Unmatched sound in its price range

None

This pre is worth every pennny, the sound quality is truly sometihng you cant unless usually spending much much more, in passive mode its utterly transparent, like you have absolutely no preamp in your system.. even in active mode its outstanding.....extremely open and neutral sound...very low noise floor..remote is a little light but very functional...for the price its a really Big, Giant killer!

Price! Extremely quiet and clean. Balanced in and out.

Vol/Bal knobs are all black.

This preamp is amazing. I purchased one at a local dealer just to audition it while listening to the others mentioned above. I would say that that the Rogue and the Adcom were both excellent sounding preamps but I noticed some crosstalk in the Rogue that wasn't in the Adcom. I found another on ebay and the sound out of this used preamp blew me away even further! My Magnepan's sounded like a sub was added and the highs were clearer than before. I guess there is a lot to be said for breaking in new equipment.

My only minor complaints are the remote and the volume and balance knobs. There is no way of telling the position of the knobs since they are all black unless you are right in front of the unit. I know, a minor detail but I'll live with that given the sound this baby produces. Go out and give one a listen!

Similar Products Used:

Rogue Audio 66, NAD C-160

absolutely quiet, highly listenable

None, really. It does what it is supposed to do.

I got this unit somewhat on the strength of the universal praise of its sound quality, and admittedly the Stereophile Class A rating.

It replaced a Parasound AVC-1800 dolby digital pre/pro, a unit that is known to be no slouch itself when it comes to 2-channel sound quality. I was expecting the improvement in sound quality to be relatively subtle, given the nature of changing preamps vs. changing speakers, a much larger difference.

Well, I must say that the sound quality is definitely improved. Much lower noise floor. Even at high volumes, I can hear the AC power transformer for my cordless phone buzzing from across the room between CD tracks. This thing is dead silent. Looks good, build quality is robust, and it has all the basic features + in a 'high end' preamp. I don't use the processor bypass since switching to a strictly 2-channel setup, but I could see how that would be an extremely useful feature for audiophiles who want the unit to do double duty in an AV system as well.

It has a 200W switched AC outlet in the back, and two sets of phono-style, unbalanced outs, as well as a set of balanced XLR outs. One set of balanced XLRs in, as well as enough unbalanced phono inputs for five source components. The range and sensitivity of the remote is very good, and the motorized volume control is absolutely silent. Kinda miss a volume level indicator, but this a very, very minor point. At this price point, Adcom has built a very impressive unit.

As far as sound quality, the Adcom does sound very natural and transparent. It's like a volume control on pure sound.

Although the output level is quite a bit less when in the 'passive' mode, I don't think that I can honestly distinguish between passive and active modes, just that the gain is much higher in active. I leave the unit in passive mode generally, which bypasses all the active gain stages except the volume control.

It's hard to imagine any preamp sounding better, unless you made substantial upgrades to the rest of your equipment. And even then, who knows if the Adcom would do just as well with the new upgrades.

For a price that is affordable for those of us on a finite budget, I can't imagine anyone being unhappy with the Adcom's sound and performance.

I've heard concerns about Adcom reliability and quality in the past. My retailer assured me that, based on their experience, this is the highest quality product that Adcom has ever put out. They have sold a number of them, and have yet had to take one back for any reason.

Similar Products Used:

Parasound AVC-1800 pre/pro, variety of home theater receivers

Peformance relative to price.

None.

I am in complete agreement with the previous review from Marc and, therefore, have little else to add. My GFP 750 is used in combination with Adcom/Classe/Mirage/Audioquest system. In my opinion, the Adcom equals or betters most other preamps I have heard for a fraction of the price. I have also owned the component for close to four years, and it has performed flawlessly. Five + stars.

Similar Products Used:

Audio Research, BAT, Bryston, Ayre, Classe

Price vs. Performance. Two preamps in one (passive & active). Sound is very good (passive is virtually transparent). Definitely the piece to buy if price is important but not at the cost of performance!

None for the price of $1400. If it was $4k, I would want some additional "eye-candy"!

Bottom Line:

Great piece for the money ($1400) which offers - balanced inputs, balanced outputs, remote, passive, active and great sound to boot! This costs about $3k to start from the big boys!

No "eye-candy"! No, it does not have a 1" faceplate, jumbo RCA's, or a 3 lb. aluminum remote, but you pay for these amenities and they do not impact the sound!

As I said earlier, this piece is like having two preamps in one. Want to try active for a while, flip a switch. Want to try passive for a while, flip a switch.

I have not experienced any of the mechanical failures described in some reviews. This piece has worked flawlessly.

And for the reviews with "alleged" sound flaws.....what caliber is your amp and source component(s)? In passive mode the motto should be "crap in, worse crap out" How about impedance mismatches? Are the interconnects 20' long? Passives cannot drive long lengths! What I'm trying to say is, before you condemn any product, make sure it isn't the fault of something else!

Reviewers on this site and many other sites have a power over the success and failure of a product or company. Use this power with caution beacause you could force a budget audiophile to overspend needlessly or put a small company out of business!

