Adcom gfa5500 here. Simply put, it’s a good frickin amp

Paul makes me miss the good old days of audio.

i clicked so fast on this video because i’ve never seen anyone talk about them and i love them

I still have my GFA-545 I bought new around 1988 or so. Its still going strong.

I love that Paul has so much knowledge of the industry. I mean knowing the kinds of things that illustrate his passion and enthusiasm for audio.

My Adcom pre and GFA5400 amp are still going strong after 40 years, powering the same Vandersteen 1C speakers. Absolutely wonderful performance, I love them.

I still have and use a GFA 555.Mine is from the first run with rack handles built into the face plate.38 years old and still rockin’.

I bought Adcom's flagship (gold plate and switch) trio including the Adcom GFA-5802 (Nelson Pass' Mosfet amp), the GFP-750 Preamp, and the GCD-750 (CD Player) in around 1993. I hate to think what to do if any of it ever blows - irreplaceable at least at the prices I paid back then. Fantastic equipment that sounds phenomenal and lasts and lasts and lasts. Very cool video, Paul

Adcom is alive and well. Good products at fair prices

I hadn’t used my GFA 555 for a while, but it’s now back in service at my teaching studio and is still working well somehow! It’s fun hearing it again. At the time it was certainly the best amp I had ever owned, and it’s still pretty darned respectable!

I myself own a Adcom GFA 555 gen2. series. Believe or not about back in January of this year I was searching through one of my local pawn shops and I saw the Adcom sitting all the way at the bottom of a stack of A/V receivers without a price tag. All in all I walked out of that pawn shop with the Adcom and never looked back, the best $180.00 invest in my life, and to top it off absolutely no issues what so ever.

Thanks for the Adcom history lesson on my ancient 545 and 545 ii I still use in my system great stuff!

I was an Adcom dealer during their mid to late 80's heyday. The rep who set us up was a wonderful guy named John Bachman who lived in Richmond, VA. He had a bag full of goodies and was the embodiment of a honest and dedicated factory rep. He also sold us Infinity, both car and home. I had dual 555's driving the original Carver Amazing Loudspeakers and that was amazing! I still use an Adcom cartridge on an SL1000MKII. Truly great equipment as yours is. I'm old and retired now but I would love to be able to afford a nice piece of PS Audio gear. I enjoy your videos.

Adcom is still in business, they recently relaunched the GFA-555 mk2 as "GFA-555se"

ADCOM = really good stuff. I used a GTP 400 for over 30 years and enjoyed every minute of it.

I still have my original GFA-555 that I bought new in 1984. Other than replacing the power switch a few years ago, it's been bullet proof.

I own the GFA 5500 and 5400. Great amps. Loads of clean power.

I had a friend who worked for them back in early 90's, he was a design engineer with the CD division. I still have the pre amp and amplifier. 30 years later, they still work great!

I still own quite a bit of Adcom equipment, it works fine.

Thanks for remembering Adcom & S.A.E.... Blasts from my past! To this day I have Threshold and Nakamichi products designed by N. Pass. Good stuff.

Paul I am in love with the ADCOM gear they sound just amazing for the price , currently i own GFA 545 MK2 and preamp GFP 565 in amazing condition, i have just scored the big and rare GFA 555MK2 in new never used condition which is on the way to me. Thank you for this video !!

still using and loving my GFA-555 series 1.

I purchased a vintage ADCOM GFA-555 MKII several years ago, and it's still going strong in my secondary system, sounding great with hard to drive Maggies. It's a great amp and can be had for a very good price if you can find one. They deliver 200 WPC into 8 ohms. A similarly spec'd new amp would cost much, much more.

I bought the gfa 535 power amp used for 250.00 and it rocks!

I love my GFA-5400, paid $30 for it at a flea market. I did have to replace a fuse in it, but now it works perfectly.

I've used my Adcom system for studio and home stereo for years, gfp555, gft555 and gfa545 running a pair of Klipsch R28-Fs, I get better sound from them than anything else I've ever heard

Great dissertation, I’m running the 5500 and it’s just peachy , happy listening

Super old-school stuff. I worked for a very small manufacturer back in the day as a "board stuffer". I still have my old ADCOM set-up and love it. When it goes down, it's fairly easy to fix. Today's stuff not so much.

