Aragon 4004 MkII vs Adcom 5500 vs Anthem MCA-2 (1 Viewer)

[JohMabe]

I'm about to get some used gear, an amplifier in this case. I'm currently considering an Aragon 4004 MK2, an Adcom 5500 and an Anthem MCA-2. I'm gonna be using them with a pair of power-hungry 6-ohms Dynaudio pair of Speakers, the LR120+. I was wondering which of these would you buy, price is similar, so not an issue.

I could consider also the Adcom 555 Mk2, but it seems too old. Anyway, if you have got any suggestion in that price range I'll also greatly consider.

 

[Kevin T]

i say go with the aragon but i'm a bit biased. personally, i think you should plunk down the extra coin for a used aragon 8008bb. there's one on audiogon right now for $1200 but you could probably talk the guy down to $1000. no it is not my amp.

kevin t

 

[JohMabe]

Is the 8008 a huge improvement? I'm buying a new amplifier especially because I need more watts power, will the 8008 deliver them?

 

[Kevin T]

the 8008 can definitely deliver plus it gives you the option of balanced outputs as well. i can't comment on the difference between the 4004 mkii as i never heard this amp. i sold my 8008bb to upgrade to pair of palladium ii monoblocks. i would say the 8008bb is about 75%-80% of the palladiums performance.

kevin t

 

[JohMabe]

Well, I guess the $1200,00 price tag puts me off...anyway, I might still consider the 4004mk2. Are Adcom amps any good?

 

[Kevin T]

can't comment on the adcom as i don't have much experience with them or the anthem either. i'm sure someone else can chime in as there are plenty of anthem owners on this board.

kevin t

 

[Erik J. B.]

You don't hear much about Adcom amps on this or any other forum, so I thought this would be a perfect first thread to reply to on this forum. I've got an older 555 and a 5503 I just bought. I love 'em. I directly compared them to the Rotel and B & K. The B & K just wasn't as good a value as me for the performance compared to the Adcom. On the otherhand, I liked the way the Adcom sounded compared to the Rotel, without a doubt. I've got some "bright" Axioms and the 5503 is a beautiful match for my front stage. Plenty of power and a controlled treble, which is what I like. As a matter of fact, some Dynaudio's is what I used to listen to the Adcom. Really the only qualm I have w/ the amp is the lack of 12V DC trigger, but no biggie if you've got no use for it or have a way around it.

 

[Keith J]

I have a Aragon 4004 mkII and love it I also have a Adcom 5503 for center and rears that I am selling by the way! that I think betters some amps that cost $$$ more the Aragon doubles its power into 4ohms and has a sweet sounding top end if you would like to have 3 channels one as a reserve the Adcom is nice PM me if you want to know my price or are interested in the Adcom I am going to 7.1 channels and am going to purchase a 5 channel Adcom.

 

[Alex F.]

JohMabe:

I've written about the Adcom 5503 (the three-channel version of the 5500), in depth, several times here at HTF over the years, as have others. Do a search under "Adcom GFA-5503" or under my name to pull up some or all of the previous posts.

By the way, in short, the Adcom MOSFET series of power amps, of which the 5500 is one, offers superb performance. Adcom hired Nelson Pass to design the 5800, and the other units in the series were spinoffs of that amp. Before settling on the 5503 and 5400 for our theater system, I auditioned many amps at competitive and much higher prices. I enjoyed the Adcom's sonic attributes best of all: smooth; tonally neutral to slightly laid-back; excellent detail, imaging, and soundstaging; and lack of glare and grain in the upper midrange and lower treble. They have proven also to be utterly reliable workhorses.

Last year, when I went in search of an amplifier that would outperform the Adcom 5503, for use in a separate den system, I found it necessary to move to McIntosh. The Adcom MOSFET amps are tough to beat.

Happy listening!

 

[Ricky T]

In the 650-800 used range, you should also consider the Parasound 2200II 250x2. True dual mono (one 1.2kVA power transformer per channel), 7-9 watts of pure class A, retail $2k, 60 lbs....similiar specs to the Aragon 8008BB

I've owned many amps, and have been very happy with two 2200IIs and the 6 channel Parasound 806 running my 7.2 system for almost a year (along with an Aragon Soundstage prepro).

 

[JohMabe]

Thank you all for the thoughtful replies!

I was wondering, is there any drawback to the Adcom 5500? I heard that the 5800 had a noisy fan, that's why I didn't buy it two years ago. But the 5500 are a new series, so that should be fixed. Or not?

Also, does it get too hot when driving low impedance speakers (4ohms)?

And about the 5803, would I be able to amp an active/passive subwoofer with the 3rd channel?

 

[Alex F.]

The 5500, which was introduced about the same time or not long after the 5800, does not utilize a fan.

I easily drove Polk LSi-25s (rated at 4-ohms, though they do drop to about 3 ohms in part of the bass region) for quite awhile--no problem at all. The 5500 is designed specifically to handle 4-ohm or even lower impedance loads. My 5503 runs warm, which is typical for a MOSFET output stage. It will get a bit hot when driven very hard for extended periods, but never overly so. The extensive heatsinking does its job well.