Adcom amps

powerlord

I am speechless,I thought my reciever was the ****,I have been missing so much! The headroom this amp has is unbelievable,the sound is so clear and warm at high volume,I can't describe it in words.This is what my mains needed all the time,I mean it's a 100% difference.Jeff just left the amp here for me to play with,we listened to some David Gilmour,Sade,Supertramp and Tragically Hip and I'm blown away,speechless!This is great now I'm hooked on seperates like a crack fiend!Now I fully understand the hype on seperates,now I'm trying to figure out why my friends that own seperates were saying such good things about my set up with the reciever,I guess they were just being nice.I have just hit a new level of sound that I thought couldn't happen due to ignorance.Thank you guys for pointing me in the right direction,this amp is mine!

powerlord

It's like I'm in the music now and not outside of it,WoW!:D

danger boy

very cool... keep on enjoying the powerful amp..and welcome to the wonderful world of seperates. sounds like you're having a blast with your system now.

ben62670

Very nice very nice indeed.

engtaz

Glad your enjoying it.

Lowell_M

Sweet experience! I had a similar experience and ended up with ADCOM. I tried Outlaw, parasound and ADCOM and found that Outlaw monoblocks had little, if any impact in my system, parasound sounded great, but ADCOM had the sound that I wanted....long story short.

Enjoy the ride.... you'll be buyin more stuff in no time.

powerlord

Complete joy! I'm hearing things in my music now that I have never heard before!The mid bass is just extraordinary,my bass sounded flat as hell before,like the speakers were hitting bottom,now it's tight and detailed,very quick.:) Of course you guys already knew all of this.:D

powerlord

Well now for the bad news,Jeff wants 875.00 for this beast and my wife would kill me!He told me if I could snag a 5500 there should be little or no difference in sound from the 5800 and I spotted one on the gon in my price range,is there anything I should know about the 5500 before purchase?

Lowell_M

You can find a 555 on 'the gone' for $300 - $350 or a 555MKII around $400 - $450. I've got a 555 and freakin love it.

Good example, but it's sold. You have to watch and jump on the 555's just about the same day they are posted....

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1178562823

Lowell_M

Dude! Is this one in your price range???

Check it out... GFA-5800.
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1180030079

EDIT: I see in your post above you must have seen this one....I got excited and didn't read far enough.

powerlord

I have just emailed this guy,waiting to hear from him and crossing my fingers!I also mailed the 5500 seller,either way I'm going to own one of these amps if it kills me,there is no going back now!LOL

heiney9

powerlord wrote:

Well now for the bad news,Jeff wants 875.00 for this beast and my wife would kill me!He told me if I could snag a 5500 there should be little or no difference in sound from the 5800 and I spotted one on the gon in my price range,is there anything I should know about the 5500 before purchase?

There is quite a difference between the 2 when comparing them side by side. But considering your extreme happiness already and your budget, a 5500 will do quite nicely and still give you 80% of the 5800. If you can grab a 555 or 555II a bit cheaper than the 5500 that would be a great choice as well.

Just be sure to read carefully and ask lots of questions. Seems like there is an epidemic on e-bay and to a lesser degree audiogon of people misrepresenting items. If you can pick am Adcom up on the FM here that would be best.

You could always tell your wife the 5800 only cost you $475 instead of $875 . Just like I'm sure the last pair of shoes she bought only cost her $25, when in reality they cost $200.

H9

powerlord

Thanks Heine,I am really going to try and snag the 5800.

ben62670

I agree with H9. The older 555's are great sounding amps too. Remember that you have to double the power to get an increase of 3db. So the difference between 200, and 300watts isn't that substantial. How many ohms are your speakers, and what is the efficiency rating?

powerlord

8 ohm and 89db and another question,should I use a dedicated outlet for my amp?

heiney9

ben62670 wrote:

I agree with H9. The older 555's are great sounding amps too. Remember that you have to double the power to get an increase of 3db. So the difference between 200, and 300watts isn't that substantial. How many ohms are your speakers, and what is the efficiency rating?

That is correct, but I was more speaking from a design POV on the diff between the 5500 and 5800, but then I tend to split hairs when looking at some of this stuff. I'm a bit jaded and know a bit too much technical stuff to be rational sometimes . Either would be a great choice as well as a 555 you have good history knowledge of.

H9

ben62670

powerlord wrote:

8 ohm and 89db and another question,should I use a dedicated outlet for my amp?

If you have a separate circuit there that would be best. You can pick up noise by using a different outlet. At 8ohms the 5800 draws about 10 amps max.
Here is a link to Adcoms site for manuals

http://www.adcom.com/manuals.aspx

This is direct to the 5800 manual

http://www.adcom.com/data/manuals/gfa5800manual.pdf

cfrizz

Congrats PL Enjoy!

powerlord

You guys are awesome,thanks alot!

hearingimpared

This place has the greatest memebers!!!

heiney9

hearingimpared wrote:

This place has the greatest memebers!!!

Yes, I whole heartedly agree!!

I had asked Doro (Mark) when he was selling his Nakamichi CA-5 if he could send me a copy of the original sales literature as I had misplaced mine many years ago. He agreed for no cost, I thought cool I'll get a b&w copy for my records. Well I got it in the mail today and I am so happy because it's a full color folding copy. Much nicer than I expected. I had to do a double take to make sure it wasn't an original. Talk about going above and beyond. :cool: .

H9

MillerLiteScott

/\ /\ I second that. And I have the original in my possesion if anyone else needs a copy.

Scott

Lowell_M

...Could I get a copy? B&W is fine with me.

MillerLiteScott

Certainly. PM me your addy.

powerlord

This is one of if not the best AV forums I've been to.Not just because I have Polk and this is a Polk site,but the people here look out for one another,and are very wise in the ways of audio,it feels like home when I come here.

Jonesy

Seconded

davidk0512

What is the rated dynamic headroom for the GFA 555?

engtaz

GFA 555
200 watts per channel 20Hz - 20,000Hz @ 8 ohms with less than 0.09% THD, 325 watts per channel 20Hz - 20,000Hz @ 4 ohms with less than 0.25% THD, 600 watts bridges mode 20Hz - 20,000Hz @8 ohms with less than 0.25% THD,
Sensitivity: 130mV
(4Hz-150kHz), damping factor (150-200), gain (27dB), and noise (-106 dB).

engtaz

MillerLiteScott

a_mattison wrote:

...Could I get a copy? B&W is fine with me.

I had my butler copy the info and he mailed it out today.

Look for it in a day or 2.

Scott

Lowell_M

engtaz wrote:

GFA 555
200 watts per channel 20Hz - 20,000Hz @ 8 ohms with less than 0.09% THD, 325 watts per channel 20Hz - 20,000Hz @ 4 ohms with less than 0.25% THD, 600 watts bridges mode 20Hz - 20,000Hz @8 ohms with less than 0.25% THD,
Sensitivity: 130mV
(4Hz-150kHz), damping factor (150-200), gain (27dB), and noise (-106 dB).

engtaz

Asside from wattage, what is important in the specs? I understand headroom...conceptually, but from a numbers standpoint, what do you look for in the specs?