can you use a 2 channel amp for centers front and rear??

faster100

Ok as you know i just bought and am waiting for my carver m400 amp, If i like it i plan to hunt down another one for what i think will work. Ok heres the question??? Can i use a, say the carver cube amp 2 channel @200 wpc, for my front center and rear center on each channel. so i would take my audio cable and hook one to each of the pre-outs for each front and rear center and of course hook each speaker to the corresponding output on the amp. Can this be done? and do the channels on the amps have anything to do with each other?? so as to effect the sound or effects of the center speakers hooked to them. Ok did i make since? Let me know what yall think and thanks again, I am new but love this board, not a single post gets passed up like so many forums i have read or posted on, Thanks for that and all your help......

gidrah

Yes! It'd work splendidly and I am jealous.



Edit for drunken typo!

mantis

faster100,
yes you can do that as long as you use one channel per output.This is the beginning of going seperates.Seperate amps almost everytime sound better then the internal amps in receivers.

faster100

well maybe i'm on the right track then, thanks for the replies. as always a big help

scottvamp

Also asuming you could control the gains for each speaker because you don't want the same volume for the center and the rear. Right?

scottvamp

I am also looking into serperate amps!
So let me bump this up from my other post:
I am looking at the Carver's on ebay. Want a cleaner more powerful (4ohm) amp for my HT mains. The Carver M 1.0 t Magnetic Field Reference amp is one that catches my eye. This historic amp seems to good to be true and they are going for under $300. Does anyone own or have heard this amp? Let me know!!!!!

faster100

Well my receiver will do as most current ones do will let me adjust the gain on each channel, via the receiver controls. is that what you mean by controling the gains for center and rear? It would be on the front center channel and also the rear center(6.1 setup) and the receiver lets you select from -0db - 12+db for each
channel Fr,cntr,rears, and R-center,and sub. so that should let me control any difference in gain, Right?

phuz

Wait, y'all are talking about using a 2ch amp... to power 5 channels?

Someone please explain this a bit more.

faster100

I have never used that amp your talking about but have seen alot of them sold on e-bay, I sell on a regular basis on there and always am looking at the audio gear, I have heard alot about these M400 cube amps by carver and decided to try one, I found one new in the box and am waiting for it to be shipped to me so i can hook it to my surround rears to go with the Onkyo M504 that i have on my mains, If the cube works good i will hunt another down to hook my front and rear center channels to as well, as the M400 boasts a 200 wpc x 2 and the M-504 i have is 2 inputs out to 4 outputs @165 wpc x4 and i have each side Bi-amped into my RTI 70's which is very powerfull i think.

faster100

No No, hehe!! I am going for separete amps, see my above post.
Front mains on Onkyo M-504, M400 carver on rears(soon) and later M400 carver 2 channel amp on the center and rear center, hence 6.1 channel setup

goingganzo

i have a queston for all you carver fan out there.
what would be better getting all 2 chanel amps to drive all my speakers or get 1 7 chanel amp?
and if i did go with carver what moddle would be the best?

faster100

Well i would get a 7 channel amp but i don't beleive they make one?? I am going about it this way with 2 channel amps for cost effectiveness only, and I love my onkyo M504 and dont want a multi channel amp. If a channel go's out the whole amp has to be sent for repair instead of just one. Thats basically up to you and what money you have to spare. Get a 5 channel and a 2 channel if you have the money. I myself like all separates for what ever reasons,

scottvamp

Well my receiver will do as most current ones do will let me adjust the gain on each channel, via the receiver controls. is that what you mean by controling the gains for center and rear?

Yes, that is exactly what I am talking about. I was just wondering if you tryed it out yet. I do not have any experience using seperates with my Onkyo yet, but would like to.

TroyD

All things being equal, yes, IMO a 7 channel amp would be better. Problem is they are rare (Carver never made one) and expensive. The gain issue is relatively easy to solve with an SPL meter and a little fine tuning.

The Carver M1.0t is a great amp. Voiced to sound like the Conrad Johnson Premier 5 monoblock amps. Stereophile couldn't tell the difference and I bet none of us could either. If you can bag one for 300, that's pretty good, IMO.

