Carver Haters Beware

candyliquor35m

I know everyone loves their system well I hope so but maybe we don't talk enough about them. My hat goes off to Bob Carver. I firmly believe he frets over every little musical detail in his products. What I'm impressed with is their ability to sound somewhat tubelike and I've read that he's a huge tube fan so I think he went/goes the extra mile because of that love. He doesn't just use any transistor. I think he listens to all of them and picks the one he likes the best. Better systems? Of course but I'll be older and grayer before I buy them. Solid core interconnects and speaker wire throughout, SDA 2b's, TFM-45, CT-24 pre, cheap old sony cdp. Can't wait till will can listen to each others systems via a line out to our pc then internet it around the world to waiting pc headphones without losing too much hi-def. Maybe that's already possible.

Polkersince85

Somebody forgot to take their medications.:D









P.S. I like Carver, too.

TroyD

The preamp wasn't, I'm fairly sure, a Bob Carver design.

Nice amp, though.

BDT

dorokusai

I'm not a Carver fan.....However, I respect the design and Bob, as he was a pioneer in the FU establishment type HI-FI arena.

It's attitude that creates new things in audio, as everything else is rudimentary.

candyliquor35m

TroyD wrote:

The preamp wasn't, I'm fairly sure, a Bob Carver design.

Nice amp, though.

BDT

You're probably right. The pre- was made in china and has a major flaw imo. The outer part of the rca jacks (I don't know if that's called the ground or what) are just pressed in by hand and come out easily if I have a rca plug that fits tight. Not a deal breaker because I just push them back in but an inconvenience to say the least. The pre seems to have a good sound to it, clean, clear and detailed. The am/fm switch stopped working and I had to take the faceplate off and clean it. seems to be fine now. I've been tempted to upgrade but it has both a onboard tuner and phono input. I appologize for any audio lingo I've screwed up

Polkersince85 wrote:

Somebody forgot to take their medications.:D

P.S. I like Carver, too.

Actually that's the easy part. A daily injection of copaxone which from what I've researched is only 2 amino acids but it seems to have helped over the years. A lot of the other approved medications are in the interferon family if I remember right and have more side effects but I haven't tried any of them.

AndyGwis

I'm running a Carver M1.0t and C-2 setup right now. Sounds good, but I'm not sure how it stacks up to my B&K gear. Gonna spend some time with it listening to some familiar tunes to solidify my opinions on the two systems.

Carver is great gear for the prices, tho. Amp for $250 - $300, preamp for $150 and you've got a decent system with plenty of power.

Refefer

One nice things about carver is that their Watts per Dollar is perty darn small... which makes it ideal for those low sensitivity systems, and gives you plenty of headroom... on the cheap!

I seriously considered the TFM-35 when I was looking to upgrade my amp for SDA's.

halo

candyliquor35m wrote:

Actually that's the easy part. A daily injection of copaxone which from what I've researched is only 2 amino acids but it seems to have helped over the years. A lot of the other approved medications are in the interferon family if I remember right and have more side effects but I haven't tried any of them.

I take the same stuff. Tried Avonex but that's a big effin needle and the side effects sucked. When/how long ago were you diagnosed? For me it was '85 and I was 11 years old :eek:

candyliquor35m

Halo wrote:

I take the same stuff. Tried Avonex but that's a big effin needle and the side effects sucked. When/how long ago were you diagnosed? For me it was '85 and I was 11 years old :eek:

damn 11 years old. normally it happens in our 30's which if my math is right, I was 38 in 1998 so next year will be my 10th anniversary in which according to what I've read, 50% are in wheelchairs by their 10th anniversary. I'm stubborn tho, I took tons of iv corti-steroids (solu-medrol) to keep me walking and now, knock on wood, I'm in a long remission stage and haven't used the solu-medrol in over a year. I think giving up alcohol helped and also getting plenty of rest and as little stress as possible.

Bill Ayotte

Good to see other carver fans coming out of the closet.

Ron Temple

I haven't heard many amps (3), but I did listen to my 1Cs on an integrated Marantz RM7200 in Class A and Class A/B (it's switchable), it was very detailed, but too bright and grainy in the highs. The TFM 35 seems to be a match made in heaven for my tastes. Everything sounds smooth as silk, tons of headroom and dynamics. For the price, I'm not apt to experiment for awhile.

BTW the price on these amps on ebay seems to be going through a spike. If you want to move your gear, you might get 35-40% more than last year.

bikerboy

Hi Candyliquer,
I used "The Cube" back in the day. A piece of **** but my brother still has his M-500 amp and TX-11? tuner. I used a carver reciever as an amp for a while in the mancave. Made a ring in the upper freq that I couldnt get to go away. But the tuner in the CT-17 I use works well and sounds great. Sometimes when listening to the radio I forget it is FM not a cd. Great imaging with the sda2s. If you really like it those rca jacks can be replaced.

candyliquor35m

bikerboy wrote:

Hi Candyliquer,
I used "The Cube" back in the day. A piece of **** but my brother still has his M-500 amp and TX-11? tuner. I used a carver reciever as an amp for a while in the mancave. Made a ring in the upper freq that I couldnt get to go away. But the tuner in the CT-17 I use works well and sounds great. Sometimes when listening to the radio I forget it is FM not a cd. Great imaging with the sda2s. If you really like it those rca jacks can be replaced.

Hey thanks. I never thought of replacing the jacks but that's a great idea. Definitely on my to do list. Don't ever change your last name

AndyGwis

Great idea!

Can someone explain the easiest way to replace RCA jacks? I would do that as an upgrade project for my Pro-10MC, would give me a reason to keep it if the upgrade isn't too expensive or tedious.

The RCAs on my Pro-10MC are connected by a ribbon internally and externally look to just be held on by two small solder points. I'll try to post a pick, they are the old school style for the Pro-10MC.

AndyGwis

Here's a pic. Let me know if I should just take this hijacking to a new thread in DIY section.

candyliquor35m

AndyGwis wrote:

Here's a pic. Let me know if I should just take this hijacking to a new thread in DIY section.

It's all good info. Once I post a thread, it belongs to the forum to use, abuse, hijack, etc as you see fit.

ohskigod

love my 4.0t, cant say it enough. same amp inside as the tfm45 you got, just different case and look. oodles of power, and i have no inkling to upgrade

I did recently win an auction for a Hafler 500, and since I allready own one, looks like I'm going to see if Hafler 500's biamped will beat out the Carver on my AR9's.

worse case, the Carver goes back to my theater system, it sure as **** aint being sold anytime soon (even though they are fetching plenty of cheddar on the used market)

Ron Temple

ohskigod wrote:

(even though they are fetching plenty of cheddar on the used market)

You got that right...I should have jumped on the 4.0t for $500 in Dec...they are going from $650-800 now.

snow

Yes amazing isnt it, the price jump in carver amps lately. I was thinking it was only because of tax checks coming up loans. But i dont think so now. I have a TFM-35X running my sda srs 1.2 tls now and it seems to do a fine job. Not to steer people off the subject here, but has anyone owned a proton AA-2120 amp and if so how would it do compared to the carver i have now? THANKS SNOW

Lsi9

If you like carver gets yourself a Sunfire, yes it does have that tube quality to it for a SS amp, Only way Im replacing my sunfire is if I go all tubes one day, love it.