my SRS's sound like ****!!!

danger boy

I haven't listened to the SRS's in about a week. ran into some amp problems.. as you may have read with my Adcom in the home theater. I had to take the NAD amp to do temp duty while i figured out the Adcom problem and get it fixed.

Well, all things are fixed now. I got used to having the NAD 2600A pulling duty in the home theater.. so I thought i'd keep it there. Going from the Adcom 5400 with 125w x 2 to the NAD 150w x 2 isn't much diff in power. BUt, the NAD can run circles around the Adcom, easily.

So today after not listening to the SRS's for a week.. I decided to hook up the Adcom to the them. Got everything hooked up. Put in a CD of Fleetwood Mac. I wanted to hear Stevie Nicks' sweet songbird voice. What I got instead was Rosanne Barr :eek: :eek:

The highs were nearly gone... the mids were over exagerated.. and the bass is bloated. That's the best way to describe it. It sounds like ****.

After barely able to listen to it.. i used another input on the Kenwood pre instead of the CD input. Changed it over to AUX 2. Ok, now that is a little better. I guess the Adcom can't quite muscle enough juice to power the SRS's. Plus, it may not be as good of an amp. :mad: Well, i don't have the coinage to replace it, so i will either live with it on the SRS's. or move the NAD back.

I use the HT more than i listen to the SRS's. So who knows what to do.

Dennis Gardner

I would say you still have issues with the Adcom.

Isn't that the same amp that popped fuses on the SDAs awhile back? The 5400 isn't common ground and struggles with the SDA circuitry if I recall.

danger boy

Dennis Gardner wrote:

I would say you still have issues with the Adcom.

Isn't that the same amp that popped fuses on the SDAs awhile back? The 5400 isn't common ground and struggles with the SDA circuitry if I recall.

Ummm yes it is THE same Adcom amp.. but little did I know, it was either a loose RCA input solder joint or a bad interconnect.

I did just get it serviced... and they went thru it and only found those problems. Back then it also blew a interior fuse.. this time (today) when i hooked it up and ran it for about an hour.. low volume, then mid volume.. it didn't start blinking the yellow "distortion alert" lights like it did when it blew the fuse.

I checked the light on this amp.. and it can handle 4ohm loads.. I am hoping since it's a newer amp.. (1995) that it won't have any issue with it not being a common ground amp. So far so good..

But yeah you could certainly be right. I can't rule out that doesn't still have some other problem. I did notice that the volume is slightly less on the left channel. but that could also be my Kenwood Basic C2 pre amp. That's the next component to go in for a look under it's hood and to set it back to specs.

Ricardo

danger boy wrote:

I checked the lit on this amp.. and it can handle 4ohm loads.. I am hoping since it's a newer amp.. (1995) that it won't have any issue with it not being a common ground amp. So far so good..

Not sure I follow here....not common ground is not common ground, be it 1900 or 2006.....if that amp is not common ground, you'll better not use it for your SRS's or you'll fry the amp, the speakers, or both.

danger boy

HTrookie wrote:

Not sure I follow here....not common ground is not common ground, be it 1900 or 2006.....if that amp is not common ground, you'll better not use it for your SRS's or you'll fry the amp, the speakers, or both.

I understand that.. and trust me.. when i turned on the amp... i cringed. i DO NOT want to toast the SRS's. trust me. :eek: or the amp really.. but the amp i could replace if it blows.

I would also think if it was non common. it would have showed some signs of something not right, right??

RuSsMaN

Dude, buy a $14 VOM / Multimeter and test it out. The Adcom might exhibit things like grainy highs, uncontrolled upper mids, etc for a critical listener - but it would still be listenable, with plenty of drive.

kyle437

Try disconnecting the sda cable to check for common ground.

beardog03

danger boy wrote:

So today after not listening to the SRS's for a week.. I decided to hook up the Adcom to the them. Got everything hooked up. Put in a CD of Fleetwood Mac. I wanted to hear Stevie Nicks' sweet songbird voice. What I got instead was Rosanne Barr :eek: :eek:

wwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa


That would sound like ****..!!:eek:

amulford

Al, I would send that amp back to Adcom if I were serious about keeping it. Sounds to me it developed some serious issues.

heiney9

danger boy wrote:

Going from the Adcom 5400 with 125w x 2 to the NAD 150w x 2 isn't much diff in power. BUt, the NAD can run circles around the Adcom, easily.

I guess the Adcom can't quite muscle enough juice to power the SRS's. Plus, it may not be as good of an amp. :mad: Well, i don't have the coinage to replace it, so i will either live with it on the SRS's. or move the NAD back.

I use the HT more than i listen to the SRS's. So who knows what to do.