Had Adcom separates in my home back in the day. My commercial install business had an emergency at a bar/restaurant. I pulled that rig out of my home and installed in restaurant where it drove about a dozen speakers 12-14hrs a day since forever !!!! GOOD STUFF 👍

I used a GFA-1 for over 30 years. Fantastic, pure differential power amp.

I have an Adcom GFP-565 preamplifier that works and sounds very nice to this day!

Bought my GFA 6000 used back in the 90's for $400.00 still powers my main system today.

Thanks for the background on Adcom Paul. Very interesting. I'm old enough to have fond memories of the company and their amps in particular (I owned the GFA535 and 555). Adcom offered value in the form of entry level high end priced for the rest of us. It's a shame they went away...

The Adcom car audio amplifiers, from back in the day, were amazing too. Some of the best sounding amps to this day. 👌 Also designed by Nelson Pass.

I have an Adcom GCD 575 CD player. Beautifully built and wonderful sound.

I copied a GFA-5800 Amp years ago and it worked fantastic. I made it to be 100% heatsink cooled (no fans) and even got the matching TO-3's direct from Adcom. It is sitting here in my office right now. What a great company.

I have an Adcom GFA-2 that I bought used from Recycled Audio in Boulder back in 1990. It was my first high-end piece that I coupled with an Onkyo pre-amp my dad gave me for my college setup. It's the only piece of vintage gear I've kept and still use. It's still a great-sounding amp w/ 100W/CH and just the right amount of warmth with little noise.

I love my GFA-555, and I really appreciate Paul speaking nicely about other companies products. Too often people just badmouth other brands just because it is not theirs. Eventually I will have some PS audio stuff.

They still sell and produce products. I’ve purchased new products just recently. They also respond quickly to technical questions.

I still have a GFA-555 driving my Magnepan 2.5R’s. Using a PS Audio 4.6 pre-amp. All 30+ years old.

What’s striking is he knows all the details but then “GFA I don’t know what number”. Everyone knows what a 555 is. Specifically the 555 timer! Nobody forgets the GFA 555

Have a five channel GFA 7000 thx amplifier, and a gfp 750 stereo preamplifier, good stuff. Purchased new in the mid 90s. Still working! Today have my 5 Plinius products, 2 SA 102s, a SA 100mk3,a P8 class ab stereo amplifiers and a Plinius M8 pre-amp. In my main hometheatre. Also a Dared VP 845 80 Lb integrated, with nos 1942 RCA 845s. 18 watts pure class A. And finally a Cary CAD 300sei , a 300b tube putting out 8 glorious watts per channel, another pure class A integrated. Although I enjoy these higher dollar products largely today my Adcom is doing a fine job in the master bedroom ,still has a very warm and dynamic sound.

I own an Adcom GTP 500 II and I love it. The thing sounds great and is built extremely well.

I spoke to Nelson Pass about the GFA-555 at a San Francisco Audio Society meeting and it was fun hearing him describe how he designed it. I have a couple '555s and '535s and they're great amps.

pumping out tunes for 30 years on my Adcom 500 535 and 2535.....still my favorite amps...Kit DynaAudio speakers express the quality and depth of these marvelous amps

I still have and enjoy my mid-late 80s GFA-545, GFP-555, GFT-555 and ACE-515. Had a pair of 565 mono blocks and regret selling them. Thanks for covering some Adcom history, Paul!

Still have and use my neslon pass designed adcom gfp 750 preamp. Still a terrifc piece that has shown my upgrades over the years. When I first got it I was into html preprocessor at the time and that 750 just sat for years. I didn't realize how good it was until I started getting betters dacs and amps. Thanks paul!

Great story! I use the GFA555 amp and the GFP 565 preamo and the GCD 700 cd player in one of my setups. Still love it to this day.

All I have is Adcom equipment. Two GFA-555's, two Adcom preamps, an Adcom DAC, even an Adcom power filter, supply. I still love it all.....I think the Adcom GFA-555 is built like a tank. God knows...I've tried to kill them for years. They get really hot if you get crazy and crank em up! They still sound great. And Adcom is back. They sell the GFA-555 again. Look it up!

I bought GFA555ii back in 1994, still have it and sound great with my Klipsch Chorus ii’s.

I have the Adcom 700 CD player. Love it. One of the best out there.

I run an ADCOM GFA 545 for a desktop amp that I bought from a girl in a parking lot for $40 last year. It was her ex-boyfriend's and I think he DJ'd with it. A few scratches and broken binding post. Had it checked out and repaired for about $100. Sweet little amp. Nelson Pass rocks.