And, finally.....if money is no object and it is burning a hole in your pocket, indulge your desires...or...give me the $10K and I'll sell mine to you, I'll re-purchase the Adcom GFP-750 and pocket the rest!!!

Similar Products Used:

Classe, VTL, BAT, Plinius

Jeff , get real. The Adcom sounds like and basically is typical "mid-fi". The preamp sections in both the Classe and Krell integrated greatly outperform the Adcom, and both of those cost less than $2500. In the $1000 price range, there are very few good preamps. The Adcom is not one of them. You are much better off buying one of the better integrateds. You are sacrificing too much sound quality for the flexibility the Adcom provides.

When auditioning new pre-amps I tried the the Adcom GFP-750 and the Aragon 28k.The rest of the system consisted of Adcom & Aragon amps,Adcom & Cal Labs CD players,Klipsch & Dunlavy speakers,and various types of Tara Labs cables.While the Aragon was a very nice pre-amp I found the Adcom to be superior.This pre-amp sounds almost as good as anything I've heard and definetly better then anything I've heard under$2500.The diference I discovered between this and the Aragon was that the Aragon did not seem as dynamic,it just sounded like everything was compressed.The Adcom is also very flexible with the choice between active/passive and the processor input.With the processor input I can use my Yamaha RXV-992 Dolby Digital reciever for movies and the Adcom to feed an Adcom amp for just stereo.It's pretty much like having two seperate systems drive the same speakers with no hassle.Highly recommended.

David Li, did you actually listen to this pre-amp? I compared it directlyagainst the Classe cp-35 (the preamp simplified and built into the cap 100
integrated) and found the Adcom sounded better in either passive or active
mode. I also listened to the CAP100 (nice, but I wanted remote source selects),
the Krell Integrated (just didn't do it for me), Acurus separates (not in the
same league), the McCormack TLC (very nice, my 2nd choice) and many others.

In it's price range, I don't think you can beat it for either features or sound. It has remote source select, passive or active mode (I like passive better), and was designed by Nelson Pass for Adcom.

FWIW: I have it paired with a Classe CA-100 amp, Linn AV5140's (great speakers!), and an Adcom GCD700 CD player. 'FI' also had a very positive
review of it 6 mos or so ago. Against more expensive separates, it may not
hold up, but in it's price range it's 5 stars.

After living with a GFP-750 for nearly a month, I offer the following observations. It is rich in features and attractively styled, but somewhat lacking in performance.
The GFP-750 is relatively quiet in passive mode, but cannot be used for serious critical listening in its active mode. Unfortunately, it suffers a significant gain loss in passive mode, and even then it still is not as quiet as preamps I have listened to from Audio Research, Classe or Bryston. Also, in its passive mode, the GFP-750 seems to lack some of the dynamic impact of higher quality preamps.

Horizontal imaging is good, with nice detail. However, the GFP-750 seems to flatten the soundstage somewhat.

My comparisons may be somewhat unfair, since everything else I have auditioned has been in a higher price range. If you're application is principally home theater, this is probably a very good preamp. However, if you have a sophisticated ear, another $500 to $1000 will buy you a much more musically involving and satisfying preamp. This is more significant than some people might think as you begin to build an audiophile system. Generally, results will be better by spending a bit more on a preamp and a bit less on a power amp. Before buying this preamp, I would strongly encourage one to test the sensitivity of his/her ears by listening to a few preamps in the $2000 price range.

I like this preamp for its versatility, sound quality and the robust chassis. I replaced a Classe CP-35 with the Adcom GFP-750 so I would not have to swap cables when using a surround sound receiver. Compared to the Classe CP-35, I found the GFP-750 was slightly more detailed in the midrange and the bass a little tighter. The Classe seemed somewhat more muted and constrained in the midrange. However, the differences were not that drastic, and the Classe is still a fine preamp.
Versatility is what really gives the GFP-750 an edge. The switch between active and passive modes is a nice touch. There are XLR connectors for a CD player and preamp outputs, as well as two sets of RCA phono jacks for the preamp outputs. The remote control allows one to select the input source, adjust volume and balance, mute and toggle the processor loop. The passive mode really shines on my system when listening to vinyl via an external phono preamp. I am using two Classe Ten power amps as mono blocks driving Alon II speakers. My interconnects are Audio Quest Ruby XLRs and my speaker cables are Audio Quest Crystal bi-wired.

The processor loop is a welcome touch, and the remote has more features than many "audiophile" preamps in its price range. Thanks to the processor loop, I have been able to hook up an external surround sound receiver and have it nicely integrated with my stereo system when watching VHS tapes or TV. The left and right channel volumes and balance are controlled by the external receiver when the processor loop is engaged.

I would not compare this preamp to a Krell or other more expensive preamps, but I got a good deal on the Adcom (making it a fraction the cost of a Krell or Mark Levinson or higher model Classe preamps). If you can find this preamp on sale for less than the suggested list price of $1250, I strongly recommend auditioning it. Chances are, you will need to spend two to three times more money to hear any appreciable differences.