Adcom GFA 555ii Amplifier Vintage Review: Sheer Horsepower Beast
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- čas přidán 20. 08. 2024
- Taking a look back at Adcom's classic beastly amplifier, the 555ii. This unit will power just about any of the most difficult to drive speakers ever made.
#HomeAudio #HighFidelity #VintageAudio
My GFA-555 and the GFA-555II paired with the GFP-555II area great combination. After 30 years their still going strong.
I have the same amp, 33 years old. Never replaced the caps and it runs great. As you said, it does not get very hot. I also have the Adcom preamp GTP-500 II with the built in tuner. The system came with an Adcom power conditioner A-515. I have old B&W 802s from the same era. Looking to replace with Magnepan. Great video!!!!
Still using my GFA 555 Mk I that I purchased new in the late 80's . I can't say enough good things about this amp !
In the pandemic I had time to spend, found new GFA555mk 2 never opened in the box and in 2017 I have bought used but in mint condition GFA545 mk2. I don't think I will ever sell them.
@@RanTausi Lucky you lol !
@@5675492 Yep, thank you.
Great to cover this amp! I had one for 25 years and drove (3) sets of speakers. I finally sold it for B&K 125.2 S2 amp which was much smoother, but with half the power.
Thank you, appreciate your viewership.
I came into a 555ii in really nice condition and working flawlessly for $100.
I'm truly happy for you, congratulations
I purchased my GFA-555 II and the GFP-555 II new back in the day, $800 and $500 respectively, paired it up with a pair of Cerwin-Vega AT-15’s that I got on a buy one get one free promo. A match made in heaven IMO. Still have all to this day, Fantastic equipment, thanks for the video.
The CV's were rock & roll budget heaven speakers. Thanks for watching!
An absolute Adcom Fan. I still have their CD player.
Excellent!
I have one, but i only use it for low end in active be-amping, and i use GFA-535II for tweeters.
As always Mark, a review worth watching. I do have an old Nakamichi Stasis receiver ( xxx) that uses the licensed by Threshold and designed by Nelson Pass
I used to have 2 of these driving 4 JBL 4312b's ..... amazing combination for someone who loves rock. Love seeing this vintage stuff.
Thanks for detailing your experience. Appreciate your viewership.
One heck of an amp. Well done.
Great. Brought back memories. In the mid 1980's I used an Adcom GFA 1A paired with a counterpoint SA1 Pre ; Linn Sondek LP12 turntable and Dahlquist DQ 10 speakers.
I still have one I bought new over 30 years ago and use it daily to power my main speakers.
I had the 565's in '91 for $1100 military while in Japan. I used them until '95 when I bought a Classe 15 which had the bass of the Krell KSA-250, was rated@175 w, better built and rated Class B in Stereophile!
What an intro 😮 been waiting patiently.
I had one of those. My favorite trick was to listen a bit with a friend and then shut the amp off. It would play for a while at the same volume and went quiet.
Releasing the stored energy does take a few seconds. Thanks for watching!
What a nice review and a wonderful person ,thank you very much❤
solid powerful amp
I have a GFA-5500 which is the newer generation. It has the MOSFET vs bi-polar transistors.
I had a gfa 555 and traded it for 2 NAD 2200 PE amps. Much more musical Power, at least driving my Infinity 8 kappa`s, just my opinion. I went all in in 95 with Cary Audio CAD 40m`s and Cary tube preamp.
The 555 came along at a time dominated by Japanese brands and Carver. The 555 delivered more current and with far superior stability at 4 ohms than Carver. This amp could man handle speakers that would clip Carver.
Uhh, no.
I’m running a Denon AVR-X3600 with three KEF speakers (Q750 towers + Q650c center). I’m thinking I’d like to add the 555 to power my fronts. Do you think this would be an obvious upgrade, or something more subtle?
The bass will be more aggressive, no question. Watching action movies will be a real treat.
Maybe I made the mistake of going to amplifiers that had the highest wattage but I'm starting to think I need to go to amplifiers that have the highest current for the nice ,sweet, warm bass sound???
Current is the key, as wattage without current is nothing more than lipstick on a pig.
i once put mine in 1 channel 600 watts configuration and blew for Klipsch woofer on my Klipsch forte II
lmao
Actually the power switch is a rocker switch and not a toggle switch as stated.
