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Help Needed Power Amp lacks punch

I just got a used supposedly high power Adcom GFA-5500. Had it run in for a few days and found that this amp has got very weak bass punch. No unusual noise or hum. Got everything but bass punch. Asked the dealer he said it's because the amp is not powered for a few months and it needs time to charge up those hugh capacitors. Asked a technician and he told me it could be a faulty capacitor or maybe also a transitor fault.
I don't know who is right and I hope that someone can give me some advise here.

I would like to know
1. how does faulty cap sounds like?
2. how does faulty transitor sounds like?
3. how long must it takes for a cap to charge up? and can that result in weak bass like lack og power?

Please help. Thanks.
rainchild
rainchild OP
31 posts
 
I agree that the 555II has got better tautness in bass region and the 5500 is a tag soft in this area. Compare to Plinus SA100 MKIII which only fetch 100w/ch, The 100 is way ahead in making my Hales Relevlation 2s sing. But again, it's price also very far ahead. Do you guy think Carver FTM-35 will do better in bass? I know the Bryston can do a good job but now my budget doesn't allow to fulfil this wish yet. I got Acurus 200 in mind too.
sean
6,231 posts
 
Big power helps, but the quality of the power is more important. I have seen 75 wpc amps absolutely stomp 250 wpc amps in terms of "punch" and ability to drive difficult loads. As such, i would avoid all makes / models that you mentioned short of the Plinius. Sean
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rainchild OP
31 posts
 
Thanks Sean,

I think this is too profound for me to understand. Should we go for tubes? I used a Electrocompanient ECi3 rated 70 watts class "A" before but I found that the ECi3 sounds more like a 40 watter to me. I also heard the YBA Integre DT and it sounds like a 150 watter driving a pair of Spendors. Matching equipments is a deep thing really. Can someone tell me what to use to drive a pair of Hales R2?
fetguy
90 posts
 
One thing to check is the receptacle in the wall; most all home wiring is done with "push pins" meaning that the house wiring is pushed into the receptacle where it is held in my tiny little contact points. By far the greatest loss is occuring here. I have seen cases where a drill-motor would hardly run!

Get an electrician to put in some hospital or industrial grade receptacles and make sure he wires then via the nice tight screw!

That being said I do remember that particular Adcom as being a bit laid back in bass transients. Get a Bryston (for instance). That is among a class of amps that are only beaten by Krell in the bass (and the Krell is not quite...well...right...). Plinius is another good choice, though I think that you get more bang for the buck with Bryston (dollar value and amazing warranty). Just my bias of course....
kgveteran
377 posts
 
I had no idea about my Adcoms and bipolar outputs.I guess that makes sense.Thanx for the info.
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