FS Carver AL-IIIs in Natural Oak

ND13

Ricardo, I sent ya a pm. I'll talk to ya later on today and we'll make arrangements.

Thanks

Ricardo

I plan to place them by the 1.2 TL's and switch wires; time will tell which speakers get more listening time......maybe the starting point for a new rig..who knows.

So....ribbons..... For you guys that had/have these speakers, what should I expect, comparing them with the SDA's? How do they fill the room? How well do they disappear? Detailed? How critical is placement for them? What are their strengths? Is there a specific type of music that shines on them???? I hear they need a good amp...meaning power? How do they do with tubes?

I am looking for something "different", and hope I can get it with these; I enjoyed having my second tubed rig before I let it go, and depending on the mood I would listen to that or the SDA's; it is nice to have a good alternative.

I know...lots of questions; I never heard ribbons before, but I've heard of people saying they discovered music with them, and there's also people that hates them...it seems to be a love them or hate them thing....

hoosier21

ribbons are in a different world from drivers, you will love them.
Detailed like you won't believe, vocals will give you chills it's so good.

Ricardo

hoosier21 wrote:

ribbons are in a different world from drivers, you will love them.
Detailed like you won't believe, vocals will give you chills it's so good.

Female vocals is one of my favorite materials...Diana Krall, Jane Monheit, Dianne Reeves, Norah Jones .....


Keep it coming...so far sounds great

Normanality

HTrookie wrote:

Female vocals is one of my favorite materials...Diana Krall, Jane Monheit, Dianne Reeves, Norah Jones .....


Keep it coming...so far sounds great

You hit the nail on the head for the Carvers! Female vocals and piano. Just you wait! Acoustic guitar will also get your attention.

BTW Norah is mine! She sits in my lap when she's singing on my system.

halo

I had Norm's black Carvers when I was using a Parasound Halo A23. When I heard them originally at Rich's & we compared amps: the McAlister PP150 vs the Halo A23. The PP150 dusted it.

Norm bi-amped the Carvers with two PP150 amps and I was told the results were astonishing.

They produce a lot of deep bass and there is no comparison in the highs. The only place I felt the Carvers lacked in comparison to the SDA SRS 2's was midbass.

Norm had the idea that a Behringer EQ in place of the stock x-over could send more midbass to the woofers and take that load off of the ribbons. If that worked I'd say you'll be ditching your SDA's for the Carvers.

I was very close to purchasing them from Norm but I already had too many Polks taking up too much space. Now I have the Von's and I'm happy but the Von's cost a lot more than the Carvers.

Ricardo

How much WPC does that PP150 pump?

SCompRacer

Victor is spot on about the McAlister 75WPC tube amp. We tried the AL-III's with a Carver TFM-35 and the results were less than impressive. We tried them with the TFM-35 on the bass and the PP150 on the ribbons and again, nothing to write home about.

Placement wise, you can do the equal triangle or a 30/60, where you sit farther than they are apart. They are a dipole so placement to a back wall can be critical. Depends on how reflective your room is. They do need to be toed in towards you for best results.

For serious listening, I would pull them away from the wall about 3 feet or so. For everyday use, they were about a foot away and I attached some thick felt to the back side of the ribbon to reduce rear reflections.

faster100

Congrats on the sale Noel, gotta be the longest running sale and bumps in history.. patience is your friend..

audiobliss

Hahaha, it's a lousy friend for me, for sure. Always skips town just when I need it.

univera

Normanality wrote:

You hit the nail on the head for the Carvers! Female vocals and piano. Just you wait! Acoustic guitar will also get your attention.

BTW Norah is mine! She sits in my lap when she's singing on my system.

If you think Norah is fine, check out her sister. I can't recall her first name, but her last name is Shankar, daughter of Ravi Shankar, Woodstock player and sitar god. She plays an incredible sitar herself and is absolutely stunning. A woman with beauty on the outside and expressed from the inside with an amazing instrument. She is high on my list. Check her out on the Tribute to George Harrison DVD which has superb fidelity on its own. You won't be disappointed!

amulford

So....ribbons..... For you guys that had/have these speakers, what should I expect, comparing them with the SDA's? How do they fill the room? How well do they disappear? Detailed? How critical is placement for them? What are their strengths? Is there a specific type of music that shines on them???? I hear they need a good amp...meaning power? How do they do with tubes?

