[woodsyi]

I had a GFA 555 II for years when I was blissfully ignorant in my midfi 20's.  Adcom is definitely midfi -- a classic workhorse midfi. 

I dare say that under 1K, you will almost have to get tubes to connect with the females vocals if you got digital source.  Class A SS will cost you more.  I have not heard the Epos M5 but I am going by it's 88dB sensitivity.

[mcullinan]

Me too, purchased the Adcom way back in the 90s... nothing subtle about its output... ok Im looking at a tubed integrated...
Mike

[woodsyi]

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?intatube&1241965836&/Antique-Sound-Lab-AQ-1001DT
I like ASL amps.

[Speedball]

How much is your wife allowing you to spend?

What's all this talk of being allowed?  Are we not Men here?  Go out and charge that card like a man.  Act like a man, at least until the bill comes due.  

Adcom is good for subwoofers and surrounds.  I would change the amp to a good 50W PP tube amp and be mesmerized by the sultry harmonics of female vocals that will give you a HO.   aa

After having a stressful day... this post just made it great again.....

I was going to suggest finding a pair of speakers you would enjoy but then the suggestion about trying tubes sounds pretty good.

[mjosef]

Here is my recent experiment with an Adcom amp(GFA555II).
Sound was blah, lots of power but no finesse, which was why I mainly used it as a bass amp... bypassed the input cap with a .01 teflon cap(just because I had them), and man, it totally transformed the sound, lots more air, and detail I never expected to hear. Zero grit.
But I could still hear the "print" of the stock cap. So decided to pull the original cap and replace with a Sonicap. I have been running the amp 24/7 for the past couple weeks, and can state that the input coupling cap Adcom uses are total crap, it was even undersized, rated at 50V whereas the schematic called for 100v.

So spend less than 20$ for some bypass caps before spending hundreds$$$, you may just be surprised how good that Adcom amp CAN sound. Oh yeah and change the captive power cord too for more 'umph'.  aa
But wait...you are the guy that's rollin' in money? Never mind then, go forth and stimulate the economy. 

[doug s.]

if you don't wanna upgrade the amp to a tube amp, do the cap mod as described above, and get a tube preamp.  and then get two subs.  yes, even in your smaller room, stereo subs are better than mono, imo.  even if you get two slightly smaller subs as opposed to one larger one.

doug s.