I just bought some B&W 803s speakers and so far am driving them with my old Adcom 555 amplifier and Adcom GFP 555 II pre-amp. Will I really derive a significant improvement in sound quality by upgrading to something higher end for these speakers? If so, should I replace both preamp and amp or just one of them? I am using for audio music only and not a/v. Thanks for the help.
I've listened at length to older Adcom 555's.... and using my definition of "significant", i don't think there is any price point where you will hear a significant improvement.... (my definition of significant is Very noticeable)
you can easily make very significant improvements (or detriments!! LOL) via speaker placement tweeks and/or room enhancements.... but these won't cost anything other than time spent listening... so i know some won't like the idea... LOL....
but..... if you are just looking for an excuse for new equipment... than get some new gear.... but imho, your Adcom gear has more balls and style than most any new amp you could buy under 1k....
could most tell the difference in the Adcom's and a 10K set-up on a blind a/b test?? doubtful.... and i've seen more than one uber "audiophile" fail similiar tests...
so.... this is very hard to do now days.... but if you can... take your Adcoms in to your preferred dealer, and see if you can blind a/b against their very best... report back... i bet the results will surprise many here...
You may want to consider an upgrade if NO OTHER reason than the AdCom stuff is 15 yrs old, at least. The triple5 mkII is newer, but still a decade plus out of production.
The Rotel RB1080 of 200x2 will match the 555 in power.
Dozens of choices exist, including a bunch of integrateds....name your poison and price point. You may be able to find a Krell 400..... Now may be a good time to get familiar with AudioGon.
I really enjoyed an ADCOM amp and preamp for 15 years. About 4 years ago, I started an upgrade binge by replacing an ADCOM surround processor with an ARCAM pre-pro. I also picked up a couple of used McIntosh Amps. I am still driving the same M&K speakers I originally purchased with the ADCOMs. The Mac amps made a HUGE difference. I still love the ADCOMs. They can't be beat in their price range and I plan to give them to my boy. The Macs are just in a different class.
I would not push mac. They really work for my ears, but everyone has different tastes and perceptions. Also, the impacts of the listening spaces and system synergy cannot be overemphasized.
BTW, I recently looked hard at B&W speakers to replace my M&Ks as they are 19 years old. Check out the systems posted on Audiogon. There are quite a few user systems which pair up Mac with B&W. It's a really nice combo.
I would think you would at least have to answer that question for yourself before we could provide any real assistance. What would be "significant" to you? What areas would you consider lacking as of now with your current set up and then what would you expect to gain from a better system in front of the B&W's? If you cannot answer those questions yourself, then there's at best a 50/50 chance you will or will not find some improvement with new electronics. However, if you have some idea where the sound falls short musically, then you can find that quality in new equipment by weeding out what will not satisfy those requirements.
As a rule the B&W's would prefer an amplifier with more long term current delivery than the Adcom's can provide. And considering Adcom's pedigree as a value oriented amplifier line there are more transparent amplifiers available today for reasonable prices. The largest problem I see with your question is you bought the speakers without any apparent concern toward what should be in front of them.
Deal with set up and placement - put "loudspeaker placement" in a search engine and read about set up with an eye towards the "WASP" speaker placement. Consider whether your current source player is as good as it needs to be for some fairly revealing speakers (it probably is not) and then think about the needs of the speakers in terms of the amplifier's ability to drive them well. Finally, the line amp or pre amp is often the most crucial component in a component system when you are listening for transparency to the source.
But first I would suggest you simply determine what is you you would like to hear from the music and then whether you can afford to provide this. If you really don't know where the end point is you can do a lot of wandering around without ever getting anywhere.