Thanks, Paul! I lusted over ADCOM back in the day but, modestly priced as they were, couldn't afford one so I held out until I could. Time came and I was ready to plunk down some green on two of their 300 watt mono-blocks, only to learn they discontinued them. So I bought a magnificent 250 watt/channel stereo amp and pre-amp from ACCURUS which I bought new in 1994 and still use and cherish. When I bought those pieces, I purchased a used ADCOM tuner - awesome! And yes, I remember Scientific Audio Equipment (SAE), another brand I lusted over!

Looks like Adcom is still around selling new versions of their classic amps.

I have an Adcom GFA 7500 5-channel amp. Bought it over 20 years ago. It's built like a tank, still runs great and I've never had a problem with it. (Watch it blow up tonight!)

I have 2 friends who had the Adcom tuner/preamp combo units with the separate power amps. Both had their tuner sections fail. One gave me their power amp when they bought new equipment and I still use that power amp today and I drive it with a Schiit Magni preamp. Still sounds great!

Joining the ranks here of folks who made a re-entry into Hi Fi (well after college and the trusty Pioneer receiver) and found the Adcom GFA 555 quite the bargain. It brought a life to the party not heard before. Hooked from that point and on with the journey: PS Audio. Levinson. McIntosh. BAT. Audible Illusions. Wilson. ASR. Lampizator. - a great ride in a wonderful hobby, Long live the music and the Hi Fi that makes it sound so good! It's not a sin to enjoy the equipment, too. Does that make us nerds? Proud to be one.

I use the gfp-750 preamp and it's still amazing, and built like a tank!!!! Nelson Pass design!

Hey Paul, I used to work in a store that sold Adcom amps. I worked in the service dept., so I got to see their innards a lot, but never got to actually hear one properly set up. I was told that they were decent entry level amps. Not all the Sales reps were great guys. The folks in the sales dept. where I worked used to call them "Sales Reptiles". He-he! Say, have you ever heard the story about how Adcom amps got that 'GFA' designtion? : D

I still have some adcom, have a 5 disc cd changer. Worked the last time I tried it. Had an adcom system for my living room/background listening and sounded good for that application.

Great gear! Currently using the ADCOM GFA-555SE & GFP-555 mkII in my system. A GFA-545 mkII sits on the audio museum shelf in my listening room next to another great piece of gear, the Hafler DH-500.

Never had any Adcom home stuff. But had Adcom car audio. Great SQ equipment. Had GFA-5450 4 ch. They had balanced-line inputs Not major power but were 1 ohm stereo stable.Great sq.

they made some car audio equipment too. The amps designed by Nelson are highly sought after.

Adcom is still going. I have a GFA 585se that is fairly new. 450 wpc, Class A/B. It is a beast. 79#.

I bought my GFA1 power amp in 1980. $1/watt. A year or so later I added the GFP1 preamp. Still have them, still kicking ass.

Morris is now Amplifier Technologies Incorporated (ATI). tasty stuff. his amps power both my theaters. there a a few fairly famous amp companies rebranding ATI.

I remember SAE back in the day, was good stuff but over my price point. thanks paul ;-))

Hi Paul...thanks for the history summary of ADCOM...I do have a GFA 7605 amp. It was a bargain in 2003 and still working. It is very humbling from you to call Nelson Pass your hero. He named the models GFA standing for Great Fu***** Amplifier.

Started out (1985)with a GFA 555 ,Conrad Johnson Premiere 2 and DQ 20 speakers sounded great. Fast forward 1992 ... 2 GFA 555's CJ Premiere 2 and Wilson Watt Puppy's....Will never forget that system one of the best sounding ever.

uh oh.... this guy again, adcom is still around, new amps are available, even more powerful than my 5802.

I remember buying my first ADCOM stereo amp...😍

I bought my Adcom from Bill Watkins in 1981 with Watkins WE2 speakers. Had the speakers re-foamed a few years ago. The Adcom is still working but it's finally starting to have some minor issues.

ADCOM brand was my first foray into "high-end" stuffs. I still own GDA-600, GCD-700, and AC line enhancer with perfect function. GFA-5800 finally gone after many many years of service.

Currently running an Adcom GFA-5802 amp / GFP-750 preamp combo with 0 complaints. Fingers crossed 2021 will be the year I pair them up with a set of JBL L100 Classics.

