http://cgi.ebay.com/Adcom-GFA-545-Stereo-Power-Amplifier_W0QQitemZ160259696345QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item160259696345&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318

 

 

 

I used to have one of these! And the GTP-500 preamp/tuner to go with it. It was great sound and very popular when I worked at Good Guys some 10 years ago. And now with the super -low eBay price on this one well, that's just torture...

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Oliver Amnuayphol
Home Theater/Audio Guru
Aperion Audio

Oliver Amnuayphol:

I used to have one of these! And the GTP-500 preamp/tuner to go with it. It was great sound and very popular when I worked at Good Guys some 10 years ago. And now with the super -low eBay price on this one well, that's just torture...

Somehow got duplicate posts. 

Oliver Amnuayphol:

I used to have one of these! And the GTP-500 preamp/tuner to go with it. It was great sound and very popular when I worked at Good Guys some 10 years ago. And now with the super -low eBay price on this one well, that's just torture...

 

I'm not sure about the new Adcom stuff but the old Nelson Pass designs  (535; 545; 555) were highly acclaimed. 

 My father still to this day has his legendary  GFA 555 Adcom (http://www.stereophile.com/solidpoweramps/678/).  I remember some 20 years ago taking visits to see him and sitting down to watch a movie (in HI-Fi VHS of course) or listening to some music on his M&K's. The soundstage, depth and power coming from his sattelites was unreal. Effortless power with no distortion.   People are still reluctant to give this thing up.  Shoot my father still hasn't wandering into the realm of 5.1 channel surround.  Visited him in Arizona about 3 years ago and sure enough he Had his M&K's and Adcom hooked up around his big screen.

 One memory distinctly stands out above the rest though...Standing in his Condo He threw in his Pink Floyd Dark Side of the moon disk.  Started the track "Time" .  Standing there with my eyes closed the clocks began to go off, I could feel em as if they were right in my ear.  So powerful, so loud, so clean and so effortless.  then he went to the track breathe where the beginning drum beats being produced by his M&K Mid ranges and his Dual 12" M&K sub pounded my chest into submission.  I was in complete music Nirvana and I have yet to this day, some twenty years later, experienced a sound such as this.  

Sadly my currently 90WPC AVR, 5B's and and 12" sub  don't really come close when doing 2 channel music. That's why I'm saving my pennies towards upgradeitus.

For anyone who says there isn't a big difference between AVR and Amp I invite you to pick up an old Nelson Pass Adcom and compare it to your Onkyo 805, Yamaha RX-V1800 or whatever other thing you want to throw at it.

Anyway, probably more than you wanted to hear, but everytime I think of hi-fi audio I start with my dads setup as a reference of where i want to be.  Unfortunately, the wife, 3 kids and bills limits my ability to achieve these things when I want to.  But like I said One of these days...

Good talk.

I 100%, absolutely agree; there's a whole world of sound out there most people aren't aware of in regards to amplification. Darn near any manufacturer making separates does so with a focus on sound quality--which is why we have Outlaw separates in our larger showroom. But the HT receivers do make it easier for most folks to enjoy great music and movie reproduction for alot less than what it would cost for the older Adcom gear in today's dollars.

But no question about it: As great as the Onkyo receivers are, I think one really has to spring for something like the Outlaw combo to get an HT setup that meets the same sound quality levels as the 2-channel only Adcom gear of yore. We're talking $3000+ for an HT pre/pro + amp combo that doesn't have HDMI or the latest Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD decoding--not a sacrifice most people will want to make for sound quality.

But oh, what sound quality it is! And set up with our 6T's and Bravus 12, the sound is quite visceral indeed. Thanks for reiterating something I've always tried telling folks who will listen: all watts ain't the same, and your amp quality matters more than you think when it comes to sound quality.

One of these days for me, too. Keep the hope alive!

 

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Oliver Amnuayphol
Home Theater/Audio Guru
Aperion Audio

Hey Guru Dan. As only an Audio Enthusiast, I am not as intelligent as you. Just for my education, how would you use something like the above Adcom with a multichannel system (3.1 and over). I've been playing around looking up pictures of it and it just seems like it has a two channel output? I can't really tell what the connections in the back are. For somebody who has never used a pre-amp, how do you even connect it up? Thanks for the lesson in advance. :)

Oliver Amnuayphol:

. We're talking $3000+ for an HT pre/pro + amp combo that doesn't have HDMI or the latest Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD decoding--not a sacrifice most people will want to make for sound quality.

 

Question.  If I've got my receiver getting uncompressed PCM audio from my ps3 does it still feed it to the AMP as PCM or does the use of RCA's to hook the inputs in to AMP degrade that signal?

