Summary: No category for Adcom 545 so I`ll post it here. A fan of audio equipment and sound reproduction for around 50 years . Recently bought a recommended" budget component of the year winner" power amps by one of the big mags. Thankfully there was a 30 day money back trial. I " burned it in" for 4 weeks and was very disappointed. I sent it away for a refund. I saw on Audiogon an Adcom 545 in mint condition. Bought it. Mint condition indeed. Sounded better cold than the rival did on for a solid month. So exicted I sought to have it totally brought back to life. An 1987 amp needs some upgrading afterall. I saw on the internet Big Sky Audio. They were more resonable than the rest ,stating they only replaced crucial parts in the signal path of old HI-Fi gear. I called and spoke to Rick and was assured the job would be done correctly. A few weeks later it arrived back in the same mint cond. After 3 or 4 days break in I was amazed! Transparency was unbelievable. Bass was tight and soundstage improved greatly! For around $400 amp? upgrade will kill anything 5 times the price. I`m running a Musical Fidelity A-5 CD and CJ PF-R pre with a rotation of Cain and Cain Abbey and Dynaudio Audience 42`s and couldn`t be happier. I`m off the upgrade merry-go-round for now.
Would you like to Comment? Join AudioReview for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.
Rating Reviewed by: tom hubbard(Unregistered User)
(Audio Enthusiast)
Review Date December 4, 2010
Overall Rating 5 of 5
Value Rating 5 of 5
Used product for 1 to 3 months
Visitors rate this review 5.00 of 5,
2.00 votes
Review 2 of 36
Price Paid:
$0.00
Summary: This review is for the Adcom 545. No category so I`ll place it here. A few months back in searching for a clean and affordable power amp ,I bought ( name witheld) a popular, " budget component of the year winner" as stated by one of the big mags. Thank goodness there was a 30 day money back trial. After 5 weeks "burn in" iI sent it away unsatisfied. I saw an Adcom 545 on Audiogon in mint contition so I bought it. Mint it was. Hooked it up cold and it sounded better than the raved about model I just returned. Transparent, involving and sweet to say the least. Because the unit was so clean I decided to have it serviced. After all it`s about 23 years old and the caps must be tired. I spotted a company on the internet that advertised mods for older audio equipment and much more resonable than the others, stating they only replaced caps and resistors in the signal path. Well the company is Big Sky Audio. I spoked to Rick who is the owner and the Adcom was off in the mail. A few weeks later I received the unit with all new resistors, caps DC offset and bias set. After only 2 or 3 days run in I was amazed.More transparent, tighter bass, smoother highs. ROCK SOLID stable imaging and an improved soundstage as well. For my total amp/ upgrade investment of about 400$ I`m utterly pleased! I imaging this couldn`t be achieved for 10 times the money spent. I`m using a CJ PFR pre, musical Fidelity A-5 CD and a rotation of Dynaudio audience 42`s and Cain and Cain Abbey. I`m off the merry-go-round of swapping for now.
Would you like to Comment? Join AudioReview for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.
Summary: Got this for $200 used from an audophile neighbor. No idea how old it is. I'm using it to bi-amp some Polk RTi-12s, it's hooked to the lower half of the cabinets, powering the 3 bass radiators per side. All I can say is Oh- My-God. It drives the RTi-12's to very satisfying lows, effortlessly. This is in a large open loft-style space. and I can literally see ripples in the surface of the sofa from the bass, which is clear and never boomy or muddy. So I can't rate this amp for treble, but as a bass amp it's fantastic. I think the 100W rating might be pretty conservative.
Would you like to Comment? Join AudioReview for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.
Summary: I actually had the GFA 545 (Mk I). I had always lusted after Adcom gear since the late '80s, but when I finally got this unit in 2006 I was disappointed. I expected a fairly refined sound. What I got was cold, hard, sterile and steely. I felt like I had to get away from it every time I listened to it. I didn't help that I was using, at the time, Paradigm Mini Monitors V4. They exacerbated the steelyness with their titanium dome tweeter (just think I almost bought Focals... Yikes). I would think this unit would sound better with a pair of "New England" voiced speakers with their slightly rolled off top end. I'm talking original ARs, KLHs, Advents, NHTs, etc. So was it worth the money? Not in the least IMO. When I switched to tubes all was right with the world again and I've never looked back.
Would you like to Comment? Join AudioReview for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.
Summary: This is a great amplifier. It's well built, powerful and very clean. You need to use high end cables and a good set of speakers to really enjoy it though. It seems to be a little harsh on the high end so soft dome tweaters are probably a better choice. It also has a soft pop during poweroff when the caps discharge. I called Adcom. They said this is normal. For $200.00 I'll live with the soft pop. Hi fi system for less than $1000.00. Can't complain!
Strengths: Built like a tank, Sounds great even after 15 years, Very powerful.
Weaknesses: A little harsh on the high end. I'm trying different cables and speaker combinations.
Similar Products Used: Adcom, QSC, Macintosh, DynaAudio, Bozak, PSB, Polk
Would you like to Comment? Join AudioReview for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.
5 of 5
2 of 5
4 of 5
