Carver amp and SDA
michael1947
Posts: 775
Hello out there in Polksville, a little like Pleasantville, eh.
Tomorrow on Dec 31 I plan to audition some local SDA-SRS 1.2's. He is running them with some Carver gear which I am also interested in namely a pair of Carver M500t amps. I presume 1 amp per speaker which seems normal however while researching old threads I discovered some conversation here on the forum that the Carver M500T is one of the few Carver amps that will not work with SDA speakers.
Now am I safe to suppose that the exclusion of the M500t amp for SDA use is when 1 amp is powering 2 speakers? WOULD I BE SAFE TO SUPPOSE THAT 2 m500T AMPS EACH POWERING THEIR OWN SPEAKER WOULD BE OK?
I expect that I am over-thinking this common ground thing and the old post I discovered was meant for a different situation. I currently use an Emo XPA-5 to power my SDA-SRS and have just moved in a Parasound 5200 to take it's place and there is no ground problems with either of them.
Once I audition the rig I will report back with details.
Tomorrow on Dec 31 I plan to audition some local SDA-SRS 1.2's. He is running them with some Carver gear which I am also interested in namely a pair of Carver M500t amps. I presume 1 amp per speaker which seems normal however while researching old threads I discovered some conversation here on the forum that the Carver M500T is one of the few Carver amps that will not work with SDA speakers.
Now am I safe to suppose that the exclusion of the M500t amp for SDA use is when 1 amp is powering 2 speakers? WOULD I BE SAFE TO SUPPOSE THAT 2 m500T AMPS EACH POWERING THEIR OWN SPEAKER WOULD BE OK?
I expect that I am over-thinking this common ground thing and the old post I discovered was meant for a different situation. I currently use an Emo XPA-5 to power my SDA-SRS and have just moved in a Parasound 5200 to take it's place and there is no ground problems with either of them.
Once I audition the rig I will report back with details.
Main Family Room: Sony 46 LCD, Sony Blue Ray, Sony DVD/VCR combo,Onkyo TXNR 708, Parasound 5250,
Polk SDS-SRS with mods, CSI 5 center + Klipsch SC2, Polk RT2000P rears, Klipsch KG 1.5's sides, Polk Micro Pro 1000, Polk Micro Pro 2000, Polk SW505, Belkin PF60, Signal Cable Classics,Monster IC's, 2 15 amp circuits & 1 20 amp circuit.
Living Room: Belkin PF60, Parasound HCA2200, MIT ProlineEXP balanced IC's,Emotiva XDA-1 DAC/Pre,Emotiva ERC2 transport,MIT AVT2, Polk LSI 9's.
Polk SDS-SRS with mods, CSI 5 center + Klipsch SC2, Polk RT2000P rears, Klipsch KG 1.5's sides, Polk Micro Pro 1000, Polk Micro Pro 2000, Polk SW505, Belkin PF60, Signal Cable Classics,Monster IC's, 2 15 amp circuits & 1 20 amp circuit.
Living Room: Belkin PF60, Parasound HCA2200, MIT ProlineEXP balanced IC's,Emotiva XDA-1 DAC/Pre,Emotiva ERC2 transport,MIT AVT2, Polk LSI 9's.
Post edited by michael1947 on
Comments
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Maybe he's using a dreadnaught transformer, but those with more knowledge than me can surely help you more.
If he's running it and it works and you buy it all then you should be ok, but I understand your concern and would want a little more feedback from others to make sure before going thru w/ purchase of both.2-ch System: Parasound P/LD 2000 pre, Parasound HCA-1000 amp, Parasound T/DQ Tuner, Phase Technology PC-100 Tower speakers, Technics SL-1600 Turntable, Denon 2910 SACD/CD player, Peachtree DAC iT and X1asynchorus USB converter, HSU VTF-3 subwoofer. -
Now am I safe to suppose that the exclusion of the M500t amp for SDA use is when 1 amp is powering 2 speakers? WOULD I BE SAFE TO SUPPOSE THAT 2 m500T AMPS EACH POWERING THEIR OWN SPEAKER WOULD BE OK?
