Carver Amazings for sale near me...

fishbones

Don't know if anyone is interested or not, but a gentleman that just bought my Boston Acoustics from me tonight is selling Carver Amazings for $500 in Piano Black finish. He says they're beautiful. They aren't something I need, but I know there's some love on here for them. This would be in SW florida. If anyone is interested, you can PM me and I can give you his info. Just thought someone on here might be looking for these and this guy and his wife were really nice people.

Regards,
Troy

leroyjr1

That's a good price if they're in good condition.

dorokusai

It's one of those loudspeakers you MUST own if you're serious about audio but you won't keep them. A must have for the true speaker nut. They take some knowledge before purchase so take a look at the history here, do a search. A bunch of us high posters have owned them over the years.

cstmar01

Which ones? do you know of the Silvers, Platinums, AL-IIIs, etc.

Good price if they are in good condition and there is nothing wrong. Biggest thing is the ribbons and making sure no buzzing and the woofers do not either have rot, are replaced, etc. to prevent maintenance needed in the future.

Now I would take them, however it wouldn't be until Oct I would be in FL and thats for PF 2011 and I would only have a car, no SUV lol

dorokusai

I'd worry about ribbons more than woofers.

cstmar01

dorokusai wrote: »

I'd worry about ribbons more than woofers.

very true, I'm just saying if you want to take them home and not having to do anything to them and just play. The ribbons will be the biggest expense if you have to have work done to them.

dorokusai

cstmar01 wrote: »

very true, I'm just saying if you want to take them home and not having to do anything to them and just play. The ribbons will be the biggest expense if you have to have work done to them.

I get where you're coming from Chris. If you can't demo them onsite, never buy Amazing loudspeakers unless it's a sick deal from someone semi-trusted.

It's the only product from Mr. Carver that I believe is worth the effort. However, they are showing their age and there's a reason folks will start unloading them at some point. They have a life expectancy of about now, so get them while they are hot and can be moved along.

Thankfully I've owned and heard mine many years ago....very cool experience. A vintage icon and a must have for any loudspeaker guru wanna-be....which of course I am in spades.

leroyjr1

Is there a place that repairs them or sell the parts to fix the ribbons?

dorokusai

leroyjr1 wrote: »

Is there a place that repairs them or sell the parts to fix the ribbons?

Yes, but it's not cheap. Last I heard it was 600 a pair....but that was years ago. There is enough information here if you look but the carver forum is your best source of active and accurate information.

fishbones

I HATE not being able to sleep! (rolled around in bed for 2 hours) Figured I might as well get up and surf Club Polk while sipping a nightcap! :biggrin:

I don't know which models they are?

I did ask the guy about the condition of the ribbons, cause I know that can be an issue with their age. He said they are in great shape. The only thing he had to do to them was refoam one of the woofers.

The price is low because he said he just can't seem to sell them around here. He has had them listed (CL only I think?) for awhile, with all Carver gear at the time. He sold all the Carver gear and now is having a tough time selling them because he has a HT receiver or similar that can't really drive the Amazings.

dorokusai

As long as that receiver can produce sound, it's enough to test the loudspeakers. I believe the pair F1nut and I picked up in NYC were driven off a Denon AVR....and it worked fine. It might actually be best since you can crank it, per se, and easily identify rattling of the ribbons. If they are bad or going, they'll .....well it's hard to describe without being present. Maybe another previous owner can word it better.

Audioquest

I own a set of Platinums (last version) and they are pretty phenominal. Things to check are that the ribbons don't look sagged, take small flashlight. Also look at the magnets in the ribbon cavity making sure they are not cracked, pieces missing, or disloged. Play some good piano and vocals that tend to make any speaker ring. If there are issues with the ribbon they will buzz. Also, play some good loud music as well as they can take a ton of power without issue. Pull the covers and make sure all woofers are working and the surrounds are good. If the ribbons are bad, walk away from it as they are way to expensive to repair, something like $800/pr. They are pretty bulletpproof speakers if you get a good pair to start with though.
These speakers went through a lot of changes through the years from square woofers to round ones with a whitish dimpled cone to a regular paper cone and 2 x 30" ribbons to a single 60" as well as many crossover design changes, and therefore sound quite different.
Because of age the crossovers need to be recapped, but with the right up front electronics these speakers will astound you. I've owned Revel, Veritas, Magnepan as well as some others and these have stayed the longest in my 2 channel rig. Like any good ribbon, they have detail and HUGE soundstage that's tough to beat.
If you have any questions PM me and I'd gladly reply.

TroyD

fishbones wrote: »

I HATE not being able to sleep! (rolled around in bed for 2 hours) Figured I might as well get up and surf Club Polk while sipping a nightcap! :biggrin:

I don't know which models they are?

I did ask the guy about the condition of the ribbons, cause I know that can be an issue with their age. He said they are in great shape. The only thing he had to do to them was refoam one of the woofers.

The price is low because he said he just can't seem to sell them around here. He has had them listed (CL only I think?) for awhile, with all Carver gear at the time. He sold all the Carver gear and now is having a tough time selling them because he has a HT receiver or similar that can't really drive the Amazings.

The big thing for me is the version. If they are the original CAL, it's easy to tell, each speaker has two 30" ribbons. Still great speakers but they are the original (while the Apogee Scintilla is probably THE original) amp killer. You'll go broke trying to drive those things properly.

BDT

Audioquest

If you want a good source to test the speakers with, take along Joe Satriani and play the song Sleepwalk. If there is anything wrong with the ribbons this will definitelymake them buzz and oscillate. This is a good one to test any speakers as it has a lot of stong tones and good bass slam. Another good one is many of the Dianna Krall songs with the stong rhythm guitar especially a lot of her older albums.

Audioquest

TroyD wrote: »

The big thing for me is the version. If they are the original CAL, it's easy to tell, each speaker has two 30" ribbons. Still great speakers but they are the original (while the Apogee Scintilla is probably THE original) amp killer. You'll go broke trying to drive those things properly.

BDT

Very true. These had the square woofers, and as you point out the 2 piece ribbons. The second version with the white round woofers also had 2 piece ribbons and even some of the later versions with the paper woofers had 2 piece ribbons making it difficult to tell from only a single photo. An older Acoustat amp would work well or anything that's stable to 2 ohms, but personally I'd avoid all but the last version altogether and check if they are the single ribbon.
I've driven mine with a few different amps and none have had issues.

Audioquest

fishbones wrote: »

I HATE not being able to sleep! (rolled around in bed for 2 hours) Figured I might as well get up and surf Club Polk while sipping a nightcap! :biggrin:

I don't know which models they are?

I did ask the guy about the condition of the ribbons, cause I know that can be an issue with their age. He said they are in great shape. The only thing he had to do to them was refoam one of the woofers.

The price is low because he said he just can't seem to sell them around here. He has had them listed (CL only I think?) for awhile, with all Carver gear at the time. He sold all the Carver gear and now is having a tough time selling them because he has a HT receiver or similar that can't really drive the Amazings.

I would ask him to send photos of the front with the grill off and a photo of the rear. With that, if you post the photos, we could tell you which version they are.

fishbones

If anyone is interested, they could PM me and I'd be happy to give you his info.

TroyD

I don't know that the impedance on the CAL was so bad as the sensitivity. 85db 1w/1m.....in the Shane Mann Memorial Auditorium, I didn't have any real issue, but I could make the Silver 9t's sweat. In my living room? Forget it, there isn't enough amp to do them justice in that space. I mean, yeah, I could play them with gusto, but if you really wanted to stomp on them, you could clip the Silver 9t's VERY easily as well as the Classe 25.

BDT