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Powering up an M200t after storage


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Greetings, and first off let me say thanks for this great site and all the resources here. I am a new user of this site and hope to soon be a Carver amp user--let me explain. I have an M200t that my father gave me about 10 years ago. Dad was a recording engineer and WWII signal corps veteran, needless to say he took his sound equipment seriously. Growing up with a recording studio in the basement I learned the basics early and still dink around with gear as a hobbyist but I'm no expert. I've stored the M200t since Dad gave it to me and I want to start using it soon. I have a pair of AR2ax speakers that were also Dad's. I need to clean the pots on those speakers before I put them to work and I'd like to power them with the M200t. Here's my question--what if any precautions should I take or what procedures would be wise in powering up the M200t since it has sat for so long without being used?  Thanks in advance for your help.

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I wouldn’t worry about the initial power up.  

I own 2 M-200t amps.

 One was my first Carver. 

I beat the hell out of that amp for 10 years at obscene loads before I started seriously building and it has never let me down.

Ever.  No joke.

 It was the sole reason I based my system around Carver.  

If it was stored clean and dry you should have no issues. 

Clean the external connections with some isopropyl alcohol.  

Make sure you have a clean source. 

Enjoy.

 And we do like pictures.

 

Welcome to Carversite. 

 

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Hi folks,

Thanks for the quick responses. When Dad gave me the M200t he told me it was a really fine amp and as I've started to read up on it I'm looking forward to trying it out. One corner of my basement is pretty will covered up with a range of interesting mostly vintage gear, a lot of which came from Dad's recording studio. We're in a long-term process of finishing the basement and making a work out space that will have a TV and nice sound system, and that is likely where I'll employ the Carver to drive the AR 2ax speakers. But in the meantime it may get used for some light PA work as I have recently acquired (and repaired) a Mackie ProFX12 mixer that had a bad power supply. I would only be using that here, recording or jamming, not gigging, and not driving big speakers or working it too hard, but I would be interested to know what folks on this site think about that application. I know the M200t wasn't designed for PA (and maybe what I'm describing isn't literally PA?) but from what I've read it seems like it would handle pretty significant brief transients fairly easily and it seems that is the primary difference between live sound reinforcement and recorded music--but I may be missing something important there. When I did PA jobs with Dad I don't think we ever had any "PA amps" mostly just Dynaco or McIntosh tube amps, and typically not more than 60 watts or so driving Bogen or University columns. We also weren't doing rock concerts! When I got to join my older brother's rock band we had a 60 watt Bogen driving two University columns for the the vocals, everyone else was responsible for their own sound--it never occurred to us to mic the drums or the horns and we were plenty loud enough for the typical frat houses we played. Sound has come a long way since then!

 

BTW, I haven't decided what speakers I'd use for he M200t with the Mackie, I certainly wouldn't want to use the AR 2ax's for that. It's actually not easy to find decent small-enough PA speakers but maybe some small two way monitors would work. I might have to build them to get what I want. Thoughts on that welcome.

Edited by bluelick
Edited for clarification
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What’s old is new again.

Everything stated in your last post is spot on. You seem to be on exactly the right track.  

While the 200 isn’t a power house, it will indeed handle brief transients easily with minimal clipping.  

 I loaded mine at near 3 ohms for hours on end.  The headroom obviously isn’t great at that load, so I monitored it pretty carefully, but it never let me down and only shut down thermally maybe once or twice a year.  

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Welcome to the site Bluelick!  Those are nice amplifiers and having your Dad give you one......what a guy!  I own about 5 of those amps for my surround sound setup......grin. 

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Welcome.jpg

 

Welcome @bluelick - that sounds like quite the set of equipment and appreciation for it, that you got from your Dad.  It also sounds like you are pretty adept at working on things.  In that case, there are plenty of people here who can help if anything does go awry (myself excepted - keep soldering irons well away from me :D).

 

Here's hoping the '200 fires up flawlessly for you, and that you wind up wishing you had the opportunity to start using it 10 years ago when your dad gave it to you.  Sounds like he was quite the fellow.

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3 hours ago, Brian_at_HHH said:

  Sounds like he was quite the fellow.

Yes he was! He worked in radio as an announcer starting before WWII and went into television after the War, did the nightly news on the NBC affiliate in St Louis for many years. Whenever I get a chance to putter around in the basement with these sweet relics it feels like having him here. Over the winter I rebuilt a pair of Original Large Advents that Dad gave me long ago, put in new surrounds and recapped the crossovers. They had sat in the basement for more than 20 years since the surrounds went, now they sound wonderful again! Got some good help on that project over on the Audiokarma site and using the video instructions from Simply Speakers. What amazes me is that Dad was able to do all of what he did without the internet!

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Hello bluelick, and welcome to thecarversite.com. We're glad you're hear. ;) There is a lot of information here, much technical know how, and a pretty good bunch of folks that are happy to help.

 

Are you still in Missouri? There are a couple of others here from Missouri, and I'm in Springfield.


How about uploading some pics of your gear in the Members Systems area. We all like pics of all kinds of audio gear.


In the meantime, kick your shoes off, turn up the music, and welcome aboard.

 

giphy.gif.d2caeed42cb7cdf6011b96919c2e7170.gif

 

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21 minutes ago, Sk1Bum said:

 

Are you still in Missouri? There are a couple of others here from Missouri, and I'm in Springfield.

 

 

giphy.gif.d2caeed42cb7cdf6011b96919c2e7170.gif

 

Yep, @Sk1Bumyou and me.......I am in Jefferson City......?

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I grew up in Missouri but have lived in Kentucky for more than 40 years. I'll see about getting some images up soon. Again, thanks to all for the warm welcome! I don't have any Carver pics to share but just for practice here are some of my OLA before and after replacing the surrounds. 503701085_OLArefoam1.thumb.JPG.1e3b4d13d2500a56672fd18d03029a4a.JPG

OLA refoam 2.JPG

OLA refoam 3.JPG

Edited by bluelick
added pictures
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Welcome to The Carver Site.  Great amp, you have.  Nice work on the surrounds. Looking forward to first impressions on the hook-up with the m200t.

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Welcome to the site, a lot of great people here!

 

enjoy your stay, as always enjoy the music!

 

barry

Edited by BarryG
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The OLA recapping was not pretty, but effective. I couldn't find a ready source to replace the original 16uF electrolytic caps so I got 8uF caps and tied them together. Also replaced the old resistors. The difference in the sound was definitely worth it--I feel like I got some of my lost hearing back! I also did some Advent/3 speakers while I was at it. They had always sounded really muffled and they woke right up too. The next one in line is a Realistic 40-4050 passive subwoofer. The surround is totally gone, and I have the replacement on hand. I just need to order the caps so I can do the crossover while I'm at it.

OLA recap old caps.jpeg

OLA recap new caps.jpeg

OLA recap complete.JPG

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