Very nice for the money paid. Plenty of power and the dynamics are impessive. This wasn't really a high end product new and it has performed very well the few weeks I have used it.

Binding posts are a little cloe together for the cable I use.

I have only had this a short time. After nearly 10 years of having my system put away because of family concerns (married wife w/small children) and lack of space. I am now putting my audio life back together and what with buying a new house and trying to buy the caliber of equipment I owned in my single days I thought I would get something that I had heard good things about. I have not been disappointed.

In my beginning audiophile years I put a lot of stock in brand names. Had to have the best and most expensive or at least the most snob appeal. After years of wasting money I realized how much more important the source is. Components are all so good these days it's hard to justify $10k on an amp to listen to $10 records. I think I will be fine with good class B or C used equipment and enjoy the music instead of worrying about what I have deprived my family of.

I now have a listening room. I have my Linn up, Nakamichi up, old preamp working (it's the next thing to be replaced) and using this Adcom. I have not gotten my speakers moved out here yet and I'm using a set of Polk 4A's (20 year old bookshelf speakers) in a very large room. The sound is great but small. I expect this amp will do well with my JBL monitors once I set them up. They're about 25 years old so may get replaced in the next few years.

Similar Products Used:

Phase Linear, Conrad-Johnson, Classe, Perreaux.

nada

all areas

This amp sucks! in every way. At first I thought my dynaudio speakers have defects, but when i switched to my bryston amp wow I wont even buy this crap for a dollar.

Similar Products Used:

Bryston 3bst. PS audio. B&K

I purchased the gfa-545II used, but I can't had its manual.I'd like to know some technical characteristics,if there is somebody
that know someting of this amplifier please send me someting.
if there are some errors excuse me for my english.

I bought this amp about four years ago. It's powerfull enough for most applications , and is extremlly reliable. Wonderful details in the highs and lows . I drive a pair of Dahlquist DQ-8's and listen mostly to Jazz and Classical music . If you find a good one , buy it!

Very happy with this purchase (used) from a high-end dealer for about $300. The amp appeals asthetically to my taste in functional design, was reliable and and powerful enough in my small (12x14x8) room. I own and have owned many Adcom components and have never had a problem, with the exception of shorting outputs (it's easy to replace the rail fuses if you try not to kill yourself).
Here's the deal though. I was, at best, a skeptic of upgrades, tweeks, cables, etc. One day I stopped into a dealership that was going under. I had been patronizing this store for many years and just wanted to bid their staff farewell. They were the only McCormack dealer I knew of. I chatted with one of the sales guys for a bit and we sat down to listen to the all-McCormack system one last time. It was nice (I've never heard sound in a store that compared with what I have at home, sorry, I don't know what they are doing wrong). I asked him to swap amps with the Adcom 5800, which I previously had taken home (from another dealer) to demo but had to return because it was far inferior to the 545 II.
His 5800 was quiet, unlike the demo I had tried. It was nice, very powerful.
He mentioned that the McCormack DNA 0.5 could be had for less. What?
I bought one of the store demo DNA 0.5's for $1000, full warranty.

I pulled the Adcom GFA 545 II. Let me say this first. The McCormack line has huge karma. I don't know Steve McCormack, I've read about him, but why don't you just bring one of his amps into your house and see if the energy doesn't change in your room in a huge positive way. I dare you. Cold, right out of the box, his little amp blew the walls right out of the county. The soundstage was so wide and deep: in fact, I never knew what people meant about soundstage depth until I put this amp in line. I sat there with my mouth hanging open saying, "I don't fnrkig beleive it!" over and over.

I can go on. The Adcom amp is nice. The big one they make now is great if you need 300w. At the price, get a half-dozzzzzen and you don't even need speakers, just wire them to the drywall. I even talked to C. Victor Campos about his 5800 when the transformer was buzzing like a yellow-jacket convention in a bannana-filled lunch bag. He's a cool guy. All the audio designers are cool. And one of the cool things about Adcom is tweekers love them. They are laid-out nice so you can pull out parts and upgrade with ease.

Or you can have Steve McCormack do it, to one of his pre/amps. That's why I'm going to have trouble with the rating. I love Adcom. I own Adcom gear, lots of it. I recommend Adcom gear. But, it's not high-end. For just a little more, welcome to the club.

