Great sounding unit. Good Price. The amp is capable of resolving minutedetail and blows up a very large sound stage. It is capable of driving
all sorts of speakers including ESL''s. It runs in Class A while in low power
mode { up to 20 watts} then it switches to A/B.

Great sounding unit. Good Price. The amp is capable of resolving minutedetail and blows up a very large sound stage. It is capable of driving
all sorts of speakers including ESL's. It runs in Class A while in low power
mode { up to 20 watts} then it switches to A/B.

The GFA500 is a good amp at 200 watts per channel. Compared to Carver and Parasound it has more headroom and a flatter upper end response. I think that the overall performance for the dollar is pretty good. Adcom is a great buy at the under $1300.00 mark.

Sound and build quality, very tight and precise bass, excellent sound stage, handles 2 ohm loads with ease, huge power supply, BUILT IN USA!!!!!

Gets very warm, holes in binding post to small; makes it hard to bi-wire.

I consider myself bouder line audiophile and I've had this amp for about 2 months, it has performed perfectly. The sound is just unbelievable and keeps getting better. The sound stage is very wide and open with pinpiont accuracy. My speakers just disappear. The build quality is well; built like the proverbial xxxx house.
This is my first experience with an Adcom product and I am very pleased with it so far. I listened to a couple of NAD and Denon products only to find myself wondering what ever happened to high end audio. The Denon had no punch and was bright (unlike my older Denon) while the Nad was so flat it was totally boring to listen too. Its nice to find a company that still understands not all of us want this pro logic crap, just nice accurate music.
My old 1988 Denon receiver (which has finally had it's first break down, the tuner died) still sounds better than most of what is out there now and they want 3x the price. It could run all day and never get warm to the touch; thanks to liquid filled heat sinks. When was the last time you saw those in an amp or receiver. If you don't believe the lack of sound quality look at the spec sheets on the new campared to the older true Hi-Fi componants. I guess most companies have decided all most people want is sound not music.
Thank you Adcom.

The rest of my system is comprised of:
Adcom GFP-710 Preamp, bought with amp
Adcom GFT-555II Tuner, bought with amp
Sony CDP-77ES CD player
Nakamichi CR3A cassette
Sherwood ST903 linear track
VMPS 4 way TowerII speakers
Monster Referance 2 inner connects
Kimber 4vs

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1988 Denon receiver

Lots of clean power, tight Bass, excellent soundstage.

Don't care for the power switch.

I have been using the GFA 5500 with my new 1.6 Maggies and have been enjoying the combo. My original thought was the Adcom would not sound that sweet hooked to the Maggies, giving the choice again I would do the same. I'm using an Onkyo Grand Integra pre-amp that I've owned for many years, M-1500 interconnects, M-2.4s bi-wire, a Carver CD player and a Carver C-9. I could sit and listen for hours. I feel that the 5500 has nice imaging and projects a great soundstage. I have no problem keeping the Adcom around for a long while. For the money I think the 5500 is a great amp, worth every dollar, If your thinking of owning some maggies in the future don't feel like you have to get a second mortgage for a silver seven, I give the Adcom five stars, it's a great buy and a great sounding amp.

very powerfull, detail as $2500.00 amplifier

none (per price)

this amp is very powerfull. What you need to get is a good source ( cd or dvd device) and good speaker cable . To get this level of amp at this price is virtually impossible

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harman kardon

more power! *grunt*

cook your breakfast on it.

big ole macho amp, lots of power and current. transparent, clean, no bull. get you some.

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too many

Good price per sound ratio

Clarity and separation

So this is where the Adcom 5503 3 channel amp is. I was looking for this site not realizing that it was under the Adcom 5500 2 channel amp. Even in Adcom's Web Site I had to type in 5503 to get to it's web page rather than chicking their main menu. In other words, the Adcom 5503 amp is not in the main menu, but one has to type it in the address path. I bought this 3 channel amp after I bought some Martin Logan Scripts rears and Martin Logan Logos center to go with some Martin Logan SL-3 main speakers. I bought the Aragon 8008BB dual mono amp to power the Martin Logan SL-3's because it had that warm sound that I love to hear, but I wanted to save some money for the HT. I was a stereo purist until I bought the Theta Casa Nova surround sound pre-amp about 3 months ago. Therefore I didn't want to spend the big bucks on the HT part of my audio system. I saved appox. $1000.00 buying the Adcom 5503 amp rather than the Aragon 8008-X3 amp. I first heard an Adcom 125 watt amp with some Martin Logan Auris speakers and I was rather impressed, but now that my hearing has changed due to fine tuning with experiments with other stereo equipment, I believe I should of bought the Aragon 8008-X3 amp (maybe not - read on). The Adcom 5503 amp plays well, but lacks the clarity and separation when compared to the Theta Dreadnaught amp, which is what Digital Ear plays thru Martin Logan ReQuests speakers in their sound room. Believe me, with the Theta Dreadnaught amp, one can hear every fine detail. I am now saving my money (The Theta Dreadnaught amp costs about $4300.00 for its 3 channel version) to upgrade from the Adcom 5503 amp. I believe the Aragon 8008-X3 amp (appox. $2800.00)is inbetween these 2 amps, but I have not listen to it as much. I believe the Adcom 5503 amp is a good 3 channel amp for the price, but there are better 3 channel amps out there. It's all a matter of subjective values based on fine tuning ones hearing, musical tastes, price per sound ratio, and what one wants to spend. I give the Adcom 5503 amp a "4" because it does the job it was design to do, but lacks the fine tuning that I want to go for.

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Aragon 8008-X3 & Theta Dreadnaught

After reading some of the reviews here, I feel a little disappointed on the reactions to the GFA-5500 Adcom amp($799 new). I must say that for the price you can't have a better amp! I have a Bryston 4B-ST($1800 new) and a Krell KAV-250a($2500 new) and found that the Adcom drove my Martin-Logan reQuests with no effort what so ever. And I also crank it up depending on the music material I'm listening to. Don't get me wrong, the other amps sounded great also, but there is a transparency I did not get from the others. I'd say it's a perfect match for me. I believe it has to do with matching the load to the driver that makes a difference. By the way, I drive a pair of Sonus Faber Concerto's with the KAV-250a, I like this match also, and the 4B-ST with a pair of Phase Technology PC3 in my office. Anyway I also have the Adcom GFA-5503 for surround in my home theater (all Martin-Logan system.)

I have had much experience with the GFA 5500 and the GFA 555. This is about the 5500 and I can tell you that it is a great deal for the price. You have to keep that in mind when you compare this product with others. I have been able to compare it directly with the older 555 and other than not having quite as tight bass response as the older 555, the 5500 is much more listenable to my ears. I had an interesting comparison when I was deciding to spend some bucks(for me) on a Krell KAV300i to drive my acoustat electrostatic speakers. The Krell sounded as you would expct but it couldn't handle the bass much to my surprize! A call to Krell confirmed that the KAV300i cuoldn't handle my acoustats. That's when I brought home the Adcom on a whim since I have had good with other Adcom products. The Krell had greater rhythm but the Adcom just seemed to work better overall. I did find out that you need to experiment on setting this amp up. I have mine sitting on a faux marble slab which sits on an air cushion (actally one of those that you buy after an operation on you butt!). This sits on an 18" stone footstep which is spiked to my floor. This seems elaborate but I get excellent results. Also this amp is sensitive to interconnects so experiment whenever possible. I'm using Straight Wire Maestro II's. Once you get this amp set up properly, that's when in becomes a great bargain.