Acurus A250 X Adcom GFA555II (1 Viewer)

Guys,

Help me out, please. I´m about to buy an Acurus A250 ($416) or an Adcom GFA555II ($333) and I would like to know from you if the extra buck of the Acurus is worth it.

Don´t take much consideration about the prices itself, ´cause "downhere" those prices are REALLY good.

I´ve seen some reviews of the Adcom saying it lacks in definition, 3d, has some "graining". Do you think a guy like me) that have been using only receivers will really notice this "flaws" ?

Today I have a Pioneer 709 (for movies), a Denon 3200 and a Yamaha 1200 receivers with a set of 5.1 Polk speakers and a pair Paradigm Studio 20 for music in stereo (using the Denon).

May I still use the Denon as a pre-amp (for some time) with good results with any of this powers ? In due time I´ll probably buy a Creek passive pre-amp.

Thanks

Mauricio

I used to have an Acurus A250. It was brute of an amp. Never seemed to run out of juice with my speakers.

Mine matched up pretty good with my Denon 3802 used as a preamp.

Earle

I push two 4 ohm GR Rsearch AV1+'s with my A250. The amp has never given me a problem and runs very cool when compaired to other amps. I can not speak for the Adcom.

That´s nice to hear.

Anyone has compared it to a Adcom ?

Tks

I can give a comparison, but it isn't a fair one.

I had one of those 50 or 100W Adcom amps a long time ago, GFA-535 or something. Along with the GTP-400 (or something) preamp/tuner. Liked that combo well enough. (Remember those old ads? "The cure for the common receiver.")

Flash forward 10 years. I have had Acurus amps for maybe the last 6 years. Started off with 1 100x3 to add to my stereo setup to get to 5.1.

Now, I have an A200 and an A200x5 for a 7.1 system. Even considering that the Adcom was much lower power, I still believe that Acurus is in a different league.

If you are interested, I have some old reviews of the A250 and the 200x3. The old Audio and Stereo Review reviews where they actually did pretty extensive measurements. Email or PM me, and I'll get you copies. Their power output is amazing.

Don't know much about the Adcom as well but I am a fan of the Acurus. I have an A125x5, which is the lower wattage sibling of the A2xx series. The Acurus has plent of power even at just 125 watts, driving my Paradigm Reference 40's. So count me as another vote for Acurus.

I think they are both very good amps for the money and the sound is usually colored by the different preamp tuners and their tendencies.

I'll bet you guys in a DBT you can't tell the difference between Acurus and Adcom. Saying that I'd buy either.

The 555 II is a great amp for the money. I've heard it and it never runs out of power either.

Saying that I recently purchased for $200 a used Adcom 545 (100WPC - 2 channel) and it seems to never run out of Power.

It has distortion monitors and at 0 db in conjunction with my Pioneer 45 TX (102 -103 db average and 107-108db peaks)- the Adcom amp and my Pioneer are maxed on power with the Adcom just flickering on distortion which the manual says is the limit of the unit. It has plenty of power so I guess the 555 would handle the toughest duty.

I have Paradigm studio 40s, CC , and ADP's with the Adcom handling the 40's and the Pioneer handling the CC and ADPs.

I think somewhere in the future - I'll purhcase the 5 channel Adcom or Acurus as I continue into seperates and relegate the Adcom 545 to the surround back duty.
Incidently I can't tell one iota diffrence between the Adcom 545 and my Pioneer 45 TX.

Mike

Mike

Tks everybody. Great info.

How would you classify this kind of equipment ?

Mid-fi, Hi-Fi, "kind of hi-end" ?

Would it´s sound be as good or refined as an integrated as a Roksan, Gamut, Electrocompaniet ? Or it has on punch and not so much quality ?



Mauricio

One other thing, my Acurus A250 never got hot no matter how long and loud I played it. I had a Adcom 2535 (60x4) that got real hot after around a hour of loud music.

earle