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General opinion about ADCOM amplifiers

I was just curious to get everyone's take on ADCOM

I want to upgrade from a reciever to an amp/pre-amp for HT.

I have been looking into Nohr's Le Amp and Le amp 2, i see stuff on the web that says these can go toe to toe with $2000+ Bryston amps, however, im a firm believer that you get what you pay for.

So ive also been looking at ADCOM, there are alot of inexpencive ADCOM amplifiers in the classified.
Ive seen 150w per ch for under $1000, which is kinda the area im aiming for. unfortunatly, money is a limitation.

I know alot of people here have had Adcom and i am curious to see what he general opinion of these amplifiers is. Ive seen them at high mid-end / low high-end retailers but never heard them.

My reciever can double as a pre-amp for 5 channels, which is what i will be using untill i get a good pre-amp with 7.1, then i want to run a couple real good solid powerful monoblocks to the fronts and use the 5ch amp for the rest.
Eventually, those front speakers and the monoblocks will get slowly released from the HT and converted to a 2chan setup.

opinions on adcom? Good value for the money? Over rated? reliable? do they break down?

i got some good stuff, but this reciever part is killing me. It sounds GREAT until you apply any heavy volume, then the amplifier in the reciever loses control and things start to distort. Ugh. Yuck
audiophanatik
panny
99 posts
 
I always thought of Adcoms as dry and prefered B&K's and Rotel to them. They are great for Bass and would consider them for Bass amps if I were to Bi-Amp or Tri-Amp. MUSE is another great Bass amp.

I guess I prefer sweet sounding amps.
radiob
30 posts
 
Not for Klipsch.
pumpkin
1 posts
 
I also own a pair of 5802s with the 750 preamp. I agree with all of your assessments.The only point to make is after I performed the sonic mods on teh preamp all of your reservations went away
dividebytube
50 posts
 
I've owned the 535, while my father still owns the venerable 555 after all these years.

To my ears, these 80s/90s Adcom amps are a touch dry, and a little grainy. If going budget SS, I prefer the B&K ST-140 which has a warmer sound. Of course I really prefer tube amps, but an Adcom is certainly better than most mainstream receivers.

Also agree with the poster above - the lower preamps - GTP-400, 555, 565 - aren't the greatest either. I once owned a 565, and coupled with a vintage H-K Citation V, was a dry, rather unpleasant combination.
barrysandy
192 posts
 
I've owned the 5800 and the 5802. Both really nice amps and Nelson Pass contributed to the design. Sorry the highs are not dry or hard despite what others may say here but they aren't the amps' best qualities being a little recessed. The 5800 had amazing bass control and extension but the fan noise was a bit bothersome. Because of the financial condition and parts inventory management of Adcom these amps could be difficult to service if you have problems but they are pretty reliable and generally you shouldn't have any problems.
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