I have this amplifier what a keeper, another great amplifier in another room I have a ROTEL RB-1090, I'm in heaven with both, my next move is to find me a vaccum tube amplifi😮er.
I like Rotel gear as well. If I had more space I'd get an RB-1090 and matching pre.
Thanks for watching!
I recently bought an Adcom Gfa 555 (the first model) in perfect condition and I was thinking of pairing it with a parasound P6, do you think it's a good idea?
My experience with a 555ii and both a P5 and a P6 is/was very positive. Enjoy!
Hello, is that a Nakamichi RX-202 on the rack?
Yes it is. Thanks for watching!
Vintage is best....Rotel RB991 Power with a Quad Artera Pre . Spendor S8e . As with Vintage Kit dont forget you may need a Service..
Totally agree on do not go with the mono bridge mode. I did got another one home years back but end up returned the second one. My unit is out of commission for some time now. One channel burned/went silent. I brought it to a repair shop and that cost me about $300 about 12 years ago. It then went bad again. I do miss the gusto bottom end this amp provided. The Parasound A21 is better than the Adcom in many ways but it has no match for the Adcom shear control of the bottom end. Do you have a service manual for this unit?
Thanks for commenting! No question that the Parasound A21 or A23 in my case, are cleaner amps with less grain. I also agree that my GFA-545ii has a more powerful bottom-end than my A23. No, I don't have a service manual, but you may want post a request on one of the Adcom Facebook groups.
I’ve owned a GFA555 since 1989 and the one thing I’ve had to change at least 3 times is one of fuses for one channel. I always keep a spare just in case it goes out again.
It’s not ii . its call series 2 😊
When they go bad they can take your speakers out. Ask me how I know...
That's why regular checkups with vintage gear is critical.
I own this amp with the rare rack mount handles. This app was one of the worst amps I've ever owned. This app is a horrible piece of garbage.
Is it as sonically clean as amps today? No. If you are driving speakers that are very bright on the top-end (Paradigm, Totem) you will hear the noise.But it still has more grunt horsepower to handle the difficult passages with hard-to-drive speakers. In addition, all amps in the budget world have trade-offs. Adcom is no exception. But, for those willing, there is the Hoppe’s Brain upgrade, that from everything I have heard cleans up the noise issue. Thanks for watching!
Learn how to spell first there buddy
Stay away from this amplifier. It is an absolute Sonic disaster. Like I said in my last post I owned one of these and it was one of the worst amps I've ever owned.
@@vegaslimoguy2376 are you kidding That's the best you can do. Keep directing the Kool-Aid you mind those fool.
@@vegaslimoguy2376 I had a Carver 1.0 t amp that made an absolute disgrace out of the outcome. iPhone 100 Johnson threshold corral and on. The car for ants I've owned or 99% as good of any of them. The adcom was a pile of garbage I don't give a care who reviews it. I've owned everything from a to z and again that was the worst the adcom
Sorry for for all the autocorrect but I'm sure you can understand what I was getting at. The adcom was a piece of garbage. This blended really nice again anything car for made at that time especially for the price point destroyed everything. And yes I've owned Conrad Johnson. Threshold. Krell so I moved from a and so on. I still own my Carver 90 transistor amps that puts majority of these ants a new ones to shame. The definition of the new audio file is I have too much money and no brain. You probably believe putting a battery on a speaker cable makes a difference. Keep drinking the Kool-Aid you douchebag.
Again sorry for the autocorrect. Carver 9 t. 570 5 watts into 8 ohms and almost doubled into four. Again I still own it and it puts every high end amp I know to shame. At 1:10 the price.
@@paulguranich8086 Learn how to spell tool bag first
This amp was the worst amp i have ever owned. quit drinking the Kool Aid. 95% of high End audio is full of crap! I have owned Conrad Johnson,Threshold,Krell, Mark Levinson,GAS,Carver and a dozen more. All these products are good but there is no reason they sould cost so much. $26.000 for speaker cable!!!!? Facts do not care about you feelins.High end audio is a disgraceful joke.
Adcom is not high-end. Please, tell us what you have?
Stay off the drugs kid