Adcom GFA-535

Adcom GFA 535

Great Amp for a 2 channel system or to expand your Home Theater from 5.1 to 7.1 channels. I am the original owner.  This amp is extremely clean and if it were not for a very small nick at the top of the faceplate this piece would easily rate 8/10 (see pictures). I will say that this is the best sounding of the Adcom series, it is more musical than the 545, which I have. It has two separate amps within one shell, like mono-blocks, and each side has two sets of speaker connections.

Specifications
Description: Two-channel, solid-state amplifier. Output power: 60W into 8 ohms (17.8dBW). Input sensitivity: 970mV RMS. Input impedance: 100k ohms. Frequency response: 10Hz–20kHz, –0.25dB. S/N ratio: 110dB. Power consumption: 300W.
Dimensions: 3" H by 17" W by 11.25" D. Weight: 19.5 lbs.
Price: $299.95 (1987); $350 (1993); no longer available (2009). Approximate number of dealers: 320.
Manufacturer: Adcom, East Brunswick, NJ 08816 (1987); Adcom, LLC, PO Box 2668, Sedona, AZ 86339. Tel: (602) 773-1909. Fax: (928) 239-9378. Web: www.adcom.com (2009).

Here is a review from Stereophile Magazine when it came out:
The baby Adcom is one of the finest solid-state amps I have heard. No, not the best; I'm not sure what is the best. But it's an amplifier that is so good for so little money as to be practically a gift. Actually, when Rob Ain from Adcom called, I was about as enthusiastic about the GFA-535 as you might have been before reading this piece. But Rob insisted, "You've gotta hear this amp." He brought it over the next day, along with the GFP-555 preamp ($499.95), and we put both pieces into the rest of the system: a Shure Ultra 500 in a Rega RB300 arm on an AR ES-1 table, with Quad ESL-63 speakers on Arcici stands. Then we chatted for a half hour or so while the electronics warmed up. And then, simultaneously, the two of us decided to shut up and listen. "I've never heard the Quad ESL-63 sound better," Rob said. Of course, he was hardly an impartial observer, but the sound was extraordinarily clean, detailed, and musical. If it wasn't the best sound I have ever heard from Quads, it was pretty close. This humble $300 amplifier was driving a pair of very revealing $3000 speakers and giving a very good account of itself. (We listened first to some Goran Sollscher classical guitar.) "So how come this product isn't flying off the dealers' shelves?" I asked Rob. "I don't know. Everyone wants the GFA-555 with 200 watts per channel. Including people who don't need it." "Does the GFA-555 sound any better?" I asked. "It's our aim to have all our amps sound pretty much the same. You pay more money, you get more power." Rob pointed out that while the GFA-535 is rated at 60Wpc, it puts out more like 80. And while I did not do any measurements, my experience with other amps tells me Rob's right. I suppose Adcom doesn't want to steal sales from its GFA-545, rated at 100Wpc and selling for $200 more. After a couple of hours, Rob left, grinning from ear to ear, and I later sat down to listen alone. True, when I tried certain Telarcs and pushed hard I could get the amplifier to clip—two LEDs quickly light up (very useful). But the Quads were running out of the ability to use the power anyway. My first impressions were confirmed: the GFA-535 is one of the best amplifiers around for driving Quads. Spendor SP-1s, too.