2. vintage
  3. 163778-75156

Adcom circa 1990 amp and preamp

I went to a local vintage audio shop here in rural PA to get a cheap system for my basement. They had an Adcom 565 preamplifier and a 545 type 2 amp. Back in the day I had a 545 coupled with one of their tuner preamps and the latter was not so great. I hooked the new setup to my Larsen 6.2 speakers and Rega Apollo CD player and was shocked at the quality of the sound. The pre is amazing with more than satisfactory phono and headphone capabilities. The Adcom sounds wonderful and now I am using it as my main system for a while. Ok, a tube fan might complain the treble is a trifle harsh but that is mere opinion, and nothing a Black Ice tube DAC can’t cure. I also got a pair of Polk Audio Monitor 7s and they are amazing. 
My main system is the Exogal Comet/Ion that cost thousands of dollars. I love it but the new vintage system holds up quite well and cost $700. Am I crazy or what? 
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Showing 3 responses by rtorchia

rtorchia's avatar
rtorchia OP
133 posts
 
Hafler is another example of this phenomenon. Their amplifiers are very highly regarded by knowledgeable people. I have some new high quality components but would have no problems sticking with Adcom and Hafler. And now you can hook up your DAC to the amp and use it as a preamp and get all the benefits of streaming. 
rtorchia's avatar
rtorchia OP
133 posts
 
Sounds like some good stuff. Certainly I have a degree of nostalgia but if that were the dominating factor I would be into receivers. People tend to equate quality in audio with dollars spent and I have to say that I could live with this Adcom stuff quite easily, especially since one system cost 8k and the other $700. Adcom is considered to be a real classic by many, especially the amplifiers from this period. You don't see too many 565 (but lots of 555s) preamplifiers around presumably because people keep them. I was thinking to get something more modern but from the sound point of view there really isn't any motivation.
rtorchia's avatar
rtorchia OP
133 posts
 
It is really amazing to me how good all this old stuff is. I use a DAC now as a preamp so this isn't seeing much use. I used to sell Adcom while working through college--back then we used to sell it with Irving Fried's speaker line or Missions, usually bi-wired with Canare cable. The Fries were superb also. 
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