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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
gmood1
1,251 posts
 
Me and a friend did some comparisons with some Adcoms.A modifyied version 5800(200 wpc x2),a 5803(200 wpc x3) and a Denon 2 channel 200 wpc optical class A/B(can't remeber the model number).The Denon was the most musical of the 3 amps.They aren't made anymore but you may luck up on Audiogon and find one for sale around $400.00.The Denon was smoother and more easy going,while still controlling the drivers.The midrange on the Denon was liquid.The Adcoms were slighlty harsh on top..being bright at times.I felt like I was being stabbed by the music,instead of being seduced!

Good Luck!
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
I have had a bunch of Adcom amps..I keep buying them because they are entirely satisfactory. The old 535 (100 watts @ 4ohms) may be "musical" (whaterver that means) but it doesn't drive Magneplanars like the 5503 (350 watts @ 4ohms).
sean
6,229 posts
 
Based on my past experience with various Adcom products and having repaired a few, the 535 and 5802 are the only amps worth buying and that is only if you can get a good deal on them. The 535 is basically too small for most "good sounding" low efficiency / low impedance loudspeakers but may work fine with higher efficiency speakers, smaller rooms or systems that do not require great amounts of dynamic range / sustained spl levels. The 5802 is still in production, so the cost will be relatively high on the unsed market. Most of the others are nothing special and not really well suited for full range reproduction. Some of their bigger amps will provide "muscle" in terms of high level bass output, but even that is not well controlled.

As far as Adcom customer service / technical support goes should you ever have problems with one of their products, they are good to work with and quite reasonable in terms of their charges for out of warranty repairs or parts. In this respect, they are much better than many of the "high end" companies and could teach more than a few of them a lesson or two. Sean
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brainwater
520 posts
 
Pretty good muscle amps. I have had many models and used primarily for sub amps and midline theatre applications. Pretty reliable too. I had 7 55511 amps in mono- 600 watts on every Polk SRt in a 7.1 theatre and it was strong but non audiophile in its musicality to be blunt. I found the 555 pretty harsh in the upper midrange and treble region. The 5500 was cleaner and offered a better musical soundstage. It had most of the 555 s stregnths but half of its weakness . The 5800 was my favorite as it was powerful and nice in the midrange , especially for the money and for its time. I agree that the 535 is fairly musical but it is lacking for theatre dynamics. The Brystons are a good step up .Look for a used CAL 2500 . There is one for 4k now.
clbeanzfb43
28 posts
 
This "IMHO" comes late but maybe you are still shopping.
Most audiohounds never stop.I have a 555II and,5500.
I've had 3 other 555II's as well.For home theater I would say 5 channel Adcom would be good step up from reciever based HT.
Not as costly as Bryston 5 channel.You can always put the best quality sound up front and mix amps.The Adcoms seem to
engineer good value into thier product line.My opinion is they try to give you 80% performance for half the money.
Good parts,5 year wrrty.In thier newer models the bandwith is nice and wide,upper octaves are the best they've done yet.Bass is good.
The bryston carries the 20year transferrable wrrty,has faster sound,better low end but is about twice the money.
You can find them used with plenty warranty left(I would
recommend nrb or later series)and buying them used you can
in theory close the price gap and still retain a longer warranty period.
The Pass designed Adcoms(I think they are 2 channel only)
are good bargains after lengthy break-ins,but much better suited to audio only,they are biased into class"A" up to ?
watts and generate lots of heat at idle.Most HT setups tend to squeeze everything into stands/cabinets.
Good thing is you could buy a bunch of 555II's cheap,they run cool have fan upgrade ability,and could be sold off easy
with less loss when and "if" you wanted to upgrade.Adcoms
are flexible but running them in mono is best used on sub-
woofer only ,they do not image well as mono pairs.
Good luck.
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