Still must be issues with the Adcom. The above statements are just false. I have nothing agaisnt NAD, but to state it can run circles around the Adcom is not true. I'm running a pair of LSI's with my lowley 545 and only at reference level can I get the clipping lights to flash. It has balls....balls....balls. Lots of slam, extension, and very open midrange and not a hint of harshness. The 5400 is even supposed to be a better amp than the 545.

I'm not slamming anything just trying to help you find the problem. Perhaps a better pre-amp will give more satisfactory results.

FWIW, the NAD is very comparable to the Adcom and while some may perfer the sonic charateristics of one or the other, neither will run circles around each other. I'd say you still have problems somewhere.

Good luck

H9

heiney9

danger boy wrote:

I checked the light on this amp.. and it can handle 4ohm loads.. I am hoping since it's a newer amp.. (1995) that it won't have any issue with it not being a common ground amp. So far so good..

Check with ADCOM because I believe all the 5xxx series are NOT common ground. In order to drive the front end they use a primary and secondary power stage thus making it non-common ground. Make the call

I also used to own Kenwood Basic stuff and the C2 is a decent preamp, nothing sonically fancy, but it sould be solid enought to give satisfactory results.

Again good luck, electrical gremlins sure are fun to hunt down

danger boy

I have an email into Adcom about the common ground issue. So i'm waiting to hear from them on that.

It is a good idea of course to send the amp to Adcom for further repairs of needed. I think i'll do it after tha holidays. It's a good move to have it checked out by an authorized Adcom service center.

danger boy

Ok this is odd.. but possible. Today the Adcom/SRS sound is better than it did yesterday.

For a long while yesterday I listened to music on the home theater.. and at pretty good levels. Maybe my ears were just fatigued by the time I hooked up the SRS's.

Honestly, today is sounds better. Although i can tell a difference between the Adcom and NAD amps.

I think i have audio gremilns, that not only screw things up.. but also fix things overnight too.

I should just swap the NAD and put it back with the SRS's.. and see what the results are then. That's the sound i am the most used to.

PolkWannabie

I've never known the gremlins to do anything positive ...

amulford

F#ck that. I would yank that **** post haste and put that NAD back in pronto. Is there any way for you to shelf that Adcom til you get it check out?

I'm with Rick, dude. Don't play with fire, man. It'll burn your ****...

danger boy

makes sense.. i don't want to do any harm to the SRS's. tonight after work. i'll swap em out. it's very simple swap.. you convinced me not to play with fire.

AndyGwis

Wait, I thought hunting down problems was like 50% of the fun? I can't tell you how often I listen to music not for enjoyment, but to try to figure out what the hell could be wrong and then try to fix it.

My diagnosis is that the Adcom is flawed, whether electronically or sonically for your tastes. If it works okay, sell it as is and try something new. If it doesn't work, sell it for parts and try something new.

Spending money to diagnose and fix used audio gear seems to be a negative investment, unless you can't stand to live without something. Especially if you're worried about your SRSs health, you should just sell the adcom for a fair price and move along.

BTW, who did the repair work for you?

danger boy

AndyGwis wrote:

Wait, I thought hunting down problems was like 50% of the fun? I can't tell you how often I listen to music not for enjoyment, but to try to figure out what the hell could be wrong and then try to fix it.

My diagnosis is that the Adcom is flawed, whether electronically or sonically for your tastes. If it works okay, sell it as is and try something new. If it doesn't work, sell it for parts and try something new.

Spending money to diagnose and fix used audio gear seems to be a negative investment, unless you can't stand to live without something. Especially if you're worried about your SRSs health, you should just sell the adcom for a fair price and move along.

BTW, who did the repair work for you?

Hunting down problems in a system is enjoyable.. if you're like me though, you don't have alot of expendible cash to just throw money at a problem. I try and find inexpensive solutions to audio gear problems.

A local repair shop not exactly familar with Adcom amps did the simple solder repairs last week when the problem surfaced. So far it's working ok.

Sometimes, it's fine to spend money to diagnose problems in audio gear. Beats shelling out more money for another used peice of gear. New gear prices are just to up there for me. I'm running the home theater in 5.1, plus three other 2 ch only used systems. Trying to keep each of them sounding good.. in the used market is the only way I can do it.

I may indeed sell the Adcom next year.. i can't right now.. I don't have the $$ to replace it.

Bottom line. it's always a gamble buying/using used gear.. but with most of it selling for about 1/3 to 1/2 of new.. well it's pretty easy to see how the numbers add up real quick. Not all of my gear is used of course.. but quite a bit of it is.

