I OWN THE adcom 5800 AND 5503 AMPS AS WELL AS THE gtp 600.
BASED ON TWO YEARS OF CONSTANT USE,
THE POWER AND RELIABILITY HAVE BEEN RELIABLE AND FLAWLESS.

I LIKE THE STRAIGHT AHEAD CLASS A SOUND OF THIS AMP AND STRONGLY PREFER IT TO ROTEL,SUNFIRE,YAMAHA, AND DENON.

MAYBE I HAVE NO TASTE, BUT I WOULD GIVE KRELL ONLY A SMALL PREFERENCE OVER THIS AMP, CERTAINLY NOT ENOUGH TO WARRANT THE LARGE PRICE DIFFERENCE.

I ALSO FEEL THAT IT COMPARES FAVORABLY IN PRICE TO THESE COMPONENTS AFTER SOME HAGGLING.

I AGREE WITH THE CRITICS WHO DESCRIBE A "STEELY" TONE TO THIS AMP WHICH DOES LACK THE "WARMTH" AND OLD PHASE LINEAR OR SOME ESOTERIC NEW EXPENSIVE TUBE STYLE AMP. IN MY CASE, I THINK THAT THE POSITIVES STRONGLY OUTWEIGH THE NEGATIVES FOR THIS PIECE OF EQUIPMENT.

Great sound,great power,great looks. It's a super amp in my book.'I've had the 5800 for over 2 years now, and its been super reliable.

Are you guys listening to the same amp I am ? Please look at the front faceplate and make sure it says ADCOM 5800, ok ? Are you sure it isn't a knock-off from East Afghanistan ? Because the one I have sounds terrific with all types of music, the FANS NEVER kicked on yet, and the bass is super tight. It's sound is never shrill or screechy either.

I hear the pharmacy is having a sale on ear wax removal products. Perhaps you should invest in some- then listen again.

I own the ADCOM 5800 AND 5503 with the ADCOM GTP 600 pre-amp driving a variety of speakers in my house including GENESIS, KLIPSCH, INFINITY, EPOS, and the HSU-12v subwoofer. I have loved the equipment for the price. I would describe this product as offering 90%ile performance at a 50%ile price.In terms of reliability, I have encountered no problems whatsoever despite playing both amps at near-clipping volumes for extended periods of time.

For rock-n-roll and home theater, this amp delivers accurate and defined bass which I prefer to the Rotel, Sunfire, NAD, Yamaha, and Denon units that I have tested. In this application, I feel that the more upscale brands are a waste of $.

For classical or new age/electronic music, I am nearly equally pleased but I do slightly prefer the warmer sound of an older CARVER unit that I also own.

In short, this is an excellent value bridging the gap between mass market mediocrity and stratosphere priced brands such as KRELL. Likewise, I would not be inclined to fork out the extra $ for the modest potential improvement of PARASOUND or BRYSTON.

Owned a 5800 for a few months. After break-in, it sounded so steely on my Acoustats, I exchanged it for another, thinking something had
to be amiss with the first one. Wrong. The second one sounded the
same way. Even sent the unit to Adcom for a factory check just to
make sure that everything was in spec. No problems found. Couldn't
figure the whole thing out; Nelson Pass design and all. And those
fans - forget about listening to some nice, quiet chamber music.
Sold the thing and bought tubes. The Adcom is sorta like a late
model Mustang: Bang for the buck, but ultimately a bit crude.

Egads!! Scrolling through this spate of reviews had me totally scratching my head. One person thinks the amp sounds screetchy, another thinks it sounds like tubes! This makes NO SENSE, unless (1) people don't know what these terms mean at all; (2) people don't have realistic expectations; or, finally, and most likely, (3) people don't realize that IT MATTERS WHICH EQUIPMENT YOU USE THE AMP WITH !!


Surprise surprise!! You can't simply condemn or exalt an amplifier's sound quality by itself, especially not one that has 300 watts for $1700. If you need all that power, get the amp. If not, don't. Or don't listen to it with too-revealing speakers. Make sure the pre-amp is good!! I mean, the list goes on and on of things you need to control to make sure a SYSTEM sounds ok in your house.



I have to say, the quality control sounds pretty bad. That's clear.

This is really quite a nice amp especially for the money. It can't truly compete with the best but it's very musical with just a touch of warmth and a very even tonal balance. It's NOT hard or strident. There's a respectable sound stage and good depth. It's just not the last word in transparency when compared with the Pass Labs Aleph designs.
The amp will drive just about anything including very low impedence loads. I've never experienced any reliability problems although some of the other reviews here make me wonder.

I can see why the fan noise might both some people although it's never audible when listening to music except between songs or maybe during very quiet passages.

If you're on a limited budget and need a high power amp, you could get one of these used for about $700-800 and be very happy. It would also make a great subwoofer amp (how I'm using it currently in a triamped system).

I agree with Bryan. This amp is forward and harsh sounding like all Adcom amplifiers. The best amp they've ever made is the 535 and it just sounds O.K.. For example, listen to a lower powered Bryston, Forte, or Classe before you buy. You'll be shocked. I'll give this amp one star out of charity.

This amplifer has good power delivery but is very forward in sonic quality. Careful system matching is a must, make sure your pre-amp is on the smooth side. Bottom line, there are better amps out there in this price range.

The two guys below are actually the same person. Just check out the IP address. Obviously, the guy has a personal vendetta against Adcom. Bad ... bad ...