Mods for the Adcom Gfa 555 ?

[faster100]

I just sold my rotel amp and purchased a Adcom 555 power amp.. i have read online where people have done all kinds of mods, change the input jacks, binding posts, running a solid wire across the inside fuse holders, amongst many other complicated mods, i care not to do... anybody do these, heard of them or know people that have? The input jacks cracked on me right after i got it, so i replaced the jacks with gold plated standard jacks for now... any other idea's? or what is the reason for bipassing the fuses?


any help appreciated

[faster100]

guess no one knows.... oh well back to a more reliable source, Yahoo :D

[RuSsMaN]

Oh, we know. We just don't want to tell YOU.

You should have kept the Rotel.

Cheers,
Russ

[shiu]

I had my 3805 working with a GFA-555 for quite some time, it sounded very good in 2 channel music, without any mods.

[faster100]

Yeah actually it sounds pretty good...

Russ,
I knew you knew mods on these as i seen your comment in another thread, However i knew you would be a dick and not tell me, :D

[madmax]

There is always a voltage drop across a fuse and standard fuses with thin metal strip inside causes noise. Never short fuses unless you are the only one ever using your system AND you are always present when powered up AND the amp is in a safe fireproof area. A great alternative is to us a ceramic fuse. Usually they are white in color. This is a big tweak in a lot of equipment. They can be had from RS. If they don't have the proper one then check digikey, they have a good selection.
madmax

[bigsexy1]

Originally posted by faster100
Yeah actually it sounds pretty good...

Russ,
I knew you knew mods on these as i seen your comment in another thread, However i knew you would be a dick and not tell me, :D

That's because he's probably too busy scouring the landfills local to his area looking for some piece of crap 20 year old pair of speakers somebody else threw away so he can come back here to post pics of them and tell us all how they were such great classics back in the day and how somebody was so stupid to get rid of them because all they need is refoaming.:p

However, I do agree with him that you should have probably kept the Rotel instead of the old Adcom. OTOH, I've also heard that Rotel actually made Adcoms first generation amps in that series (555, 545, 535, etc.). Can anybody confirm or deny this for sure?

[steveinaz]

Hey, Bigse...errr, I feel really gay calling another man, your username, anyways.......Dude, did you ever ride a Yamaha Road Star motorcycle by chance? Your username is the same as a guy I knew some time ago on the Road Star forum....

[faster100]

Originally posted by madmax
They can be had from RS. If they don't have the proper one then check digikey, they have a good selection.
madmax

Thanks Max as always... will check out the fuse thing..
was thinking of an IEC socket but the metal plate is pretty thick that the current cord go's into... and think cutting would be difficult..

[HBombToo]

Originally posted by bigsexy1
That's because he's probably too busy scouring the landfills local to his area looking for some piece of crap 20 year old pair of speakers somebody else threw away so he can come back here to post pics of them and tell us all how they were such great classics back in the day and how somebody was so stupid to get rid of them because all they need is refoaming.:p

and your point is????

I thought that was what this hobby was all about; furthermore, I had the great fortune of listening to some of those throw aways and was very impressed. To have the talent, wisdom and know how to take something that was great and turn it back into something again has to be admired.

HBomb

[faster100]

Thats about the only thing i can agree on, with Russ.. the fact of getting trash or vintage stuff and turning it into treasure or revenue for my family.. i do it for a living and enjoy it. nothing wrong with that,

[RuSsMaN]

Sorry, I was at the landfill all morning, what was the question again?

[danger boy]

just don't get your boys to close to all those magnets.. you're likely to go sterile or something.

Take it from Doro. wear lead underwear. :p

[Toxis]

I take it I'm the only one here thinking it was a good idea to sell the Rotel? Maybe because it fits better in my rack than in his. hahaha j/k I'd still like to get my hands on a 555 to do a true side by side comparison.

[faster100]

we both got what we wanted, thats all that matters.. unfortunatly i have to sell stuff to buy and cant ever demo gear side by side.. i think the Rotel is top notch and this adcom is right behind it....

[bigsexy1]

Originally posted by steveinaz
Hey, Bigse...errr, I feel really gay calling another man, your username, anyways.......Dude, did you ever ride a Yamaha Road Star motorcycle by chance? Your username is the same as a guy I knew some time ago on the Road Star forum....