Completely wrong on both accounts.
To use a non-common ground amp, dual mono or mono blocks with the SDA 1.2's you have to use the AI-1, which is the proper name for the original isolation transformer. Dreadnaught was the name coined by DK when he made his own isolation transformer.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
Maybe he is bi amping. Are those the one's up by GR? That seems like a great deal if everything words.
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He might have the negative speaker terminals jumpered.........
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So I'm a litle groggy still but they are likely bi-amped so if that is the case would you run a ground wire between the negative posts on each speaker. Failing that I would look around for a transformer connected to both speaker units...right?Main Family Room: Sony 46 LCD, Sony Blue Ray, Sony DVD/VCR combo,Onkyo TXNR 708, Parasound 5250,
Polk SDS-SRS with mods, CSI 5 center + Klipsch SC2, Polk RT2000P rears, Klipsch KG 1.5's sides, Polk Micro Pro 1000, Polk Micro Pro 2000, Polk SW505, Belkin PF60, Signal Cable Classics,Monster IC's, 2 15 amp circuits & 1 20 amp circuit.
Living Room: Belkin PF60, Parasound HCA2200, MIT ProlineEXP balanced IC's,Emotiva XDA-1 DAC/Pre,Emotiva ERC2 transport,MIT AVT2, Polk LSI 9's. -
Yes it was the rig on GRand rapids craigs list and it was a good deal. The amps were run in mono, 1 for each speaker and I can't say the set-up sounded that great. My moded sda-srs's with my xpa-5 sounded better but I took it any way, can teach them to sing. Was reading on the Carver site where some had indicated that running mono and bridged made the amps sound bright and lost the tight base and that is exactly what I heard. I will be looking for something to make it mellow out, does anyone have a line on the isolation transformer or do I make the DK Dreadnot...would be a nice project.Main Family Room: Sony 46 LCD, Sony Blue Ray, Sony DVD/VCR combo,Onkyo TXNR 708, Parasound 5250,
Polk SDS-SRS with mods, CSI 5 center + Klipsch SC2, Polk RT2000P rears, Klipsch KG 1.5's sides, Polk Micro Pro 1000, Polk Micro Pro 2000, Polk SW505, Belkin PF60, Signal Cable Classics,Monster IC's, 2 15 amp circuits & 1 20 amp circuit.
Living Room: Belkin PF60, Parasound HCA2200, MIT ProlineEXP balanced IC's,Emotiva XDA-1 DAC/Pre,Emotiva ERC2 transport,MIT AVT2, Polk LSI 9's. -
The amps were run in mono, 1 for each speaker and I can't say the set-up sounded that great.
Was he using an AI-1, no SDA cable or what?Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
Oh, thanks for calling back. Neither, he had some jurry rig 12g wire going between the speakers plugged into the pin holes. I couldn't see everything behind the rack to check exactly where/how everything was wired up but took several photos and will be examining them tomorrow. Thanks for keeping up.Main Family Room: Sony 46 LCD, Sony Blue Ray, Sony DVD/VCR combo,Onkyo TXNR 708, Parasound 5250,
Polk SDS-SRS with mods, CSI 5 center + Klipsch SC2, Polk RT2000P rears, Klipsch KG 1.5's sides, Polk Micro Pro 1000, Polk Micro Pro 2000, Polk SW505, Belkin PF60, Signal Cable Classics,Monster IC's, 2 15 amp circuits & 1 20 amp circuit.
Living Room: Belkin PF60, Parasound HCA2200, MIT ProlineEXP balanced IC's,Emotiva XDA-1 DAC/Pre,Emotiva ERC2 transport,MIT AVT2, Polk LSI 9's. -
Since he was running mono blocks with some sort of SDA cable it's no wonder they didn't sound right....you can't do that. On the other hand, Carver SS amps never sound good to my ears.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk
