Adcom GFA-5800 Opinions

If I had to get an Adcom amp,  especially for those terrific 801's, either of the 555's can sound pretty good with a non-Adcom pre. A good preamp can make an 'eh' amp sound not so 'eh' at all. Consider a nice, vintage Conrad Johnson PV8 or 11, an Audio Research LS3, actually, any from either manufacturer will produce some depth and soundstaging that'll make you wonder why you wasted a minute with the GTP (and not the GFP) 750.

hi all well i had a adcom 5500 and mellos 222 preamp ,emotiva cd and dac. and carver platinum speakers mk4. and the adcom delivered, high end grainess ???cmon man.the adcom has plenty of amps per watt to give you accurate bass, and mids and highs are not a strain on the amp.keeping in mind that the carvers go down to 1 ohm and the adcom gfa 5500 delivered, my 2 cents.

The B&W 801s are, to some, classics. Adcom is decent, but not classic. I do believe higher level amplification would deliver higher quality music.

I used to have a GFA-5500 many moons ago. It is much better than a receiver but for not a whole lot more money you can get much better. Try a Conrad Johnson SA-250 or SA-400 for starters. Night and day difference.

So, Eddie,are you gonna let us in on your opinions of the adcom or not?

Owned one for many years. I couldn't wait for it to blow up so I could replace it. Fans were noisy and had a closed sound stage. replaced with an Anthem A5, WOW what a difference!

I was a former owner of this amp. Unfortunately this amp did not meet my expectation. I compared it with the Sony TA-N77ES and Onkyo M-508 power amps and in my opinion they beat the Adcom amp easily. I was very disappointed with it. It had a unique sonic quality. The high frequency details seem to be missing.

Previous responses are dead on,if your opionion is that it sounds good and you are happy why try something else, What are your Opinions? Personaly I have used Adcom 565/555 with B&W speakers and for power/watts/bass very good but soundstage/image/treble grit left alot to be desired ,then I tried a McCormack Dna.5 , half the power and 10x,if not more, better sound to me, first listening opened up a hole can of worms , hearing what I had been missing caused me to try new preamps and source componets etc,more enjoyable listening experience and a thinner wallet, I guess you have to be careful what you wish for,Hearing what I have heard I will never go back to Adcom components, but of course this is my opinion and my ears.

agree completely with Riley...if you like the sound don't look elsewhere, it costs a lot more.
Larry

Personally I think Adcom is entry level equipment , but if you think that in your "opinion" that it sounds good, then that is all that matters.

Think that you will will be surprised when you upgrade to better equipment and really hear how the speakers should sound.