ADCOM 555 II and DQ 10's

"Yamaha preamp may have played a part" 

 Thats exactly why when you turned it up it sounded harsh and tough to listen to! The ADCOM GFA 555 or 555 II is one of the smoothest sounding amps for the money. If you partner it with a good sounding preamp like a Modwright SWL 9.0 or something similar you will find that the amp sounds great! I highly recommend the ADCOM if your on a budget. They sell for around $300 used.

Matt M

Well I won a ADCOM 555, not a 555 II of E-bay for only $295.00 with shipping. Alos bought a Adcom GFP1A Pre amp for only $43.00 with shipping.

I had a Adcom 555 Pre amp when I bought the system, but house was broken into and they took the Preamp but left the power supply. ;-) Boy I bet they where p--sed when they tried to use it. Bought a old SANSUI CA-2000 preamp from a pawn shop for $75.00. Did not sound bad either till the pot's got loaded with dust. One of the reason I quite useing the system.

Cuda Ken

The trick here is in the pre-amp. I had the same set up and I was using a Conrad Johnson Premiere 2. Jazz, Classical, Live Theatre sounded amazing. I always kept the 555II out of site until my friends told me how great it sounded. If you listen to rock an ARC LS-3 would probably get you there on budget.

Thank's for the answer's, sure not what I was hopeing to hear. Seller's all say sure, it will handle the DQ 10's.

OK, let's try it this way. Will the ADCOM 555 or 555 II do better than the GFA1A? This will sound like a qoute from Spinal Tap but with the GFA1A I can not turn the volume up over half way. (God I feel stupid saying it that way)Then they go into thermal over load shut down. Hee, Hee, Hee, will the 555 say go 3/4 of the way? :-)

On the amps you kind people have listed, can you give a idea of what they should sell for? 555's seem to go for around $325-$425 Range. That I might be able to swing.

Bottom line, will the 555 be better that the GFA1A?

Thank You all For Your Time and putting up with my miss spelling.

Cuda Ken

I am running a B&K 4420 with 225 watts/ channel through Vandersteen 2CE sigs. Nice warm amp which sounds great loud with Eagles, Aerosmith, Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floy, etc. I saw one today on A-gon for $550. That is what I paid for mine on A-gon.

Not really good and 2 bridged to 600watts while able to do loud had terrible image collapse.
I had that exact combo DQ-10/555II(s) never sounded good at loud volume. Yamaha preamp may have played a part. Yet the Yamaha running the DQ-10's via a Phase Linear 400 was really amazing loud and low for its time.Can't remember the model preamp to save myself.And that PL-400 well they nicknamed them flame 400's I hear.The DQ-10 shines paired to amps with a lot of dynamic headroom ability.
You'll need decent amount of clean fast power perhaps a used Bryston 4b or McCormack DNA series but even the early used will cost more.Others may post better ideas,good luck