Carver and Polk synergy

honestaquarian

I KNOW there are others out there who like the way Carver electronics sound with Polk speakers.I want to hear from you.I ESPECIALLY like the way that the TFM series of amps with the SIlver Seven vacuum tube transfer function sound with Polks that have the SL-3000 tweeters.As well as the RD-0194's.Any comments?Any other opinions?:cool:

madmax

I thought the carver silver 9t's sounded ok with the SDA's but in the end I sold them. A little too sterile for me. They are clean powerhouses for sure though! In the same price range I much prefer soundcraftsmen amplifiers or tubes.
madmax

SDA SRS 1.2

I always enjoyed my TFM-45, C-16, and TX-11b with the SDA's. The Sunfire works well with the SDA's also.

honestaquarian

SDA SRS 1.2 wrote:

I always enjoyed my TFM-45, C-16, and TX-11b with the SDA's. The Sunfire works well with the SDA's also.

I have a C-19 preamp myself.When i FINALLY decided to go full 5.1 i pulled it out and put in a Parasound AVC-2500.OY VAT A DIFFERENCE!Now i have no use for my C-19(which had been giving me trouble ANYWAY) and the TX-11A.

ohskigod

my carver 4.0t (same as the tfm 42/45) allways sounded good on polk speakers. I used them with sda's, RTA12's, Lsi9's and 15's. some will argue better, especially based on preference, but you certainly cant go wrong.

my 4.0t currently drives the LSi15's in my HOme Theater set up, giving them 500 watts of power the LSi's crave so much. simply put, movies rock in my house!

honestaquarian

ohskigod wrote:

my carver 4.0t (same as the tfm 42/45) allways sounded good on polk speakers. I used them with sda's, RTA12's, Lsi9's and 15's. some will argue better, especially based on preference, but you certainly cant go wrong.

my 4.0t currently drives the LSi15's in my HOme Theater set up, giving them 500 watts of power the LSi's crave so much. simply put, movies rock in my house!

One of the two most realistic sound recreations that i have EVER heard was with a pair of Polk RTA-12's(the last of the line with the SL-2000 tweeters)and a Carver M-4.0t amp.It was being driven by a Carver sonic holography preamp(i cannot remember which)and a Carver SD/A-490T cd player.I was listening to a Telarc cd and the orchestra was laid out before me!

Airplay355

I used a Carver m.05t with my Lsi's and my SDA's. Great powerhouse amp, but in the end, my musical fidelity integrated sounded noticeably better. Classic case of you get what you pay for I guess. I could have bought 4 of the carver amps for what I paid for the integrated

scottwilson999

I am new to the forum and new to Polk use. I have used Infinity products for years--this may well brand me a heretic, but I have recently purchased and received what I nearly bought many years ago: the RTA-15 model. I debated between it and the Kappa 8, and I ended up going with the Kappa 7 for shipping reasons.
Now, I finally have the RTA 15s by which I was always intrigued. One of the tweeters is blown, and I have ordered original SL-3000s at $100.00 each--am I paying too much?
I am running a Carver HR-752 receiver with the pre-outs plugged into a TFM-42--without the wonderful vu meters of the TFM-45.
Thus far I am very impressed, even without the second tweeter running as it should.
(By the way, when I moved the wires connected to the SL-3000 about, having removed the tweeter to inspect it only to find its untimely demise, suddenly midrange sound came into play where I had only heard bass before--a short in the wiring perhaps--can anyone explain? No highs or midrange, play with wire: midrange and bass, but still a very dead tweeter--short somewhere in addition to dead tweeter?)

My brother always had the jr. SDA with the stands, and he still swears by Polk and the SDA phenomenon. I am running Carver's sonic holography, so I do not require the SDA.

One other thing had always troubled me. It was the use of passive radiators. They seem like so much audio alchemy. How can they possibly work? Dammit, they shouldn't work, but hearing them, feeling them, I believe they do. Am I the victim of some sonic spell? There is no power, no voice coil! Sound pressure trapped in the cabinet? Did Polk make some Faustian bargain for yet another inexplicable phenomenon?

F1nut

Welcome!

