Old School Adcom GFA-4302 Car Amplifier

I couldn't find much about it either. this is what i found out.

http://www.carreview.com/mfr/adcom/amplifiers/PRD_97250_1806crx.aspx

http://ampguts.realmofexcursion.com/ADCOM_GFA_4302/

http://www.epinions.com/review/pr-Adcom_30W_x_2_Amplifier_GFA_4302_Car_Audio_Amplifier/elec-review-2313-49B13B0-39B17ACA-prod1

 

im a bit of a pack rat and i have a car stereo review mag from 93. so your amp is at least 16 years old or so give or take a year or two.

i know they can go as low as 1/2 ohm bridged but they recommend no lower than 2 ohm. also bridged/stereo is no probs for it either.



isolated power supply

dual high current power supplies

pure mosfet signal with class A amp modules for very low distortion

balanced line inputs to reduce noise.

all i know is that it would make for an awesome SQ amp. if it is indeed class A then its fan cooled for a reason too, they tend to run hot all the time.

 

wow. thats a mean little amp!

 

I have 1 Adcom GFA-4404, 2 GFA-5275's & 1 GFA-5475 as well as 2 GFA-4600's & a GFI-4200. All of which I have owned since new.... mid 90's I think

They are definantly some of the cleanest sounding amps you will find... not as good as mcintosh (sp) but for 1/4th the cost.... they sound pretty dam good!

You amp is stable below .5 ohms & can safely run below 1ohm w/o any issues! The newer versions (GFA-5275 & 5475 that I own) shouldn't be run much under 2 ohms......

The biggest problem with these is they need a LOT of input voltage. So if your deck is only 2-4volt preouts there is a lot more to be found in the power dept as well as sq dept. You really need at least the gfi-4200 to get the amp to sound good that is unless you have a deck with 8v+ outputs.

These are definantly not powerhouses... just VERY clean

I have a GFA-5500 for my home stereo

 

if i had to make a guess its because most people wanted power over the lower output the adcom's put out. not to say thats a bad thing. it just happens.

i loved my old Phoenix Gold set up. it was rated at only 360 watts but sounded frickin awesome. it just took up too much space in my truck so i went with my single 5ch amp.

if i had another car those bad boys would deff be in it.


someone see's 40 x 4 with .005 thd and then a price tag of lets say 500 bucks they freak out.

then an amp with 100 x4 for 159 @ .5 thd. they go for the power over quality not even knowing what the specs mean anyways.

back in the day my 160 watt 4 ch retailed for around 900 so i was told. so the adcom's were most likely in the same range.

 

yes but not the quality of the old days. also no longer U.S made. the RSD amps did well in a review i read last year. although no longer made either.

havent read anything about their new stock.

 

Isnt Lanzar still US made?

 

I would love to post pics but unfortunantly at this time I only have 1 amp hooked up, the gfa-5475 (75x4) & I am undecided on what direction to go with the stereo. The other amps are sitting in my garage, been collecting dust for several years now. I hope to install the amps this summer just to much going on to mess with it now.

These prices are guesses..... it's been a long time since I purchased the amps. From what I remember the GFA-4404 (40x4) & GFA-5475 (75x4) were right at $1,000 (99% sure on that price) & the gfa-5275's were in the $500-700 area?? The shop I dealt with sold Pheonix Glold & numerous other GREAT product lines. The Adcom amps sounded the best IF they had the proper signal (w/o a good input they were average at best) while other great amps like the pheonix gold stuff sounded great with pretty much any source, the adcoms are very picky. These amps were expensive especially considering the power they put out & when you add that to needing a $200 crossover/balanced line converter they just became to expensive for most people. Also, the larger 4 channel amps (4404 & 5475) were known to not be the most reliable, the smaller 4304/5450 were as reliable as the 2 channel amps. My 4404 has been sent in for service 3 times, all the other amps have been 100% trouble free.

I purchased a eclipse CD8061 (I think that's the model, copper chassis balanced outputs etc) deck to run my adcom amps when they were in the old car. Turned out my best SQ option was to use Adcom's GFI-4600 & not use the balanced out of the radio.

With when they were made, my guess is product ended in 95 or 96?

Presently I have a single 5475 running a image dynamics 10 & image dynamics 6.5 component set. My car I use to take to roadcoarses so I wanted the stereo to be as light as possibly however I am going to retire the car from roadcoarse duty (saving for something else) so I am debating on throwing a big system in it. Possibly using a par of gfa 5275's for the 6.5 componenets up front & the 5475 for possibly a pair of 12's. Just not sure I want to do all of that.......

 

i know my PG amps only needed 2V to get then going. at one time i had the 215 dual 15 band EQ with 8v of output. i had the gains set low very low. 1~3 out of 10.that meant zero noise in my system.

 

Vines - it's only the larger 4 channels that were problematic, mostly the original versions the gfa-4404's. The newer GFA-5475's supposidley the bugs were sorted out & I have never heard of problems with the 2 channel ones......

2v on a adcom & it will sound weak with just average imaging & not much power.