Great little 2-Channel Amp
Well constructed
Good bang for the buck

None

Tight little amp that gets the job done. 60W doesn't sound like much, but this baby will sing. Very harmonic and musical. I have used it in a ProLogic setup in a bedroom for three years and it powers FR+FL great. Good workmanship and construction. Have only managed to get it to overload and go into protect mode once during the film "Legends of the Fall". It was during a scene of WWI battle and there was this massive explosion...and my baby shut down. No harm done after power off/on. Turned it down a hair and everything was fine. Hasn't happened since...and I like it loud. A great value for someone who loves seperates and wants to piece a great system together on the cheap. I see these babys in pawn shops for $125 and that is a great deal on this overlooked gem. Buy you one and see what I mean.
FIVE STARS!!!!!

Similar Products Used:

HK
Carver

Value

Not a muscle amp.

This is one of the great values in audio particularly since it is available used for so little money.....I have seen them go for as little as $175....average about $250. I have lived with this amp for many years and I am still very happy with it. Although it doesn't have enough power to stand alone driving inefficient mains, when used with a crossover and a powered subwoofer, it is more than adequate for anything. I agree with some other posters here that some warmup time is necessary for best performance. I will give it an overall rating of 4 only because the bass doesn't cut it if you use it alone, but in the crossover/subwoofer situation described above, it is as good as anything I have heard and would rate 5 stars.

Similar Products Used:

Bryston 2B LP, Crown D60, BGW

clean sound

none so far

Clean sounding. Probably best suited to a smaller room, low to medium volume listening in a regular sized room, or in a multiple amp set-up. Can't be beat for the price.

Similar Products Used:

acurus; bryston

Great "Bang for the Buck", Good bass and midrange.

A little bright with speakers using metal or cheep tweeters.

I have used this little amp with a varity of speakers. I currently use them on a pair of B&W CDM1-SE's. They sing with this little amp. You can't beat it for the street price for under $200!

Similar Products Used:

Rotel RB-980BX

A 60 watt, high current amplifier that is built like a tank and is superior in many ways to the "esoteric" competition costing many times its price! It weighs 20 lbs. has an aluminum facepalte, gold rca's and binding posts. It has excellent bass, due to a high damping factor. It is not harsh or grainy in the top end, in fact its pretty smooth. The midrange presentation is very good, female voice sounds natural. It has been replaced in the Adcom lineup with the GFA-5200 which is very similar except that for some reason its power has been lowered to 50 watts per channel and its price has been raised. Most of these amps and other Adcom products have been designed by Nelson Pass, formerly of Threshold fame, now of Pass Labs. I have seen many GFA-535II amps for sale used, at usually half of its original list or less. I own one, and have not been impressed enough with other models (more expensive) to make a change. It all comes down to the "point of diminshing returns"!

Few, if any, power amp in this price range can come close to the Adcom 535II in clarity, detail, and neutrality. The bass is where you will realize that this amp is only pushing 60 watts. Though very musical, the bottom end is a little thin. If you are using it for bi-amping, put it on top (mid to hi frequency) where it will outshine amps costing several times its price. With efficient speakers (92 dB and up), this amp will not deceive. Requires a good half hour of warm up time to start singing.

Solid construction,very musical.

Nada as far as i can see.

I have been using this little workhorse for about 9 years and it still impresses me with its musicality.It delivers 60 very clean watts of power with great midrange accuracy.For the last 4 years its been powering my Snell KIII bookshelve's and they sound incredible with the GFA535II.It may be a little weak in the bass as others have mentioned but it delivers accurate bass which i will take any day over bloated bass.I couldn't be happier since purchasing this amp and the Adcom 400 pre amp.You can't go wrong if you buy a used one.

Similar Products Used:

None

Solidly built, reliable, good quality components for this price point.

Could use better capacitor for the DC blocking, more power.

Have the 2535 amplifier, which is a case with two complete 535 amps inside it. Have listened to it with a varity of sources including several good quality record players, CD players in the $500-$1000 price range and several tape players and tuners. Am amazed at the quality of the sound for this price ($300 demo unit). Have upgraded some of the capacitors in it and it just gets better. Keep shopping and comparing it to other amps and without spending Much more, don't hear any improvement. Using Dynaudio Gemini speakers currently.

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Phillips 200watt amplifier

Rear channel amp in home theater??

Midrange glare; bass

I used a GFA535II that I got from a trade in my second system (consisting of a B&O RX2 turntable, Superphon Dual Mono preamp and PSB Stratus Mini speakers) as a temporary replacement for a PSE Studio IV while the latter was loaned to a friend. At first I noticed the amp's midrange clarity was pretty good; but after that it was all down hill. The upper midrange sounded dry and accentuated, treble was fizzy, and the bass didn't have much heft or solidity. Music was not involving when heard through this amp. Maybe in a home theater setup it would do better. I remember another Adcom I once had in my system, the GFA555, sounding much better. When I finally got my PSE back I couldn't believe the difference. The PSE had it all over the Adcom - refinement, dynamics, transparency, detail, control. It was night and day; music sounded like music again. Sorry I cannot recommend the Adcom 535II. (get a used B&K ST140 or Hafler 200 instead).

Similar Products Used:

B&K ST140; Hafler 200

Mediocre bass sound

First thing I noticed when I played my speakers though this amp was the soft bass output. I am using this amp to power a pair of outdoor speakers (StereoStones). Previously I was using my HK AVR 25II receiver power these speakers. I had always marveled at how the StereoStones put our fantastic bass sound for such a small speaker. Well...no more! The adcom receiver is noticeably soft on the bass output...and I am dissapointed knowing that my StereoStones can deliver a better all around sound that they are giving me with the adcom amp.

Similar Products Used:

First amp