Looking for warmth

get a better pre and cd player

I will disagree with most, and agree with Wadia150. First of all, it is hard to find an amp that is smoother in the mids and sweeter on the top than the "sleeper" (of a Pass amp), the Adcom 545. Ahhh.. read the ba-zillion consumer reviews in audioreview.com if you don't beleive me. The problem exists in your NAD pre-amp, the 555 and ~perhaps~ your cables. The 545 Adcom is not the Holy Grail for transparency, nor is it layered in it's depth,... BUT "open", "strong" and "sweetly detailed" it IS. I have reservations (imho) about the Adcom 555. It is nasty, dry and can bite little chunks out of you. I don't like it. It is mearly a 545 on cheap back alley steroids. It has enough of them in it to make itself sick and ill tempered. It has collapsed it's own soundstage, dropped it's depth into an burning abyss and pushed it's evil manables into a room full of hot coals. Whoever is left to suffer along with it will scratch at their ears like mite infested felines. Get rid of it. As someone else suggested, perhaps try the 545 by it's lonely ole' self for a short while. Think of crossing at a lower freq. and perhaps with another cheap, but "grip"-heavy amp... Parasound, lower-end Bryston.

My vote is for a ride out the window for the NAD followed by the 555 tied to a cinder block.

Tubby

I second the suggestion of a McCormack amplifier made by Usblues, Swampwalker, Fplanner2000 and Saygrr: I think McCormack is -among many good Solid State Amplifiers- one of the warmest ones, "tube-like" sound. I have the McCormack RLD-1 Pre Amplifier and the DNA-225 Power Amplifier, both of them upgraded to the Top "Platinum Level" by the Manufacturer Steve McCormack and I couldn't be happier, I think I am done with this combo, most probably for the rest of my life so I can focus my attention and financial resources on upgrading other areas of my Two-Channel System. Try McCormack gear, you won't regret it. Good luck, Best, Antonio Machado.

You may want to consider Dakiom Feedback Stabilizers.

Just remember the adcoms can be harsh and thus u may want get warmer sounding amps but if you go for warmish tube amp as suggested by many it may prove to be too warm and you may end up missing something else...I would not start out by trying the far end of warm but something more in between. I am not saying warm sounding amps are "bad" per se...far from it..but it may be too much of shock for you given what your system is currently delivering.