Polk no longer sells the SL3000, but they have a replacement, the RD0198-1. The new tweeter is silk vs. the metal dome and sounds much better. It's best to order two for matching purposes.

You probably have one or more loose connections in the one cabinet. It would be worthwhile to open it up to check.

FYI, Carver's sonic holography is similar to the SDA technology, but most agree that SDA is better.

Enjoy your new speakers.

honestaquarian

scottwilson999 wrote:

I am new to the forum and new to Polk use. I have used Infinity products for years--this may well brand me a heretic, but I have recently purchased and received what I nearly bought many years ago: the RTA-15 model. I debated between it and the Kappa 8, and I ended up going with the Kappa 7 for shipping reasons.
Now, I finally have the RTA 15s by which I was always intrigued. One of the tweeters is blown, and I have ordered original SL-3000s at $100.00 each--am I paying too much?
I am running a Carver HR-752 receiver with the pre-outs plugged into a TFM-42--without the wonderful vu meters of the TFM-45.
Thus far I am very impressed, even without the second tweeter running as it should.
(By the way, when I moved the wires connected to the SL-3000 about, having removed the tweeter to inspect it only to find its untimely demise, suddenly midrange sound came into play where I had only heard bass before--a short in the wiring perhaps--can anyone explain? No highs or midrange, play with wire: midrange and bass, but still a very dead tweeter--short somewhere in addition to dead tweeter?)

My brother always had the jr. SDA with the stands, and he still swears by Polk and the SDA phenomenon. I am running Carver's sonic holography, so I do not require the SDA.

One other thing had always troubled me. It was the use of passive radiators. They seem like so much audio alchemy. How can they possibly work? Dammit, they shouldn't work, but hearing them, feeling them, I believe they do. Am I the victim of some sonic spell? There is no power, no voice coil! Sound pressure trapped in the cabinet? Did Polk make some Faustian bargain for yet another inexplicable phenomenon?

The main differences between Carver's Sonic Hologram Generator and Polk's SDA(Stereo Dimensional Array)is the fact that the Carver is an active electronic system VS Polk's Passive acoustic approach.Also The later SDA's only ran the interaural crosstalk distortion cancellation signal from 200 hz to 1000 hz.The Carver runs it full range.I used to own a pair of RTA-15TL's and dearly miss them.Even without any kind of crosstalk cancellation they can throw a 3D holographic soundstage.Oh and the Passive radiators are driven by the air inside the cabinet which is excited by the movement of the midwoofers.Those big center caps are for resonant tuning to certain bass frequencies to help deliver the low end.In the case of the 15's QUITE effectively.Welcome to Polk and the forum.I see that it has been quite a long time in coming!!!!!!!!

Carlton
P.S.I always thought the Infinity sound was very similar to Polk in most respects.I just latched on to Polk about twenty years ago and have never gone back.Oh well ya gotta make choices!

honestaquarian

Currently own a pair of SDA-SRS 3.1TL's being driven by a Sunfire Cinema Grand Signature. WONDERFUL sound!! Bi-wired.

nooshinjohn

honestaquarian wrote: »

SDA SRS 1.2 wrote:

I always enjoyed my TFM-45, C-16, and TX-11b with the SDA's. The Sunfire works well with the SDA's also.

I have a C-19 preamp myself.When i FINALLY decided to go full 5.1 i pulled it out and put in a Parasound AVC-2500.OY VAT A DIFFERENCE!Now i have no use for my C-19(which had been giving me trouble ANYWAY) and the TX-11A.

I will give that C-19 some love... Shoot me a pm if you want a good home for it.

pitdogg2

Necro thredding again John
I'd love to have it also, I was too poor to afford it back in the day when I had to settle for the C16....probably still too poor to afford it now lol

nooshinjohn

Lol... The guy above my post brought this one back from the abyss.

honestaquarian

Well I can do that since it's a thread that I started 9 years ago!!
I hadn't been on here since then............

honestaquarian

honestaquarian

That is with the SDA-1C's and CS-400 which I am selling in another thread.
Now I have the SDA-SRS 3.1tl's and a CS-1000p
All driven by the same Sunfire Cinema grand Signature amp.
(you can just see the LED's on the M-400a amp behind the Blu-rays.Which drives the height channels visible in the upper pic)