Computer and Carver 175 Power Amp

Schris22

A Carver 175 Power amp go on sale for 80 bucks local. I want to use it to power two r15's for my gf's computer. Would this be likely? I have a weird yamaha 3 channel amplifier/receiver that might help. It is suppose to be used in conjunction with a stero amp b/c this yamaha only drives center and two surrounds.

Is this 175 Amp a good deal? Used for 7 years at various club events.

Would it be better just to get a stereo receiver for the computer set up?

Kinda obscure, but she has a keyboard at the moment but may get a digital piano soon, anyone know if u can hook keyboards/digital piano's to speakers?

wow lots of questions, do you have lots of answers...hah thanks guys

Thanks,

Chris

danger boy

you will need a pre amp to hook every thing up.. and it should sound pretty good.. I use a Yamaha integrated amp for my computer rig. sounds great.

Schris22

Whats the difference between an integrated amp and a pre amp, and pro amp? Are there any more amps besides those kinds of amps?

Chris

Jstas

An integrated vs. an amp is that an Integrated amp is pretty much an amplifier with a pre-amp built in. No tuner, no CD player no nothing but a pre-amp set of controls. They can be good and bad. While the pre-amp section is running off of the same power supply as the amp itself, most of a pre-amp is passive so it doesn't eat up alot of power to work. That leaves plenty of juice for the amp itself. However, having the pre-amp integrated gives a small potential to introduce noise.

An amp is a better option but the integrated is a good option too. The seperate amp would offer a higher level of performance in most cases but if all you have and/or can afford is an integrated then it is a viable and lovely solution.


As far as your issue goes, you should not need anything more then a good stereo to RCA adapter cable from your computer to your amplifier. Most sound cards have aduio drivers with pre-amp controls built in. You plug your cable into the output jack and the RCA ends go into the amp. You're done, no futher components needed.

However...always a catch, huh?

If you computer doesn't have a sound control program for the pre-amp controls, there are free ones out there that also handle media libraries. There are many for Windows including Winamp. For UNIX systems, you have to dig around but they are out there. Macs have it built in so it is not a worry unless you are running a version of UNIX on your Mac.

Also, sound quality for your average sound card not always the greatest. Also, due to all the electrical motors and fans in the system plus the EM feild generated by the movement of the processor, there is a high potential for noise problems. This may be very bad, it may be something you can live with or you may not have a porblem at all and end up with a crystal clear signal. There are too many factors to weigh to be able to say for sure. Just gotta hook it up and try it.

Overall though, you shouldn't NEED a pre-amp but you may want one because it offers a higher level of control and adjustability and you don't have to mess around with graphical buttons on the screen. If you end up having noise problems, you may want to forgoe teh computer idea altogether and find a pre-amp and source unit like a CD Player, tuner, tape deck or turntable for your needs.

Schris22

thanks a lot jstas that sorta sorted thigns out for me. Nice lengthy and detailed information. I JUST read your polyfill reply and that helped out a lot too with my future sub project...(almost done with chapter 1 of vance dickenson's cookbook...and btw i ordered mine from Partexpress, it's like a little cheaper after shipping i think by a buck or osmething or not...i just like them better than amazon.com!) anyway. Thanks a lot

The last issue is...

Is this a good deal for that carver amp?

Orshould I look into buying a new 2 channel amp?

Chris

Jstas

I'm sorry, I'm up not on prices of equipment and can't really give you an honest answer. The best answer I can give is if you can afford it and are comfortable paying that price for that piece of equipment given it's current condition then yes, it's a good price. If you are wary of it for some reason then no, it may not be a good price. As far as whether Carver gear is worth it, again, I am not up on it. However, every piece of Carver gear I have owned, used or looked at has served only to impress and in most cases, it is a great buy if you are looking for good stuff on the cheap. Other may not agree but maybe Carver stuff just doesn't have the sound they are looking for and that's OK. Thsi hobby is all about you and what you like and the only way to find out what you like is to try stuff out and listen to it. You're ears can handle the rest.

Schris22

wow quick reply...

I may have to check it out first, but for the same price i found a refurb onkyo 8211.

http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/detail.asp?dpno=292772

This might be a good route. A receiver is essentially an integrated amp with video capabilities right? and if there are no preamps, then no real options for power boosting, but like i said, this is for a computer rig for some r15's and i think those will be driven fine with the 8211.

Thanks

Chris

Jstas

Honestly, that 8211 would be perfect for the R15's. I have a set that I picked up from another club member here and they are running off of an integrated tube amp with an old CD player as a source. They don't need alot of power to scream and they haven'y taxed my 8 watt x 2 amp yet. That Onkyo unit would work fine.

