your DVD player or Receiver. Try borrowing a DVD player from somebody or Circuit City and see if it still does the popping.

Ron-P

Someone else said the same thing, about it possibly being the DVD player. I'll buy a player at BB, bring it home and try it out, then return it. I do not know anyone else that has a player.

Peace Out~:D

hoosier21

Be sure it is an upgrade to what you have, you know incase you have to keep it

madmax

Just a thought in case you are interested in some real testing. Buy a transformer coupling device from RS for about $15 and insert it in line between the DVD and receiver then the receiver and amps. What it will do is remove any ground loops from one unit to the next. It is meant for car audio connections where the ground of the head unit grounded in the front of the car has a different ground potential than the amp it is connected to which is located in the back of the car. It isolates the ground between the two which is most likely to be your problem. If you have an optical connection on the DVD you could try it and that would give you the same info as far as the connection between the DVD and receiver but will tell you nothing about the connection between the receiver and the amps.
madmax

Ron-P

I will give that a try Max, thanks.

Here's pic of the Adcom's in there new mini-flexy home.


I just about finished up organizing all the cables and wires, now I need to clean everything and re-install the side panels. I plan on mounting 4" cooling fans on the side panels. Although, the amps really do not get hot, just warm.


Peace Out~:D

TroyD

Ron,

man, pick up the Marantz and get your dust on.

Troy

Ron-P

I know, I know.

Duster Out~:D

RuSsMaN

Lookin good Ron, lookin REAL good.....

-R

TroyD

yeah....the only thing that would make it look better are rack handles and V/U meters....

Troy

Ron-P

****, there sits just over 2k in components, wires and interconnects.

Rack handles, I've got love handles, there better....


Peace Out~:D

RuSsMaN

BIG freakin V/U meters.....

Man, he's got a nice TV, wonder if there was some way to some big v/u's on the screen.....

-R