Adcom GFA-5006 Amplifiers Reviews

jamison

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Price Paid:  $284.00 from Ebay

Summary:
i bought this amp along with a GFA-555 I have the 5006 driving my rear and center speakers bridged at 175 x 3. the 555 drives the mains. so far i am impressed with the power i have an Onkyo TX-SR receiver i now use as a preamp. in bridged mode it blows the Onkyo away. I tried it in stereo and it does not keep up with the 555.

Strengths:
Clean, Powerful, doesn't take up too much space. the thick removable power cord is nice as is the OFF/AUTO/ON switch which allows you to turn the amp on with a 12 volt trigger or have it sense a signal to turn it on. very decent price, i picked mine up for under $300 at ebay and the unit was mint.

Weaknesses:
the power on led light is way too bright, and at really low volume levels tends to turn off if you have it in the AUTO ON setting. it is also slow to turn on when sensing a signal.

Similar Products Used:
Onkyo, Pioneer,Klipsch reference series speakers (flagship model all the way around)

Price Paid:  $515.00 from www.smartbargins.com

Summary:
Fairly new to the world of high-end equipment. Previously I was running 2 Adcom GFA 535II's for the center and rears. The Adcom 535II's ran too hot in the HT center so I opted to replace them with 1 Adcom 5006 bridged to 3 x 175 Watts. The most immediate improvement was the POWER! This amp really brought my entire HT system to life using it for the center and rear speakers. When listening to 6-channel stereo music through my Marantz SR5200 and Marantz CC9100 300 Disk Changer it performs extremely well. Clear highs, good midrange and tight bass. Very capable amp. Picking this amp up around $500 makes it a great deal for the money. If I were to have paid full price I would have opted for a 5503 instead probably. But in the $500 range it's perfect to run all 6 channels for a smaller HT system or 3 Channels if you have an existing 2-channel amp.
I'm giving it 5 stars for the money I paid for it and 5 stars for its performance in this price range! Very versatile, the power "Vacation Switch" is a very nice feature and the sound quality is great. I'm not sure how it performs on the mains in 2-channel stereo mode but will probably test that out later. Very happy with this purchase!

Rob

Strengths:
3 Channel Mode = Great Power! Like the power on features, excellent for center channel and surrounds.

Weaknesses:
Runs a bit warm, but not hot like my Adcom 535II's did. LED on front extremely bright. Guides Ships In Fog!

Similar Products Used:
Adcom GFA 535II, 545, 555, Sansui B2102, Marantz Gear

Summary:
I love the bridging aspects of this amp. I am using two channels at 175 watts/ch to bi- wire my nht 2.9's.
The amp also has pre-out/main in plugs for cascading with more amps or properly bi-wiring with an amp with pre-out/main in. I am using the 3rd channel bridged to stereo at 50 watts/ch to run the 2nd zone from my yamaha rxv-2095. it saves a ton of space with the torroid design andhas an unusually small profile for an amp of its size. great for muli zone & surround applications.

Strengths:
extremely versatile 3 channel amp. great value at $800 for 3 channels at 175 watts/channel

Weaknesses:
auto on/off turns off at low volumes when used as a sub amp.