Done Lurking, Hello To All

[kcetp 47]

Well, I've lurked long enough and it's time to make my first post.

First, I'd like to give public thanks to 2 members here:

4krow - for performing his amazing upgrade to my stock C-9 .. THANK YOU!!

wrf - for undertaking the MKII upgrade on my 2 M-500 amps .. FOREVER GRATEFUL !!

I first met Bob Carver in 1979 (he wouldn't remember me from Adam, and I don't blame him). He was travelingaround the country promoting his new Carver products after leaving Phase Linear. I'd been a fan of Phase Linear but could never afford their products. Bob was demonstrating the new C-4000 and the M-400 at local hi-fi stores around the country and and I had a friend who ran a shop in Tucson,AZ and he invited me over to see and hear the new Carver products.

I was amazed by Sonic Holography and the C-4000. The M-400 I decided was the best "bang for the buck" in those days .. 200wpc back then in a cute little cube was unique, who could pass that up?. I promptly bought both the C-4000 and the M-400 that day.

I happily lived with both units for a few years .. till my house was burglarized and they took everything. It wasa horrible experience. It was the closest feeling a male can have to being raped (I don't mean to diminish thetrauma of female rape here, but you know what I mean).

I replaced the stolen units with a C-1 and a M-500 .. which I still use presently. I've been through numerousspeaker systems .. Polk, Klipsch Hereseys and an ADS 1500 sub/sat system and Silverline Audio monitors. Currently I have the Emerald Physics CS2 open baffle speakers. If you've never heard an open baffle system, whoa .. try to get a demo somewhere. The CS2s have an open, airy sound .. not hindered by box resonance, an expansive deep sound stage and tight bass with authority and weight.

Google for Emerald Physics CS2 to read the amazing reviews.

The Emerald Physics CS2 speakers require bi-amplification utilizing an active crossover .. the Behringer DCX2496. I use a Cullen Circuits modded DCX2496 which lowers the noise floor a bit over the stock unit. Since I needed to bi-amp, I purchased a second M-500 on the used market.

I didn't know about this site till recently and before I knew what a BillD mod was I sent my C-1 over toVintageHiFi for a recap and upgrade. I sent the C-1 in January and still don't have it back yet (are you listeningTom? .. just kidding :-)). So, in the meantime to hold me over I've been using a passive pre, a Reference Line1000. But I find the passive pre to be too thin sounding, loss of authoritative bass. So, I got a used tube pre .. aDared SL2000A, which is real sweet when you get into tube rolling.

While I send each M-500 one at a time to wrf, a good friend has loaned me a pair of 1953 Radio Craftsman 10w. tube mono-block amps with NOS tubes as I need 4 channels of power for the speakers (yes, that's a downside to the CS2s but believe me,it's worth it). I don't quite know how to match amplifier gain, so if there's anyone here who can suggest a method I'd appreciate it. I can use the DCX2496 to do just about any kind of sonic tweaking, it's a pretty intense digital signal processor. I'm now just going by ear with the gain matching but I'd like to be able to set it correctly and then tweak if I find it not to my liking.

Of course I started with vinyl back in the day, switched to cds when they first came out and now I'm all digitalbased. I put together a diy Win 7 X64 music server and play 2 TB of FLACs with J. River Media Center. I have 2 DACs and trying to figure out which one I'll end up keeping. They are the Cambridge Audio DACMagic and the Emotiva XDA-1.

I've been a big fan of Carver products for over 30yrs and it was great to find this site full of others like myself. 

 

Again, a big thanks goes to 4krow and wrf :-)  

 

Cheers, kcetp

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Balok 1,398]

Welcome to the forum kcetp.  That is a beautiful room.  I see you've ditched the fireplace in favour of the more efficient tube amps.

[DaveStL 85]

Welcome, kcetp. Nice rig--I will look up those speakers. BTW, there are a number of folks here w/ dipoles (I have Maggies).

[Daddyjt 8,606]

Welcome aboard!

 

You've been paying attention during your lurking - we usually have to ask for pictures, but you nailed it!!

 

Very nice system - I've wanted to hear a set of OBs for some time.

[PDR 1,192]

Open baffle.......nice!

I have a set I wont part with....once youve been smittin....

Theyre like blondes with long legs...redheads are ok, but.... 

 

Welcome! 

 

 

[Gene C 1,745]

Welcome! You've got quite a collection there.

[zumbini 6,138]

Howdy kcetp. Glad you decided to come out of the closet and join us.

Thanks for the photos too. That's a real interesting collection of gear you have.

 

I don't quite know how to match amplifier gain, so if there's anyone here who can suggest a method I'd appreciate it. I can use the DCX2496 to do just about any kind of sonic tweaking, it's a pretty intense digital signal processor. I'm now just going by ear with the gain matching but I'd like to be able to set it correctly and then tweak if I find it not to my liking.

I use a Behringer CX3400 3-way stereo crossover to tri-amp using 3 M-500(t)'s and an M-1.0t.

