Multi-channel Power Amplifier
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• Superb sound quality
• Power aplenty
• Strong build quality
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• Big, black & heavy!
• Requires ventilation
RRP $5,799
Google the word ‘Adcom’ and the first generic ‘People Also Ask’ question the search engine serves up is ‘Is Adcom still in business?’
Adcom certainly still is in business, though rather than operating out of the United States, where the company was founded by Newt Chenin (see our column on Adcom’s history overleaf), it now operates out of Thailand. It’s owned by Everest World Company Ltd, which purchased the rights not only to the Adcom brand but also to Adcom’s intellectual property, including its circuit designs. Since these were pretty good designs (which is hardly surprising considering that, at one time or the other, worldfamous circuit designers including Morris Kessler, Ed Miller, James Bongiorno and Nelson Pass each had a hand in them), Everest has pretty much stuck with those designs, despite a few being fairly long in the tooth now. Adcom’s glory days were, after all, last century!
That said, Everest World Company does not build the amplifiers itself, subcontracting the manufacturing process to third parties — just as Chenin did when he founded the company. And before you roll your eyes, you should know that many very famous amplifier brand owners do exactly the same thing. Indeed I’d venture to suggest that more so-called ‘British’ amplifiers are now built in China and Taiwan than are made in Great Britain. For example, Anthony Michaelson used Taiwan as his manufacturing base back when he owned Musical Fidelity.
Somewhat surprisingly, however, Everest doesn’t appear to manufacture