BDT

faster100

Well it works the same way as if you were tuning the internal amps outputs via the speaker levels control. If i am reading what your asking right? It seems about the same with the seperate amp except more powerful because its more then double the watts per channel of the Integra i have @100 wpc versus the amp bi-amped with all 4 outputs to my mains at 165 x4 so its like 330 watts to each RTI 70, i am soon getting the M400 carver and am planning on putting that on the rears, my next step is getting a spl meter to really set these correctly level wise

TroyD

Sure, the principle is the same. With the internal amps of a receiver it should be a bit easier because all the amps are the same. Using external amps, the will 'idle' if you will, at different levels and you can use the SPL meter to even them out. Probably not the most eloquent explanation, but I think you get the idea.

BDT

gidrah

One problem is that most amps seldom sound identical. You may get an inconsistancy across your front 3chs.

Scott - I watched a Carver for the longest time on E-bay. It was burried in the Business & Industrial. I was hoping it wouldn't get any traffic, but it sold for $265.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1771451271&rd=1

scottvamp

The Carver M1.0t is a great amp. Voiced to sound like the Conrad Johnson Premier 5 monoblock amps. Stereophile couldn't tell the difference and I bet none of us could either. If you can bag one for 300, that's pretty good, IMO.

Thanks for the responce Troy.

Scott - I watched a Carver for the longest time on E-bay. It was burried in the Business & Industrial. I was hoping it wouldn't get any traffic, but it sold for $265.

Ya, like I said under $300. I know what you mean. I have quitely watched items I thought I was going to get it for a steal and right at the end BAM the item goes like crazy.

faster100

Well i really don't have the "ear" to tell the difference between amps yet. I have been fooling with audio gear for awhile but just don't fit into the audiophile part of it. I just listen and enjoy i truely don't think im that critical of my stuff, or atleast at this point in the game

George Grand

You buy a 7 channel amp, and you best hope that nothing ever goes wrong with ONE channel. Cause if it does, the other six channels are going to accompany it back to the shop for repair.

The Carver M1.0t, rated at 200wpc @ 8 ohms, 350wpc @ 4 ohms, is an okay amp. Like BDT said, it was "transfer modified" by Bob Carver to sound like a pair of $5K C-J Premier 5 TUBE amps. This was NOT his choice. His challenge was to the hemaphrodites at Stereophile magazine. Specifically, "I can make my new 200wpc, $699 retail power amp sound INDISTINGUISHABLE from any other 200wpc you choose." The clever fellows at Stereophile decided to throw him a curveball. They chose tube monoblocs.

He performed this magic in a friggin' motel room in Santa Fe. He had 48 hours to accomplish it. After 24 hours, and serious listening, they agreed he was not quite there yet. HIS amp had better low end than the C-J's. So he sent them back home, muddied up the low end on his M1.0t, and when they came back 24 hours later, they had to agree, his amp was virtually IDENTICAL to the C-J's. But when they printed the results in the next issue of Stereophile, the scumbags HAD to dilute the mans success by saying "Well he may be able to do it in a motel room, but we doubt he can assure every one coming off the assembly line will be the same."

And THAT is why you should take EVERY **** THING you read in Stereophile with a grain of salt.

When I worked for Carver, I requested copies of the "Great Amplifier Challenge." The legal department didn't think it was a good idea, so I never received any. The back issue of Stereophile where it was printed, is one of the FEW back issues they won't sell you. Wonder why?

I had an M1.0t about 12-13 yrs ago. It had a real cap discharge problem at shutdown, that really whacked the Polks I was using it with. The Bros. McG. suffered the same thing with their M1.0t's as well. I ended up selling it for that reason. Not one other Carver amp I've owned (M4.0t, M1.5t, M-500t, TFM-42, TFM-35, still have them all) displays yhis discharge thump. Just the M1.0t. Try and find TFM-35's instead. They are 250wpc instead of 200, a lot younger, and no cap disharge problem. They may cost you a bit more, but they are better amps, transfer modified to sound like his own Siver Sevens.

I will retract one past statement:

Maybe BDT CAN learn stuff about hi-fi if he moved into my stereo room, as long as I state the lesson right into his ear. ****, I can't even get credit for his "Baloon Man" quote, and I showed him THAT too! I don't own an M1.5t anymore, cause I sold it to BDT.

Tony Rome

TroyD

Truth be told, MOST of what I know about hifi is courtesy of Tony Rome and/or Russ, so in essence, I should footnote them on every post....Thanks George.

I'd also like to thank George to turning me on to Sergio Mendes and Frank Zappa on the last visit.

Hey, "A man can't just sit around"

BDT