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dtr20

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On 3/6/2017 at 9:09 AM, dtr20 said:

I have an adcom gtp-400 preamp and a adcom gfa-545 II amp. I also have a marantz 2238b receiver that sounds similar to my Pioneer.

 

i'm a long time adcom fan & have had many of their offerings paired with many classic klipsch speakers from kg5.5's, cf-4's, fortes & chorus ii, to k-horns.  IMO the gtp400 is one of the lesser quality preamps they offer & could be part of why you're not overly  impressed.  try stepping up a couple model #'s to the gtp 500ii, 565 or especially the gfp555, the gfp doesnt have a tuner but is supposed to be the best sounding adcom pre of that era & has a very good phono section. 

 

also i have read that the 545 amp is one of the lesser sounding amps of that series, not sure why because it has more power than the 535, but lots of people say its sound quality is lacking & it falls apart at higher volumes. the 535ii i had sounded very very good for the power it made & for all but max volume it sounded better than the 555ii, but for louder level listening the 555ii was much better. on high efficiency speakers like klipsch the first few watts are what really matters so maybe thats why the 535 sounded better at all but max volumes.  the 555 has better bass & impact at higher volumes when critical listening isnt a factor.

 

if you can afford it the newer higher end adcoms are very nice too, the 750 preamp is a very nice unit. & as mentioned above the 5300-5500 mosfet series amps are supposed to be nice too, some like them better than the original 535-555 (ii) & some dont.  all depends on your system & ears.  

 

i also have a marantz 1060 that sounds very nice when used as a integrated, but really sounds good when used as just a pre with the adcom amps, noticeably better than the adcom gtp500ii preamp. 

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DTR20, you mentioned that you listen to most of your music on a Denon cdp. Have you considered upgrading your player? I too listen to the vast majority of my music via cds & found stepping up in quality on the CDP to be nice leap in sound quality for a minimal investment. Perhaps you can ask one of your friends to bring over a better quality player to audition & see if that improves the sound quality of your system.

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This probably won't happen, but there is a McIntosh MA6800 for sale locally to me. It's obviously very expensive, but I'm not sure if it's reasonably priced or not. I can't find any prices online besides this one. Does anyone have an idea of the going rate? 

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Oddly I don't really believe separates are better than integrateds or even receivers.

However this is true I believe of all of the above.

There can be something that will drive a difficult load without burning up but sound like mud. My favorite amp to throw into this pile is a Pioneer sx 1250.

There can be good sound but lacking power, and a lot of tube amps fall in this pile and it wont matter to a Klipsch heritage owner, but any ribbon based or even hard/soft dome centric speaker set, it can. Adcom 535. 5500 etc. Sound great but totally give up when you run it into a very inductive speaker like a B&W 802 matrix.

Good sound and good power - but wont handle a drifting load. Pioneer 80 series. 1280 and 1980 - maybe its the age of the components in these. KR9600 kenwood as well.

 

The holy grail is to get all of the above. Good sound, good with drifters, good power, and all the rest of it.

 

As always the search continues.

My Proceed amp 5 was a bit of a disappointment to me for the year + I tried it with everything under the sun. Then one day I ran it off a NAD3155 pre into my carver amazing 3's and wow did it ever light those up. Those guys are power hungry, as per carver they ideally need 700 watts a side amp. This guy is rated @ 125 X 5.

Run the proceed/nad on most anything else, it sounds ordinary.

 

My carver silver 7 mono blocks ran a pair of B&W 801 S3's rather dismally, but they absolutely lit up a infinity kappa 9.

 

A bit of synergy comes in there too I'll bet.

Anyway, I'll bet you'd be hard pressed to get the Khorn's to sound better than your current equipment by a big margin I'll bet. Different - yes, better - unlikely. Of course tubes add a nice flavor that you will probably not find in an SS amp costing 10X as much. So for different, maybe go tube. That's it.

 

Cool.

Srinath.

 

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7 hours ago, jason str said:

I have owned 3 Adcom preamps and was unhappy with all of them and finally gave up and picked up a used NAD, very happy with the results in comparison.

Adcom pre's are not that great. Someone also told me the pre amp section of a sx1250 is what contributes to most of the muddiness I heard.

NAD pre's are awesome, their power amps tend to be a bit harsh even though accurate. Adcom amps are pretty accurate but not to the point of being harsh and shrill.

Cool.

Srinath.

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3 hours ago, Srinath said:

Adcom pre's are not that great. Someone also told me the pre amp section of a sx1250 is what contributes to most of the muddiness I heard.

NAD pre's are awesome, their power amps tend to be a bit harsh even though accurate. Adcom amps are pretty accurate but not to the point of being harsh and shrill.

Cool.

Srinath.

I'm surprised about the sx-1250. I've read that the sx-1250 is supposed to be the ultimate receiver. I picked up a marantz 250 amp last night.

20170308_182850.jpg

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22 minutes ago, dtr20 said:

'm surprised about the sx-1250. I've read that the sx-1250 is supposed to be the ultimate receiver.

While it may not be the "ultimate receiver" the SX-1250 is in the top three, IMO.  All of the vintage receivers need to be updated with new caps, etc, just as our beloved Klipsch Heritage speakers need to have their crossovers updated.  I have three SX-1250's, and there's a good reason for that.....

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54 minutes ago, dtr20 said:

I'm surprised about the sx-1250. I've read that the sx-1250 is supposed to be the ultimate receiver. I picked up a marantz 250 amp last night.

20170308_182850.jpg

 

wow!  very nice marantz. would be a perfect mate to my 1060.  what did you get it for & what are the specs? 

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Newer modern separates.  Only way to go.  Nostalgia in the old is nice but the engineering in the new (provided in your price range) can turn your speakers into new speakers. 

Minimum of Emotiva separates.  After that the sky is the limit.   IMHO.

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On 3/9/2017 at 5:53 AM, Srinath said:

Adcom pre's are not that great.

NAD pre's are awesome, their power amps tend to be a bit harsh even though accurate. Adcom amps are pretty accurate but not to the point of being harsh and shrill.

Cool.

Srinath.

 

I agree.

 

 

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