That Adcom doesn't feature HDMI repeating architecture (meaning no audio over HDMI), hence it is outdated.
Adcom seperates have a good reputation for having a music first goal, and their amplifiers are quite sturdy. I would expect great amplifier performance from the Adcom GFR-700. I would suggest getting a more current receiver or seperates for that price.
The Onkyo TX-NR905 is very impressive for the price in features and power. It's likely the Onkyo will have more dynamic power and much better video and audio processing. If you can get the Adcom for less than $1000 it might be worth consideration.
It's sad that Adcom's HDMI is outdated, as I found some things I also thought were behind the times as well. I'll get more into that, and the tech support issues later. Luckily for me, I plan to run the HDMI stuff to my tv, directly, as the adcom's HDMI is nothing more than a pass through. I might want to mention, for those interested, if I connect items on the component, s-video, and composite inputs, I cannot direct them out of the HDMI out, so, HDMI on this unit is useless, at best.
As for purchase price, I paid 1000 shipped, and another 10 for insurance, when i bought this unit a month ago. It seems these units had an old update, so i updated the firmware only to find there still was no bass and treble controls for the main room. I was told my unit had the older display board, which didn't have enough ram to accomodate the bass and treble controls. I replied and said, bass and treble are the most basic of controls, and after many many e-mails, and many times that i pointed out errors on their site, as well as problems with the software extentions in the files they sent me, and of corse, the cost of cables and adapter to perform the update, Adcom has agreed to upgrade my display board as a courtesy, for free, and update to the latest firmware as well. My unit has the 128kb board, and the newer production has the 256kb display board. The biggest issue now, is it'll cost me about 65 to ship it to adcom, and adcom wants 55 to ship it back after this courtesy repair.
I have no idea what the upgrade would cost , out of pocket, but I still see this as being expensive , just to gain bass and treble, which i'll probably set, and forget. I am not sure if there are other available options that will also be apparent, but at this point, it was bass and treble I was inquiring about.
Since bass and treble aren't extremely impoortant to me, but i would like to have it, I have been unable to decide on having this done, and not having it done. Maybe you guys have some advice or opinions on that too. For reference, I believe with the bass and treble enabled, I believe there is still a bypass mode that will bypass the tone controls and get back to direct raw signal, as many folks desire.
On the note of out of date, these are some of the out of date things I was concerned about, as well as the fact that their serial port connection needs a pc with serial, or we'd need to buy a specific usb-serial adapter, as most adapters on the market won't work properly on adcom. This just seemed odd to me, but I ordered the darn thing anyways.
Somewhere along the line, I should say i am happy with the sound of the adcom, on my friend's maggies and even his small Boston towers.
You guys won't be shocked my bose sound better on this, than they did on a cheaper reciever, but still don't come close to full range sound. This is due to the Bose impotence in the mid-lows, and so-called bass range. I won't get into details, as you guys already know the truth behind Bose. Luckily, mine were used and cost me only 300, so i didn't get robbed too badly at the time.
Sam.
