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June 19, 2006 - 3:25pm
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Pawn Shop Special: Adcom GCD-575 Yea or Nay?
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Dude, with 2,000 dollars in mods and updates it will compete favorably with the current generation of 300 dollar and less players.
For 25 bucks, buy it and post a comparison review! That would be fun to read!
If nothing else, you could pop some six dollar op amps (Burr Brown 2132s come to mind) into it and get a good, cheap improvement. If it has a digital output, you could use it as a cheap transport.
That is what I was thinking! It does have a digital out.
I also remembered that this shop will do trades and I have some old components sitting around here collecting dust. Maybe I'll trade them in an the Adcom.
I also notice that these are going for $130-$150 on ebay right now. Hmmmmm.....[rubs chin]
For 25 bucks, you should just snag it right away and worry about the trade later.
So I finally made it back to the pawn shop. Wisely, I remembered to take a pair of earbud headphones and a 1/4" to 1/8" adapter.
I asked the guy behind the counter if I could plug the unit into the AC and if he could provide a CD so I could test it. He did.
It wasn't good. It was skipping intermittently. Some tracks it would play OK but some it would just start skipping and the CDs looked relatively clean and scratch free.
I told the dude. "this thing has problems" and I thought about just offering him $10 for it in the hopes that it was just a dirty laser. Before I could open my mouth he said "I'll let you have it for $10 just to get it out of here." I said "OK" and paid the man.
Back home, I removed the top cover and used some 91% isopropal alchohol and a cotton swab to clean the laser lens.
Plays just fine now. Seems to have been the problem. Listening to the Eiji Oue/Minnesota/Copland/Reference Recordings CD now. Player sounds wonderful for it's age. There is a small amount of "digital glare" as to be expected from this vintage of CD player but it makes up for it in Bass control and quietness[instruments emerge from the blackness]. It's quite musical. More than I thought it would be.
My only complaint is that it is very sensitive to footfalls and external vibrations. Which isn't a shock[no pun intended] considering it's age.
Up until now I have been using a Denon 5 disk changer and a Pioneer 578A for my CD listening [I'm poor.] The Adcom sounds better.
So there you have it. $10 never sounded so good. I guess you can be an audiophile on a budget if you don't mind getting your hands dirty.
Awesome deal. I used to sell them back in the Philly area. I thought all the Adcom equipment was very good for the price. I still have an Adcom GFA-535 power amp. I'm going to use it for the rear channels as soon as I can buy an Outlaw 990 pre/pro.
A CD player of that vintage very likely uses NE5532 or TL072 dual op amps (another might be a 4558.) Take a peek under the hood and check. If you desoldered those and put in Burr Brown 2134 op amps (very similar to the 2132, supposedly made with audio in mind), you could ameliorate some of that glare you're experiencing and also get a faster, cleaner sound. I've performed this simple change on several vintage machines and the sound was always improved.
Thanks for the tip! I looked at the two opamps near the RCA output jacks while I had the player open. I think they were 8707 and 8709 and they both had Adcom's name on them.
I'm unfamiliar with those devices. I wonder if Adcom rebadged parts from another manufacturer. Analog Devices makes 8707 and 8709 buffers. It would be a good idea to get a hold of the schematic of your player before performing surgery.
This is not the schematic (or service manual), but, I thought you might be interested in the owner's manual:
http://www.adcom.com/pdfs/gcd575manual.pdf
Thanks for the link! It was nice to read the manual.
I'm thinking that modifications may not be in order. I've discovered that once the player warms up a bit that the sound relaxes and much of the glare dissolves.
There is still some there but for being made in 1988 [I was in 10th grade at the time.] this player has a sweet sound!
I picked up a couple of Mapleshade audiophile CDs today at a yard sale for $1.00 each. They sound great on the Adcom.
I really never thought that redbook CDs could sound this good.
You're welcome!
Hey... as long as you're enjoying it, that's the best part, apart from the killer price and clever, free, lens cleaning fix.
You have to get one dated 1990 or later. It had better parts. But the skipping when you walk past it is due to a cheap Sony transport used in all of them. The 1541A twin DAC's and audio section is better then you can get today. If you sit down and not create too much vibration you have one of the best sounding CD players ever made. You just have to live with it's transport shortcomings.