As I've commented before in these pages, the audiophile community tends to disparage some of the entry level, yet high-value products, available from various manufacturers. Adcom belongs to this "Rodney Dangerfield" group -- it tends not to get much respect. However, you will find that many of the regulars who contribute to this forum have owned Adcom preamps and power amps at one time or another -- myself included.
Unlike some of the other contributors, I have also been a retail salesman for Adcom equipment. Adcom has had some QC problems in recent years, which began after they shifted their manufacturing from one of the high-quality assemblers in Taiwan to a facility in mainland China. Having said that, I'd also say that Adcom seems to have addressed most of those problems, and continues to do a a pretty decent job of continuing to design and sell solid products for fair prices.
Based on my experiences with Adcom amps, which involves a LOT of listening hours with various speakers, I'd say that a used 5500 power amp is a hell of a value. For around $650-750, there are very few amps that provide 200 wpc of clean signal, and will handle speaker loads as low as 4 ohms with aplomb.
I am less enthused about the 5802, not because it's performance is poor (it's performance is actually quite good), but because it has a lot of competition at its price point. As Sean noted above, the 5802 is a better amp than its predecessor, the 5800. It is still, however, a very large amp and it produces a lot of heat for a solid state amp. It thus requires a lot of space with good ventilation.
I have both bought and sold Adcom power amps on Audiogon and E-bay, and had good experiences in all instances except one (a dealer that slightly misrepresented the exterior condition of the amp, tho' it worked fine). If you make a point of talking -- by phone -- with the seller, you can usually get a better idea about the fairness of the deal. You should also check seller ratings, since a lot of good feedback is usually a sound indicator of the seller's honesty. Also, Audiogon has "verified members", whose addresses and credit have been verified.
Unlike some of the other contributors, I have also been a retail salesman for Adcom equipment. Adcom has had some QC problems in recent years, which began after they shifted their manufacturing from one of the high-quality assemblers in Taiwan to a facility in mainland China. Having said that, I'd also say that Adcom seems to have addressed most of those problems, and continues to do a a pretty decent job of continuing to design and sell solid products for fair prices.
Based on my experiences with Adcom amps, which involves a LOT of listening hours with various speakers, I'd say that a used 5500 power amp is a hell of a value. For around $650-750, there are very few amps that provide 200 wpc of clean signal, and will handle speaker loads as low as 4 ohms with aplomb.
I am less enthused about the 5802, not because it's performance is poor (it's performance is actually quite good), but because it has a lot of competition at its price point. As Sean noted above, the 5802 is a better amp than its predecessor, the 5800. It is still, however, a very large amp and it produces a lot of heat for a solid state amp. It thus requires a lot of space with good ventilation.
I have both bought and sold Adcom power amps on Audiogon and E-bay, and had good experiences in all instances except one (a dealer that slightly misrepresented the exterior condition of the amp, tho' it worked fine). If you make a point of talking -- by phone -- with the seller, you can usually get a better idea about the fairness of the deal. You should also check seller ratings, since a lot of good feedback is usually a sound indicator of the seller's honesty. Also, Audiogon has "verified members", whose addresses and credit have been verified.