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Are marantz ma500 monoblocks better than an adcom?

My system consists of: classe ssp-25 pre-amp, musical fidelity v-dac II, denon dvd 2900 (used to play cd's), paradigm studio 10's, and an adcom gfa 545.

My question is this: are marantz ma500 monoblocks going to give me better sound? My adcom does sound a little "tinny" and I think my studio 10's could sound better if they were given more power. Also, if I do get the ma500's should I bi-amp the speakers? I've read about some negatives to bridging the amps like impedance loads being too low, overheating amps, distortion issues etc. One last thing to keep in
consideration is I will probably upgrade my paradigm studio 10's to paradigm studio 20's, both of which, I think' are pretty inefficient and power hungry. Also, I'm sort of stuck with the paradigm's unless I try to sell them for a loss in order to get something used, in which case my budget would be around 1k. Thanks in advance for your input!
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hk_fan
416 posts
 
I'm not saying the MA500's are bad, they aren't. They were very good for their price point, however so is your Adcom from what I remember.

If you bi-amp then I suspect you will see an improvement. You should also try bridging a pair of the MA500's and see how that works. I always wanted to, but couldn't afford a second pair of them while I owned them.

Check out the MA700's too... those were also very good and a bit more power than the 500s. I see them show up on here every now and then.

Let us know how you like the 500s!!
tmsorosk
1,013 posts
 
I'll be blunt, the MA500's were dogs, plain and simple.
jeffreybehr's avatar
jeffreybehr
805 posts
 
"I'll be blunt, the MA500's were dogs, plain and simple." Well, no wishywashyness from Tmsorock this morning!

I disagree. I've had dozens over the years and feel that they're good- but not great-sounding amps.

B_limo, in your original post, you jump subjects from biamping to bridging instantly. You do realize they're 2 different things?

Also, you don't indicate which amps you might use for biamping, 4 MA500s or one pair plus your Adcom. Biamping can be succesfull but also very frustrating; using 4 identical amp channels is certainly the easiest way to do it.
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hudsonhawk
137 posts
 
I used to have the MA500's. They're good for the money, and a really fun conversation starter and form factor.

But as an amp, they're great for home theater, punchy and powerful, but I didn't find them satisfyingly musical. I replaced them with a similarly cheap B&K amp which was much more satisfying.
b_limo's avatar
b_limo OP
2,273 posts
 
Jeffreybehr, sorry about the confusion. I was planning on bi amping with the mono blocks, not the adcom as I was trading the adcom as part of the deal. I read that bi amping, in most cases, is better than bridging your amps even if they were designed with bridging as an option. I read that you can run into problems when bridging amps and that the sound quality was worse in some cases due to bridging (even bridging two of the same mono blocks).

Hudsonhawk, what kind of b&k did you have? I've been looking at those also.

Thank you to everyone who has posted! I've decieded to not buy the mono blocks as I am looking for a very "musical", high powered 2 channel amp to power my paradigm studio's and I don't think the ma 500's are going to satisfy. Ideally I will leave my system alone for a long time once I find an amp that I'm happy with. Thanks again!
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