I'm just listening to this video through the ADCOM GFA 5400 amplifier :)

I still own my GFP555 and GFA555 from the 90's, still in use weekly

Back in the early 90s I was deciding between Adcom and B&K for my new amplifier purchase. Reviews described the Adcom on balance as harsh sounding and the B&K as more tube-like. Went with the B&K and still have it powering a system in the basement; running flawlessly now for 25 years. I do have a bulletproof Adcom speaker selector which is OK as long as you don't use the protection circuit which puts an incredible veil on transparency.

still hold on all my Adcom back in the late 90's early 2000 all my are made in the USA , all mine unit are shrink wrap on stereo rack , most my children are just all grad university now , maybe soon reconnect again with all my LP's

I had that amp it was great gfa 555 in the early 1980’s and loved it

Yes, I had three small Adcom amps. In a triamp system back in the 90’s , then switching to Sumo amps class A . Amp history. SAE 31 B , Adcom , Sumo, classe, Byrston, Audio research, Krelll, and my favourite VTL

I had the Adcom tuner, GFT-555. It was an amazing unit.

SAEs were some of the coolest looking equipment. Still running my GFA - 555 version one, with a threshold FET 10 Driving some a ADS L 880s

I bought my GFA-535 and GTP-400 preamp, (along with the Adcom CD player) in 1991. Still sound great with my old Klipsch Heresys.

I still have their system from 1998 Pushes so much power and clarity.

Had the GFA-1A, GFP-1 and GFT-1. Absolute great performance from this set up. GFA-1A had a fan speed switch added and maybe better electronics inside than the GFA-1. Had the Design Acoustics DA-30 speakers with the system. Really pissed the neighbors off! Good thing I worked nights and they weren't home during the week.

ATI is still in business. I have a pair of Adcom GFA-565 mono-blocks driving a pair of Magnepans. Also have an ATI 1502, a wonderful amp.

Adcom is today owned and made by a company in Thailand, still the 555, 565 and a meaty 585 :)

Growing up in the '80's in the NY Metro burbs, the Adcom GFA 555 was the gold standard if you could afford one. I liked the Sumo Andromeda was a nice amp as well though pricier. Great content, thanks for sharing your knowledge 👍🏽

Listen to a PSAudio Digital Link 2, GTP-500, GFA-545II and Epos ES11s. Fantastic sound. Thanks Paul!

Oh thank you Paul for allowing me to reminisce...my early adulthood The GFxx designation supposedly Stood for "Good F*n Amp"..... Had the GFA 555 with mods, and GFP preamplifier.... Musical Concepts had major mods on Adcom amps and took it to another level.. Adcom with Vandersteen and Thiel speakers for long time.. Thank you again

Back in the early 90s I owned the GFA-545, which was 125 watts per channel, I think.It had a really luscious warm sound that I liked very much. I subsequently "upgraded" to the GFA-565, which was the 300-watt per channel monoblocks. It had a rather sterile, electronic sound that I did not like. I never owned their most popular product, the GSA-555. It was revolutionary for providing great sound at a reasonable price. I think it cost about $800 for 200 watts per channel in the late 80s and early 90s, which was its heyday.

The 5400 is a wonderful amp.

Adcom is still in business and selling their product today. I'm still using a GFA-535 as the primary power amp in my 2-channel system. It sounds fantastic and has way more balls than you'd expect for an amp rated at 60 WPC. I'm not a big fan of Adcom preamps, but their power amps are usually great. I've found their preamps aren't as transparent as other options on the market, including what Emotiva currently sells.

My first amp was the GFA 585 LE powering my first pair of Klipschorns with Adcom GTP750 preamp and GCD 750 CD player in the early 90’s...I have since found a mint GFA 555 original I looked along time for, what can I say, American Muscle back then...💪🏻

Properly working Adcom GFA 535 II is STILL a top shelf amp with right speakers

There's a company that has actually brought back the ADCOM name and some of the more desirable vintage amps, "modernized" in various ways. I saw them at CEDIA 2017.

Using a GFP-555II preamp that I picked up a few years ago from eBay, love it.

I use an old GFA 555 with my new JBL L100 Classics and it’s off the charts awesome.

I still use my 1997 Adcom GTP-450, paid just under 500.00 sounds great after all these years! i wonder what the current equivalent brand sound quality would be, and how much price wise? with moderate high end gear costing so much more now...

I have a 5ch adcom amp. Been using it since 2000. Very reliable unit.