Thoughts on the Vintage Adcom GFA1A 200WPC

I have had many power amps in the past (many Adcom as well) and my Arcam Alpha 10 power amp rated at 100 watts per channel easily beats them all in transparency, soundstaging, and musicality. In fact I have not heard anything better except the ARC gear. Like the expensive Gamut amps, the Arcam power amps use the same new mosfet technology where only two output devices per channel are used and generates as much power as several output devices per channel used in other amp designs. The concept here is the less parts and the better quality of parts a signal goes through the better the sound quality and I concur. I consider the Arcam to be extremely musical and definately a major step over any Adcom power amp. Don't get me wrong, I started off with Adcom (including the GFA1A) and I liked it but ended up with Arcam and had a whole lot of brands in-between.

I have two of these nice amps, true they are a bit sensitive and run hot if pushed, but have worked well since the early 80's for me. They don't enjoy low impedance and the on and off switches have been broke in the on potition for quite some time. I have just used a on/off switch at the outlet.

I have a GFA1A, have had it for about 21 years. Solid as a rock, great sound, no issues that I have been too critical of. Have had to get it repaired 2X by Adcom in its life. I am powering some NAS Squire speakers (North Dallas company back in 1980's) and have been very pleased with the setup. I'll agree with Sean's comments on running hot when cranked up - you better turn the fan on high speed of at a decent volme level. Idle Power consumption is spec'd at 100W per Adcom's original specs (still available on their web site)

I can't remember too much about this amp other than it was very small and marketed as competition for the "Carver cube". If my memory serves me, i think that this amp actually clipped at about 280 wpc @ 8 ohms, making it a stout little performer, especially for its' size. It did run quite hot when throttling it from what i recall. That's about all i can dredge up from my ever-dwindling brain cells. No recollection of how it sounds, etc... Sean
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