System at time of review:

VPI HW-19 Mk IV / SME series V / Sumiko BPS
Adcom GFP 565 in direct mode (this is an excellent phono preamp)
Adcom GFA 545 II / comparison amp : McCormack DNA 0.5 stock (untweeked)
Celestion SL600Si on Celestion stands, spiked and lead-filled.
Cables by AudioQuest: Midnight III, Topaz.
Adcom line conditioner: 515
Equiptment racks leveled, spiked on each shelf and sand-filled (and way over in the closet, not between the speakers, you idiot!)
room tuned with Sonnex, carpet patches.

Note: since the price of this amp on the used market would lead me to believe potential buyers are moving up from receivers, I want you to realize that I spent tens, if not a hundred hours positioning my speakers (many speakers respond clearly to a few mm of twist and shift) and tuning the room. This is the only way you can hear the benefits of system upgrades. The speakers you own are the most important part of your system. That doesn't mean you need to spend alot of money, but you must spend your time listening to appreciate your decision. If you like the sound in the store, that better be where you plan to listen, because they won't sound like that at home.

Considering how much better this is than a receiver, and how cheap they are, and how easy they are to tweek:

I've owned this amp for 9 years. Although I want to upgrade, I've never been able to be satisfied with similar sized (100 W) amps from Rotel, Carver, McCormack, etc. I believe it is very transparent (at the expense of being too harsh) and a little 2D, but I believe it is the best amp at it price range. I am looking for another amp (with balanced inputs) that has more power but cannot find anything at $1500 (canadian, eh - used is OK) that improves my sound. Spending money on room treatments and vibration control is money much better spent!

Heavy Solid Construction, Thick/Solid RCA/Binding Posts

None at this price range!

I was using an Adcom GFA 545 to power a 2nd set of speakers for music listening only. I purchased a 545II on ebay as an upgrade to the 545. The 545II was definatly heavier in weight than the 545 which I noticed right away. The old 545 was clear but a bit tizzy on the high end and the base was not as tight as I though it should be. When I put in the 545II I immediatly noticed that the imaging was much better and the base was tighter and the highs not tizzy like the 545. Don't get me wrong, the 545 is a good amplifier and I may use it for a stereo in another room, but the 545II is definatly better.

While I still have a long way to becoming an Audiophile and alot of $$$, I really impressed with the 545II and can definatly say it is a great buy for the money and a definate improvement over the origional 545. There are some great amps out now for the money, but if your budget orientated and looking for a 2nd amp to power a set of rear stereo speakers, or to use in a home theator setup, check this one out!

Similar Products Used:

Adcom GFA 535II, GFA 545, Sansui 200w B2102

I have owned a 545 II for several years. A solid, well-designed andconstructed 100W amp which has never given any trouble. Now being seen increasingly on the used amp market, I would say this is one of the
best deals you can get. For the price, 5 stars.

GOOD SOUNDING POWER , STRONG BASS SMART TERMAL SHOT DOWN

ONLY 100WATTS

i have these amp for 4years no problem,have good bass with impact well define mids it really kick wend use in 4ohm also is stable in 2ohm I DRIVE MY 2 PAIR OF ENERGY'S PRO22NOW IAM MOVING TO A PAIR OF ADCOM 555 BECAUSE FIRTS ADCOM HEAD SHIF WHAS IF DONT' BELIVE WHAS THE FATHER OF SINGLE ENDE POWER IF YOU DONT KNOW LOOK FOR I????

Similar Products Used:

PRE ADCOM,AUDIOCONTROL, CARVER LEXICON CP1

Price, quality

Power

Just got it two ADCOM 545 MKII both for $300.
Perfect condition like they never been used.
In few words This amp is a good amp for small speakers. If you have hungry power speakers then is not for you. Two channel, 100 watts per channel at 8 Ohms, 150 Watts at 4 Ohms, The quality is there. I’m using it to power my NHT VT-1.4 8”woofers, the midrange and tweeders are power by Denon 3801, The other ADCOM I use it for NHT SuperZero’s for my rear.
It sound good
Perfect condition like they never were used.
It sound sweet clean the bass is tight, midrange is strong, tweeters sound good depend what you listening to, sometimes the tweeters sound a little bit too strong.
This amps are good for older people. I going to upgrade one of them with stronger one.

Similar Products Used:

Parasound 1500A