Carver AL-III

fredv

Hi,

Anyone knows about the Carver AL-III speakers? In particular, how does it compare to the big SDA SRS? Does it sound anywhere near Carver Amazings? I am interested in this:
http://www.craigslist.org/pen/ele/82948459.html

Thanks,

madmax

I have the SDA's and CA's but have never heard these. I bet they sound pretty good!
madmax

ND13

Carver doesn't miss the mark very often, so I'd have to agree with madmax, plus they're PURDEE.

fredv

Here are a few references that I found, very few:

http://pages.sssnet.com/glg/hifi.html#AL3
http://www.carveraudio.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9
http://www.realeyz.com/carver/products/ls_al3.html

From what I have gone through, it is close to the Silver Edition. Price-wise, the asking price is within the typical range. So, it depends on the condition.

ebay has one in action:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5787139110&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

The summary of my findings as following:
- it is also considered as Carver Amazings series!!
- one of the best speakers for the money at it's time, approx $2K per pair.
- needs good clean power and bi-amp (?? I am not sure it has to be, maybe not, the ebay picture doesn't show any jumpers connecting the speaker posts).
- due to the bipolar nature, placement of the speakers is crucial (it that true for Silver and Platinum editions??). Suggestion is 3-4 feet from the back wall and at least 3 feet from the side. Any comments?

I am going to arrange with the seller to take a look at them, any recomendation what to look for, in particular, the ribbon. I have never seen a ribbon speakers in person at all.

Thanks,

F1nut

The placement issue is true.

They have 2 sets of binding posts for bi-wiring or bi-amping. You would remove the jumpers for both applications and since the ePay one doesn't have jumpers you don't need to remove them. However, if you were not bi-wiring/bi-amping you would need to install jumpers.

As for the ribbons, listen closely for any buzzing noises. If they buzz it can often be fixed by tightening the screws on the ribbons or worse case you'd need to have them rebuilt.

madmax

If they are anything like the original CA's they can sound anything from awesome to awful, depending upon the room.
madmax

fredv

Originally posted by madmax
If they are anything like the original CA's they can sound anything from awesome to awful, depending upon the room.
madmax

Do you mean room size and ceiling height? Any guideline for that?

Thanks,

madmax

No real guideline other than the larger the room, the closer together I like the speakers. They are pretty weird for setup.
madmax

fredv

You guys are absolutely right. Carver doesn't miss the mark too often. Here is the story:

The AL-III's were moved to the garage, but cosmetics were good. I only saw a few scratches on the bass cabinet. The seller hooked them up to a carver TFM-25 and let me play with it. Boy, I melted after 2 minutes. The bass is not as low as my 2.3 but adequate. However, the sound stage, mid-high, and transparency beat my 2.3.

A couple more potential buyers showed up to kick tires later. After we all spent our cycle with the amazings, we knew that there was no time to wait and made our offers. The other 2 guys offered a little more than the asking price but could only pay a small amount of deposit. I empty my wallet and the coin box of my van and handed the seller a total of $835 (asking price) cash. I won and drove away with the amazings!!

ND13

Originally posted by fredv
You guys are absolutely right. Carver doesn't miss the mark too often. Here is the story:

The AL-III's were moved to the garage, but cosmetics were good. I only saw a few scratches on the bass cabinet. The seller hooked them up to a carver TFM-25 and let me play with it. Boy, I melted after 2 minutes. The bass is not as low as my 2.3 but adequate. However, the sound stage, mid-high, and transparency beat my 2.3.

A couple more potential buyers showed up to kick tires later. After we all spent our cycle with the amazings, we knew that there was no time to wait and made our offers. The other 2 guys offered a little more than the asking price but could only pay a small amount of deposit. I empty my wallet and the coin box of my van and handed the seller a total of $835 (asking price) cash. I won and drove away with the amazings!!

Thank God for that coin box;) . Major congrats to ya. Enjoy.

dorokusai

It's a very cool speaker, but it's no Amazing Nice grab, welcome to ribbons.

I like the aesthetics of the later models and they are a lot easier to integrate into normal people enviroments.

fredv

Originally posted by dorokusai
It's a very cool speaker, but it's no Amazing Nice grab, welcome to ribbons.

Hee hee, the AL-III probably let me experience maybe 75% of what the original Amazings sounds like That means the search for the holly grail hasn't ended yet 1.2TL, Platinum Amazings, where are you

Don't laugh, I have been following you guys discussion very closely. Yours experience and opinion are my guidelines to look for used gears. My gut feeling is that the next "type" to add to my collection will be Maggies?????

ND13

Originally posted by fredv
Hee hee, the AL-III probably let me experience maybe 75% of what the original Amazings sounds like That means the search for the holly grail hasn't ended yet 1.2TL, Platinum Amazings, where are you

Don't laugh, I have been following you guys discussion very closely. Yours experience and opinion are my guidelines to look for used gears. My gut feeling is that the next "type" to add to my collection will be Maggies?????

You're looking to add almost the same speakers that I'm looking for. I'll also add the Dahlquist mirror imaged DQ-10s to the wish list.

Let's see.......the speaker wish list:
1. SDA SRS
2. Carver Amazings
3. One of the larger Maggies
4. Dahlquist DQ-10 (mirror image)
5. Several out of reach sets

TroyD

Pretty sure that the ribbon on the ALIII was similar to previous Amazing ribbons. My issue is, as was so succintly put, 1 10" driver limits a man's horizions. No substitute for radiating surface area.

Always loved that quote.

BDT