* The Adcom is running way hot pushing the SRS's. OMG! That's another reason to not keep it hooked up to them.

heiney9

danger boy wrote:

* The Adcom is running way hot pushing the SRS's. OMG! That's another reason to not keep it hooked up to them.

Like how hot? To hot to touch the top of the case? The mosfet amps run hot and when driven can run even hotter. Not really an issue unless the top of the unit is painful to touch. Mosfets don't suffer from thermal runaway/breakdown like BiPolar transistors do. So by their nature they are biased much higher, they need to be in order to function properly

I will say again, if you think there is an issue with it unhook and get it to a repair shop that knows WTH they are doing. I can can run my LSI's at near reference level with my 545 and she gets a bit toasty but only medim/luke warm.

If you continue to run something that has issues sooner or later you're going to get burned. I've been around alot of amps and Adcoms and even your original issue seems a bit out of the ordinary. Add to that the fact that earlier on you were blowing PS fuses and Supply rail fuses leads me to believe there is a problem (like it's not compatible with the SDA's).

PLUS, I'm like 90% positive the Adcom is NOT Common ground so you are destroying the amp and will most likey will ruin your SDA's. (the 5500, 5800, and 5802 are NOT common ground)

Adcoms are generally built like brick $h/t houses but they are not compatible with SDA's that require common ground connections.(5xxx series)

Al, you've been warned :eek:

H9

Ricardo

First thing I would do is unhook that Acom from the SRS's

Second, I would hook it in the HT rig (which is where it was, right?); listen and see if it sounds like it used to.

Maybe there's nothing wrong with that Adcom, maybe there is, but if it sounds as it used to in its original rig then just rock on and forget about it.

heiney9

I just wanted to add that if the 5400 is NOT common ground it can be easily fixed by tying the negative speaker terminals together.

Like I said I know for sure the 5500, 5800, and 5802 are NOT common ground I believe the 5400 is the same, but not positive.

danger boy

HTrookie wrote:

First thing I would do is unhook that Acom from the SRS's

Second, I would hook it in the HT rig (which is where it was, right?); listen and see if it sounds like it used to.

Maybe there's nothing wrong with that Adcom, maybe there is, but if it sounds as it used to in its original rig then just rock on and forget about it.

Good idea.. i plan on doing this tonight. maybe i'm just not used to the sound the Adcom gives the SRS's. Possible right?

danger boy

heiney9 wrote:

PLUS, I'm like 90% positive the Adcom is NOT Common ground so you are destroying the amp and will most likey will ruin your SDA's. (the 5500, 5800, and 5802 are NOT common ground)

Adcoms are generally built like brick $h/t houses but they are not compatible with SDA's that require common ground connections.(5xxx series)

Al, you've been warned :eek:H9

i like to live on the edge baby.. ha ha ha. i get your point. why gamble with something like the SRS's??

danger boy

Hello Al,

After reviewing the GFA-5400 schematic, yes it is a common ground amp;
you should be OK.

Do you know we have a trade-in program? See:
http://www.adcom.com/tradeins.aspx for more information.

If I can be of any help regarding Adcom products or a possible trade-in
please don't hesitate to ask.

Best Regards,

Stan Brown
Adcom Sales Engineer

amulford

Good deal.

heiney9

^^^That's what I'm talkin' 'bout^^^

Straight from the horses mouth........now you gotta find out why your not happy with it.

bert26

Hey db,

Let me know how that trade in goes if you give it a try.

Any more progress made on gettin' the **** out of the SRS'?

Chris

danger boy

heiney9 wrote:

^^^That's what I'm talkin' 'bout^^^

Straight from the horses mouth........now you gotta find out why your not happy with it.

True.. and it's not to say the amp still might not have issues of some kind.

IT's stable for now .. but i will remove it from the SRS's. just to much of a gamble.. if it toasts another crossover in a RT800i.. at least it wouldn't be such a loss to replace. NOt that i want that to happen of course.. but to toast something in the SRS's, would seriously suck wet dog fur.

danger boy

i thought this was a cool poster from Adcom

enjoy.

danger boy

Ok. i still haven't gotten around to swapping the Adcom and the NAD amps.. the SRS"s are still being powered by the Adcom GFA-5400 amp. I don't know what's going on, but damn the sound is back baby. They sound good again. I have no compliants right now with them.

As someone mentioned earlier.. the Kenwood pre could be the culprit in them not sounding good some times. But for now.. peace has been restored to SDA-land again.

And yes Spandau Ballet is THE most under rated band in history. :rolleyes:

hearingimpared

danger boy wrote:

i thought this was a cool poster from Adcom

enjoy.

Wow that looks really cool. . . I wonder how it sounds???? 300/ 7 ch!!!