Best Integrated Stereo Amp under $2K?

[rmplum]

Adcom GCA-510. If you can find one, get it.

Tech Info: ADCOM GCA-510 MINIMALIST INTEGRATED AMP MADE EVEN MORE MINIMALIST

Excerpt:
Few people have heard of this product, but for a short time, Adcom made a great little 50WPC integrated amp called the GCA-510. (Good Control Amp ,where’s the F?) It was essentially a GFA-535 with a smaller, lower-voltage power supply, and a passive preamp built in. Apparently, Adcom was going after the UK market, land of small but high-quality integrated amps. (More people sharing walls with neighbors, and we Yanks are so rude with our big amp stacks.)

Just grabbed a nice looking GCA-510. Looking forward to playing with it!

[davids]

I liked the Rogue Audio Sphinx v2 quite a bit. It's $1,300 - $1,400 depending on the finish. A phono stage and 3 line stages, so you need to be OK with minimalism (and turntables).

(I ended up finding a slightly used Rogue Audio RP-1 pre-amp ($1150) and pairing it with the bizarrely good Nuforce STA-200 power amp ($400) and a Schiit SYS ($50) for $1,600 total. I am very happy with that combo.)

Attachment 112647

Late in 2020 I replaced the STA-200 with a Schiit Aegir. The STA-200 was, as I said, bizarrely good. The Aegir is on another plane altogether. I cannot recommend it highly enough if you're using fairly efficient speakers in a small-to-mid sized room. Holy hell it's world class.

Yesterday I replaced the tubes in the RP-1 and right now all I want to do is listen to music.

now.jpg

[rmplum]

Got an old set of speakers you aren't using and a room that might fit a little system? I bought one of these $90 tube pre-amp/class-D hybrid integrated units on amazon and then a set of matched GE 5654 tubes for it. This one was labeled NeoTeck but there's a Fosi T-20 that looks identical right down to the hilariously logo'd box.

CD's for size reference:


Currently stashed in an unused room at the office where it drives those old 86dB NHT SuperOnes plenty loud enough:


It has an integrated bluetooth receiver and RCA inputs.

I've easily moved it into various rooms in the house, used it to supply music to an outdoor graduation party picnic, and numerous other applications where I want something just a little "bigger" than a bluetooth speaker. It sounds good to my ears and it's fun to watch the tubes warm up (though I wish the balance of LED/tube glow was a little more balanced). It's certainly made me consider purchasing one of the larger tube integrated systems that are currently lurking out there and getting rave reviews (like the BoyuuRange A50 MKIII 300B).

Ryan

[twowheels]

Late in 2020 I replaced the STA-200 with a Schiit Aegir. The STA-200 was, as I said, bizarrely good. The Aegir is on another plane altogether. I cannot recommend it highly enough if you're using fairly efficient speakers in a small-to-mid sized room. Holy hell it's world class.

Yesterday I replaced the tubes in the RP-1 and right now all I want to do is listen to music.

now.jpg

Didn't you have some matsushita 7dj8 in it?

What kinds of tubes did you install?

[davids]

Didn't you have some matsushita 7dj8 in it?

What kinds of tubes did you install?

Those were for the Audible Illusions Modulus of blessed memory!

I went with NOS 12AU7s, the Philips 5814A JAN. They're a little 'plummier' than the RCAs that were in there, with plenty of body and detail.

[rmplum]

Adcom GCA-510. If you can find one, get it.

Thanks again for the suggestion, I'm loving this thing so far! Best $180 ever.

[MarkC]

Need a GCD-575 to go with that little gem.

[rmplum]

Need a GCD-575 to go with that little gem.

So I owned a GCD-575 back around 2015 or so:



Maybe mine was a lemon but it was unusably sensitive and would skip if I walked across the carpeted floor. It was terrible. Hopefully you will tell me that they were not all this bad. I sold it after only a week or two of frustration.

[MarkC]

Hopefully you will tell me that they were not all this bad.

Got mine in 1990 and it's still going strong. A cool thing about the 575 was that volume control on the bottom right plus a line level preamp built in. You could drive an amp directly.

Might have this wrong, but memory telling me that Adcom was/is like NAD. They design then outsource manufacture. Both had some great pieces In the day, if hadn't already owned the H/k 825 + 870 combo, most certainly would have gotten the Nelson Pass designed Adcom 555 amp and their tuner / preamp.

[davids]

So I owned a GCD-575 back around 2015 or so:



Maybe mine was a lemon but it was unusably sensitive and would skip if I walked across the carpeted floor. It was terrible. Hopefully you will tell me that they were not all this bad. I sold it after only a week or two of frustration.

What's that Oppo? My BDP-93 has been a workhorse and thoroughbred for the last decade. Crappy anodizing and all!

[rmplum]

What's that Oppo? My BDP-93 has been a workhorse and thoroughbred for the last decade. Crappy anodizing and all!

That was a BDP-80, their entry level universal player. It was great for 5 years or so, but then the laser started crapping out every year or so. I sent it back to them twice (on my dime) for repair. The third time it went out I sold it on eBay for $100 or so.

Using a Sony UBP-X800M2 Blu-Ray/Universal player now. It was $250-ish, plays all of my SACD and DVD-A media and so far has been reliable.