I believe “Golden Ears” are a bit of a myth. Listening takes practice and experience, and there is nothing special about the ears attached to a sound engineer or musician. I mean, we don’t say that visual artists or critics have “Golden eyes” now, do we? No, they’ve spent a lifetime learning their craft, from crayon scribbles to oil paints.
This program from Harman International trains your ears to be sensitive to various kinds of sound processing and distortions.
Folks, I have another refurbished Adcom GFA-555 II ready for a new home! This is a terrific amp. Not only is it 110% electrically, but as you can see, it’s in excellent cosmetic condition. The face is nearly perfect, and there are just a few minor ticks here and there. Click on the photos to see it in high-resolution.
This is a thorough refurbishing! All electrolytic capacitors have been replaced with audio-grade types from Nichicon, WIMA or Panasonic. Even the big power-supply filter capacitors are new, something many refurbishers leave out, or charge extra for, because they are expensive. Output transistors changed to the excellent On Semicondutor MJ21193/94. Drivers changed to ON Semiconductor NJW3281G and NJW1302G for greater voltage headroom.
Continue reading SOLD: ADCOM GFA-555 II, completely refurbished and upgraded.
If you’re like me, and you like huge stacks of stereo equipment, you may be wondering how to keep it cool! My quad-amplified system requires four amplifiers, and I can’t really give them all enough room to breathe. Plus, they look pretty sweet stacked on top of one another!
This was a fun project!
Adcom had a sensational success with the GFA-535 in the 80s and 90s. A great bargain! For 300 bucks, you got a true dual-mono amplifier designed by Nelson Pass. (Separate power supplies for both channels.) Conservatively rated at 60WPC, with a high-current power supply, it was a lot of amp for the money. Lots of people read this glowing review at Stereophile magazine and bought one.
I’ll admit, I am biased!
Given a choice between two amplifiers, I am likely to believe that the more expensive, more powerful, and more beautiful amplifier will actually sound better and perform better.
But, this could not always be true! In real life, some moderately priced, ordinary-looking products actually outperform some so-called “high-end” products. (A term that makes me cringe a bit.)
So, how do we get at the truth? How do you compare the sound of two amplifiers?
Continue reading The A/B/X-Box challenges your assumptions about amplifiers
I’ve rescued this beautiful Adcom GFA-555 Mark II from an amateurish repair attempt. Evidently, the amp blew its output transistors, (rare with these amps actually) and it was repaired with non-matching parts, and some counterfeit output transistors! These were mixed with good original transistors. This repair no doubt worked, but it blew out again shortly after.