I have seen it get good reviews and some people have called it the little reciever that could. It is a great starting point and yes, I do believe that it will do video. You might not need to run it through your computer for teh video but it would be perfect to use is you had a composite video out jack on your computer. Then you could use your computer as your DVD player for a small cost to add a DVD drive if you don't have one yet.

Oh and responses come quick on a day like today for me. I am at work and sitting on the hotline queue waiting for calls to come in. The later in the day it gets, the more opportunity I have for goofing off online. I can peruse the boards and read posts and such easily.

Schris22

thanks thats the route i'll probably take,

later down the line I"ll probably attempt to build my first subwoofer for her b/c it should be cheaper to fix if i mess up. It'll be much smaller than a home theater sub. Trying to debate wheter i should go 8 inch or 6 and a half. I just will have to look at the r15's roll off and find an appropriate sub that won't blow apart a dorm room ha .

Chris

Jstas

Uhhh, you won't have to worry about the rolloff of the R15's. The R15's will be good down in to the 50 Hz range which is well below the usual 80-120 Hz cut off for subwoofers at the high end. Any sub will work.

What you need to look for is the sub lower end rolloff. This is where the 6.5 inch subs become an issue. Sure the specs may show that it is acceptable down to 40 Hz for that 6.5 inch sub but that 40 Hz may come at a -12 dB level. The problem with that is that you will have to crank it to get that sub to hit 40 Hz audibly and effectivly. That won't go over well with RA and your dorm room neighbors. Especially if you are playing a game with lots of explosions and gunfire. Also, smaller subs tend to have very peaky reponse curves although the nice thing about the smaller sizes is that resonances are often at a frequency above your crossover cutoff point. That can be beneficial.

If you are going to go with a sub in a custom enclosure that is small and compact then get an efficient 8 inch sub and throw 150-200 watts at it. That will provide a good deal of punch in a dorm room without pissing off your neighbors too much. However, 8 inch subs can be truncated in thier low end response often not digging much below 30 Hz and when they do, rolloff is more like dropoff with the frequency curve looking like a cliff face. A 10 inch sub would probably be a better bet but would be a larger enclosure.

If you have the Loudspeaker Design Cookbook, keep reading it. If I remember correctly, they go over a chapter or two about subwoofers and they have graphs and other charts that offer a better visual of what I am talking about.

Schris22

Ideally I would like something that goes into 20hz or less, but thats not going to be pretty. Also the drive to college is 3 hours and space is valuable so a 10 inch woofer mgiht not be a great idea or even an 8 inch. Though an efficent 8 inch woofer would be good. I don't expect it to hit so low which is understandable. She listens to a lot more classical/vocal stuff rather than anything TOO bass heavy. which should help. No games really just a music machine while she types papers is the idea and a hookup into a keyboard or digital piano would be nice. Though I know it's unlikely anyone has experience in that field.

I'll look into a decent 8 inch woofer.


Thanks again,

Chris

Jstas

It honestly depends on what kind of connections the keyboards or pianos support. For that, you need the piano or keyboard. I can't offer much help there because quite a few have different and/or propritary connectors.

audiobliss

Yet again, wonderful posts, Jstas.

Originally posted by Jstas
If you computer doesn't have a sound control program for the pre-amp controls, there are free ones out there that also handle media libraries.

Do you know of any right off hand that are worth looking into? Thanks.

audiobliss

And as for the keyboard issue, I will definitely want to be able to hook mine up to my stereo and my computer (for recording). That is, when I get it!

Jstas

Originally posted by audiobliss
Do you know of any right off hand that are worth looking into? Thanks.

Winamp is my favorite one but only available for Windows and I think Mac.

You also have the venerable Windows Media Player, availble for, of course, Windows.

There is Real Player which is loaded with spyware and other crap and not really worth the time.

There area ton of them here but I'm not sure how many of them incorporate volume and other pre-amp controls.

http://www.download.com/3150-2139-0.html?tag=dir

Schris22

never thought of recording...good point,

she is writing a few pieces on piano. Would be awesome to record them! Assuming this goes stright into a mic in on the sound card?

Thanks

Chris

goingganzo

a computer dont have enough power to dorive the in on a pro amp. unless you have rca outs on a sound blaster.

TheReaper

On hooking a keyboard up. It is best if you get a key board with line-outs, to connect to the line inputs on the sound card (if it has them). A head-phone out can be used to connect to the sound card line inputs, but unless you put a mixer in-between (to convert to line out), you have to be careful on the volume not to overdrive things.

Another connection between a keyboard and computer is midi. If you get a keyboard with midi out/in and a usb midi adapter for the computer, along with some software. There are some fun things you can do. A midi connection transmits the notes being played, the duration, pitch and volume/acceleration (if the keyboard is capable).