Opinion...Would you prefer a two channel setup with 5T's high end seperate pre-pro combo and Sub woofer over a 5.1 setup with an AVR? I'm thinking you would still get really good HT performance with this setup as my dads 2.1 channel setup sounds great

This is why it is so hard for me to decide on my next upgrade...this is becuase i have not yet fully realized the potential of my 5B's...Have you tried hooking up the 5B's to the outlaw pre-pro amp combo?  Is there much more to be discovered?

 So my dilema is upgrade 5B's to 4T's and run off my 90wpc AVR or spend $200 on an adcom 545 to bolster the 5B's 2 channel music performance

Jason,

The amp I was speaking of is only two channel therefore you would normally only run two speakers off of it.  In this case I would like to run my main speakers from the amps power and the rest from the AVR. This will provide me with optimal 2 channel muical listening.   To do so you need a reciever that has the capablity to do so.  Normally you would run out from your AVR to your Amp via high quality RCA's then you would hook the speaker wires of your mains to the Amp.  or you could get three seperate amps.  1 amp to handle the fronts, one amp to handle the rears and 1 amp to handle the center.  Or you could get a newer multichannel amp such as this:  http://www.adcom.com/prod/shopdisplayproducts.asp?hid=1&cid=43&sid=3&prodid=1144

 Like I said, I can only vouche for the older Adcom stuff, but I'm sure they still make great products nowadays. There is just soo many players nowadays that I dont know about like Outlaw...

 

Hi Dan,

Almost every type of home audio amplifier (whether receiver, amp/preamp, or integrated), will have converted the signal from PCM to analog before the power amplfier's input stage, so there won't be any degradation with feeding PCM from your PS3 to a receiver or amp/preamp combo: they're all analog signals by the time it reaches the power amplifier stages, whether internal (receiver, int. amp) or external w/ RCA cables, etc. (separate pre/power combo).

In regards to the 2-channel + 5T question, I suppose this really depends on your preferences. Luckily I have two systems (one 5.1 and one 2-channel), so I haven't had to compromise on either one; in my experience you can get the best of both worlds with a high-quality, 5.1/7.1 capable pre-pro/amp combo and say, a full 5T-based surround system. For example, I love listening to the Outlaw HT stuff we have here for 2 channel music, and I've heard many separates-based HT systems that performed equally as well on both music and films, surpassing many 2 channel systems I've heard.

I will say though I've heard some really special AVRs from the likes of NAD, Rotel, B&K; these all have sound quality that's better than a lot of similarly-priced separates, but they come at a dear price and do sacrifice the latest features.

And as far as your dilemna: You do have a year from the day you received your speakers to take advantage of the upgrade program, but if your receiver has the requisite connectors, adding a high-quality, stereo amp could improve your sound quite a bit. Great as the 5B's are, they sure do respond nicely to better amplification...

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Oliver Amnuayphol
Home Theater/Audio Guru
Aperion Audio

I think I have decided on my upgrade path.

1st order of business is to get some towers up front. Immediate concern. If I recall correctly the 4T's are 2 db's more sensitve than the 5B's and the 5T's are 3 db's.  That should help my AVR to.

2nd order of business is to purchase a 5 channel amp seperate (Used on Ebay of course) and use an AVR as the processor..Somewhwere down the Road. 

3rd order of business is to invest in a high quality pre-amp processor.

An upgrade to the towers will cost me $200-$400 whereas an upgrade to a quality 5.1 amp will set me back about $800-$1000. Considering that the #1 way to improve sound is to upgrade speakers, espcially larger more sensitive Aperion Towers, I'm thinking this path makes the most sense...especially to the wife.

Sound reasonable?

Hey Dan. I think you've reasoned it out nicely. I think you'll love a pair of towers up front. Piano black to go with your setup will look great. My only request is some photos once you get them. In terms of the 4T or the 5T, I have no clue as I haven't heard the 4T. Although....with the 30 day return policy you could always get them and then upgrade if you felt like they weren't strong enough. I think I remember reading on the boards that you could return within 30 days even with a trade-up purchase....but we need a guru to know for sure. Considering the 4T's will only set you back another $200...I think that's a really sweet deal. The 5T's will be more (~540 if my calculator is right)....which may or may not be noticeably better. The way I look at it....if you get the 4T's now  and find some money under the sofa in the future, the most natural thing to do is move the 4T's to surrounds or trade them back in and get 5T's....To step from the 4T's to 5T's is only $340. Put away $8 a week into a jar and in just under 11 months you'll have your 5Ts. 

 

Anyway, all this information about the separates is fascinating. I never knew such things existed. Seems like a nice way if you want to purchase things over time....which I'm always interested in. Changing smaller things over time is less noticeable for the opposite gender.

Hi Dan, sorry for the late reply, but yes--I'd say that sounds very reasonable and will give you the most bang for the buck immediately. Happy Listening!

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Oliver Amnuayphol
Home Theater/Audio Guru
Aperion Audio