Adcom Vs Rotel

So maybe you'll save up for a dream amp later when you can afford one. You can take the time to audition products from Ayre, McIntosh, Bryston, Classe, etc. and find the amp that really makes the 802's sing. In the meantime you still need a decent amp that will drive the 802's properly and keep you within budget.

If the review buzz for the Odyssey Audio Khartago is even half true, this may be the interim amp for you. Here are some reviews: TAS, Soundstage, Enjoythemusic, Goodsound.

Put Arcam on the list also

THE ADCOMGFA555 200W IS A BEAST
I passed on the Rotel

STANWAL,This is the fisrt time I've ever heard that ADCOM
outsourced their products. If true, well I'm just very surprised. I own a GFA555 and now wonder where it came from. The quality of an80s amp is spectacular and now couldn't care less where it came from . But a truely new slant on an old product.

Its common knowledge, SOME of the 555s were very good, some were not. Many companies design a product and then have it made by a company specializing in that product; this is not always a bad thing. The Japanese company Jelco has only recently become well known despite making high quality tonearms for decades for other companies to be sold under their names. The problem is that sometimes a company will turn to manufacture A to make a product; after it is established it will then turn to manufacture B to make a cheaper version without changing the appearance or model number. This is what I had heard was the case with the 555 but I have not compared them myself. NAD is another respected marketer, who, so far as I am aware, does the design work and contracts out the actual construction to others. At least that was the case in the days when I was one of their dealers. But since so much of the industry has moved to the Far East and so many famous brands have been juggled between companies I will not pretend to have an exact knowledge of who is making what these days.