Adcom or Creek?


Hello,

I have recently re-started aquiring a budget hifi system...
The last one was in the UK, circa 1997: Pioneer A400 - a Giant killer:

http://www.audioreview.com/Amplifiers/Pioneer+400X/PRD_116076_1583crx.aspx

B&W P4, Pioneer stable platter transport and Cambridge DAC - The A400 sounded very neutral and magically delicate and powerful :)

Now if the Pioneer were available in 120v I would be happy with that, but that's another story...

I now have a Creek 4330R integrated and an as yet untried Adcom GFA 5200 Power Amp (watts are less important that the quality of them).

My question is would an complete Adcom system including say the GFA 450 Pre/Tuner sound better than the Creek on it's own?

I like a neutral and not artificialy "warm" sound which is what I am finding with a lot of gear I've tried.

Any comments will be much appreciated.

Thx,
Josh
San Francisco
joshcloud9

Showing 1 response by audioman4

The Adcom 5200 is a basic power amp. Not very musical...
good to power other room speakers and outdoor speakers in most applications... at least in my opinion... I have owned a 535, 545 I and II and 555... the 545 amp was the best of the bunch... dont like creek ,except for the phono stages... Now, for a nice, and I am assuming not staggeringly expensive setup... Consider a B and K Pro 10 mc
preamp... saw one this morning on agon for under 300..
Excellent piece...external power supply, passive mode, good mc and mm input..
and try an aragon 8002 amp or macintosh mc 2100 even the older adcom 545 will perform better than the combo you suggested with your stated gear...
Just my 2 cents...
Good luck,
Joe
Custom Audio LLC