You aren't going to outperform two Adcom amps for $800. The only companies that have amps in those price ranges that aren't commercial like Crown are Emotiva and Outlaw. I would take Adcom over either and Crown will fall well short of all three in detail and performance.

You might find a vintage unit from Krell, Mark Levinson or a McIntosh solid state in that range. The risk is that if you buy a 20 or 30 year old amp, you are going to need to get it refurbished which could easily double your price, maybe more.

wordthief wrote:

I'm looking for opinions here, or facts :)

I have a pair of NHT ST-2's with which I've amped nicely for 15 years with one Adcom GFA-555.

I have the inclination to get another GFA-555 and run vertical bi-amp. This is likely to cost me <>$400 for the second GFA-555.

So that's roughly $800.

Or I could sell my GFA-555 and get an $800 amp.

Any opinions as to which is the best move? Recommended amps that would do better than two GFA-555's?

Thanks

IMO bi-amping will improve the sound very little or not at all. The sound quality of those Adcom amps is fair, but not all that good.

If you can afford it the Vincent SP-331 will be a major sonic improvement, for $1399.

Instead of vertical bi-amp, you would get significant sonic and detail, stereo separation, and POWER if you placed each Adcom amp in bridged mode, then run one amp per speaker in dual-mono mode.

Not sure how much power your speakers need, but I'm certain that architecture will give you an advantage.

Cheers,

Ron