Like Russ said, it's a whole different world. They will fill the room plenty. Localization is eerie, it's so good. Unlike the SDA's, a piano won't sound like it's 12 feet wide, instuments will be almost touchable.

Placement is critical, and it's a ****. But when you get them dialed in...:D

They'll disappear nicely. The detail is nothing short of amazing. You have to experience it. They're good with alot of music genre, but are extremely so with accoustics, vocals, and orchestral/classical.

The design requires power. The ribbons are "full range" drivers with the woofer augumenting the low end. I've found a tube pre with lots of clean sand works out very well. You could probably do with a tube/sand biamp, but you should go with at least 75-100 WPC class A on the ribbons. It kind of depends on how you listen.

halo

HTrookie wrote:

How much WPC does that PP150 pump?

75 (tube) wpc. I just happen to have one I'm not using at the moment

Ricardo

amulford wrote:

..... Unlike the SDA's, a piano won't sound like it's 12 feet wide......

Bingo....if there was one complaint I'd have for the SDA's, it would be THIS. The piano traveling from left to right...it just does not make sense. I thought I was the only one....

Ricardo

Halo wrote:

75 (tube) wpc. I just happen to have one I'm not using at the moment

....meaning what??????

Not right now.....I need to plan very carefully how I'm going to "sell" the AE-III's to my significant other....I asked Noel to keep them for 2-3 weeks for me to come out with a good strategy...

audiobliss

Congrats HT!!! Now all you have to do is prove a good strategist these next few weeks!

fredv

HTrookie wrote:

Bingo....if there was one complaint I'd have for the SDA's, it would be THIS. The piano traveling from left to right...it just does not make sense. I thought I was the only one....

That's why my 1.2TL's are sidelined, and the AL-III's are in place for the last 4 months. Sometimes I do feel missing the very deep bass of the TL's, but my
AL-III's don't have the upgraded subs.

George Grand

When I got my Carver Amazing Platinums a million years ago, right out of the box, no break in or nothing, it was apparent from the opening notes of Zappa's "Peaches & Regalia" that I had been listening to box coloration for all the years before that. The rest of the speakers incredible virtues became apparent as I re-listened to my entire music collection. Easily the wisest audio purchase I ever made.

Ricardo

With all these comments, I think I will definitely not regret it...

Can't wait to have them here and hook them up.

Noel, MO dropped in the mail today; you should have it Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest.
Might pick them up next week...

fredv

Am I hearing the AL's singing with the Belles :-)

Ricardo

Well, actually it will either be the AL's or the 1.2 TL's......

"Negotiations" with the boss have been going back and forth, and having "two huge pairs of speakers plus all those in the HT" is not something she is looking forward to...and to be honest, she's kind of right.

So, I think that I'll have to make a very difficult decision and keep only one pair; at least that's how it is looking now....we'll see....she likes the looks of the AL's A LOT MORE than the SDA's...meaning there's some weight on the balance now...

Shizelbs

Amazings v. SDAs. For me, thats an easy decision.

Ricardo

Shizelbs wrote:

Amazings v. SDAs. For me, thats an easy decision.

I think I can read between the lines here......we'll see

ND13

Got the MO today.

Can't wait to have you over again, but excuse the mess, as I'm in the middle of remodeling the kitchen.

Ricardo

TODAY??????

Wow...once again USPS surprises me....dropped it on Saturday.

No problem with the mess

I'm ready to come over; could be one of these nights if that's ok with you...if not then the weekend. I'll contact you first

audiobliss

Hmm. How far away is OH? Could I drive that far for some SDA's? lol

amulford

Who are you kidding?? Do you think Mom will let you drive there and she won't let you to the next state over?:D

univera

HTrookie wrote:

Bingo....if there was one complaint I'd have for the SDA's, it would be THIS. The piano traveling from left to right...it just does not make sense. I thought I was the only one....

Agreed as well on piano. It sometimes sounds a bit too warpy on some stuff. My only complaint on the big boys other than sheer size.

dorokusai

It's a really neat speaker, have fun!

There's a bunch of speakers that sound better than an SDA....but then it's all personal anyways. Some of the SDA stalwarts need to realize that there is another world out here, and humans now walk the earth.

schwarcw

Congrats Ricardo! I love to see these stay in our extended family:) Happy listening and good luck!