Nah, that wasn't me. There is at least one "bigsexy" on virtually every board of every kind on the internet. I have 2 Harleys. I won't even ever own another piece of Yamaha audio gear, much less a motorcycle.

Also, considering the state you are in, you had better be careful saying that you feel that way.

The question still stands, does anyone know for sure one way or the other if Rotel actually made Adcom's first generation amps or not?

[RuSsMaN]

As far as I know the GFA series were all Nelson Pass designs (short of the triple digit MKII's ie 555 etc), made right here in the good ole USA.

Cheers,
Russ

[TroyD]

Hmmmm, Russ, maybe we have been mistaken.

Perhaps we should ditch our tubes and classic gear for an AVR and some RTi's.

What are we THINKING?

BDT

[VR3]

So the GFA 545 II was made by a different person all together?

There are some distinct differences between the 535, 545 and the 535, 545 II - they have alot sweeter sound and don't sound as 'cold' - atleast to my ears...

But according to some, the 555 was Adcom's attempt to produce a high powered amp at a low price - which they did - but it lacked the overall fidelity of its lower models....

Is this true?

[faster100]

Originally posted by TroyD
Hmmmm, Russ, maybe we have been mistaken.

Perhaps we should ditch our tubes and classic gear for an AVR and some RTi's.

What are we THINKING?

BDT

was this in left field or what? LOL... where did this come from?

[George Grand]

I have a 27 year old pair of speakers. I didn't rescue them from the landfill or anything like that. They'll cave your chest in and make you wish you had a pair.

George Grand (of the Jersey Grands)

[Mjr7531]

Originally posted by George Grand
I have a 27 year old pair of speakers. I didn't rescue them from the landfill or anything like that. They'll cave your chest in and make you wish you had a pair.

George Grand (of the Jersey Grands)

I do wish I had a pair...
Oh... speakers... ;)

Vintage? The only vintage I have seen are full rangers with fake tweeter domes glued on.

[bigsexy1]

Originally posted by RuSsMaN
As far as I know the GFA series were all Nelson Pass designs (short of the triple digit MKII's ie 555 etc), made right here in the good ole USA.

Cheers,
Russ

That's what I thought. I'm going to try to dig up and post here where I saw that about Rotel. Probably nothing to it though.

[bigsexy1]

Originally posted by George Grand
I have a 27 year old pair of speakers. I didn't rescue them from the landfill or anything like that. They'll cave your chest in and make you wish you had a pair.

George Grand (of the Jersey Grands)

Are you talkin' to me GG?

If so, that's a pretty bold statement when you don't even know what I may have and already be used to. All I can say is whatever you're going to bring had better be REAL strong if it will "cave my chest in" as you say.

[George Grand]

Heard it all before. You ride Harleys and own big dogs. Who would've guessed?

George Grand (of the Jersey Grands)

[mantis]

Just as expected.......

[bigsexy1]

Well that's all well and good GG, but you are the one who first claimed to have a 27 year old pair of speakers that would "cave my chest in and make me wish I had a pair".

If you are going to talk the talk, you've gotta walk the walk (and I'm not talking about walking the path that is different than just knowing it either). So go ahead and hit me with it. What are they? Don't hurt me too bad now!

[VR3]

I believe hes talking about the AR 9

But hey, what do I know?

[bigsexy1]

Yeah Sid, that's what I thought. I vaguely seemed to remember him saying he had some old ARs that would reach down to the the high 20 HZ range.

[RuSsMaN]

Yeah, George seems to be partial to 12" woofers, can't say I blame him. Those AR9's have 2 in each cab, and acoustic suspension loading at that.

They are 3db down at 28Hz, if I recall correctly - and that's chamber loaded - no room gain added, which mean the typical living room will only make things better.

Plus, the biggest benefit to sealed box, acoustic suspen. bass - is you don't get the typical 'waterfall' drop off in response at the 3db down point, as ported designs do. Properly designed and implemented, acoustic suspen. will roll off at 6db/oct.

You don't need to have a degree in mathematics, to see they are easily subsonic, at a useable level.

Cheers,
Rooster