(I have a DEQ2496 like yours in my PA system rack but prefer the analog XO in my home system.)

 

I start by using a spectrum analyser and a 1/3 octave EQ to minimize room effects like standing waves.

Then I tweak the flat but usually thin sounding room curve by ear using recordings that I am very familiar with.

Finally, I again use my ears to balance the levels of the three frequency bands.

I can have a listenable system within a few hours but continue to tweak for days, weeks, even months.

[Blues Pwr 765]

Welcome to the forum, nice system, thanks for the pics.

You may want to put some sort of riser/spacers between the top M500 and the shelf the tube amps are sitting on for a little better ventilation, and again welcome to the site.........

[tlkohler 106]

Nice listening environment and great gear.  Glad you found the group.

[dennismiller55 4,717]

Welcome!

[BluesMan57 1,306]

Welcome to the forum kcetp. Glad to have you. Great looking system thanks for sharing......

[SteveFord 1,059]

Yeah, that room looks great.

I'd keep the fireplace, though.

[kingman 662]

I like your setup and beautiful room. Gonna google those speaker right now to see more...they look very interesting. Heard some open baffles at Carverfest last year and was surprised how efficient they were! BTW...WELCOME!!!

[oldtexasdog 2,363]

Welcome. Looks like you have addressed your room acoustics with some wall covering and bass traps? Very nice!

[Belvedere2 170]

Very nice setup.

• 

[dokblues 101]

Welcome aboard! Nice setup and room. Enjoy all the great folks here!

[Nahash5150 9,952]

Welcome. It's always good news to see another serious audio aficionado around! Thanks for sharing. Nice system.

[jazzman53 1,218]

Welcome!  I love your setup and your room too. 

[soulofsound 40]

Well, I've lurked long enough and it's time to make my first post.

 

First, I'd like to give public thanks to 2 members here:

 

4krow - for performing his amazing upgrade to my stock C-9 .. THANK YOU!!

 

wrf - for undertaking the MKII upgrade on my 2 M-500 amps .. FOREVER GRATEFUL !!

 

I first met Bob Carver in 1979 (he wouldn't remember me from Adam, and I don't blame him). He was traveling

around the country promoting his new Carver products after leaving Phase Linear. I'd been a fan of Phase Linear but could never afford their products. Bob was demonstrating the new C-4000 and the M-400 at local hi-fi stores around the country and and I had a friend who ran a shop in Tucson,AZ and he invited me over to see and hear the new Carver products.

 

I was amazed by Sonic Holography and the C-4000. The M-400 I decided was the best "bang for the buck" in those days .. 200wpc back then in a cute little cube was unique, who could pass that up?. I promptly bought both the C-4000 and the M-400 that day.

 

I happily lived with both units for a few years .. till my house was burglarized and they took everything. It was

a horrible experience. It was the closest feeling a male can have to being raped (I don't mean to diminish the

trauma of female rape here, but you know what I mean).

 

I replaced the stolen units with a C-1 and a M-500 .. which I still use presently. I've been through numerous

speaker systems .. Polk, Klipsch Hereseys and an ADS 1500 sub/sat system and Silverline Audio monitors. Currently I have the Emerald Physics CS2 open baffle speakers. If you've never heard an open baffle system, whoa .. try to get a demo somewhere. The CS2s have an open, airy sound .. not hindered by box resonance, an expansive deep sound stage and tight bass with authority and weight.

 

Google for Emerald Physics CS2 to read the amazing reviews.

 

The Emerald Physics CS2 speakers require bi-amplification utilizing an active crossover .. the Behringer DCX2496. I use a Cullen Circuits modded DCX2496 which lowers the noise floor a bit over the stock unit. Since I needed to bi-amp, I purchased a second M-500 on the used market.

 

I didn't know about this site till recently and before I knew what a BillD mod was I sent my C-1 over to

VitageHiFi for a recap and upgrade. I sent the C-1 in January and still don't have it back yet (are you listening

Tom? .. just kidding :-)). So, in the meantime to hold me over I've been using a passive pre, a Reference Line

1000. But I find the passive pre to be too thin sounding, loss of authoritve bass. So, I got a used tube pre .. a

Dared SL2000A, which is real sweet when you get into tube rolling.

 

While I send each M-500 one at a time to wrf, a good friend has loaned me a pair of 1953 Radio Craftsman 10w. tube mono-block amps with NOS tubes as I need 4 channels of power for the speakers (yes, that's a downside to the CS2s but believe me,it's worth it). I don't quite know how to match amplifier gain, so if there's anyone here who can suggest a method I'd appreciate it. I can use the DCX2496 to do just about any kind of sonic tweaking, it's a pretty intense digital signal processor. I'm now just going by ear with the gain matching but I'd like to be able to set it correctly and then tweak if I find it not to my liking.

 

Of course I started with vinyl back in the day, switched to cds when they first came out and now I'm all digital

based. I put together a diy Win 7 X64 music server and play 2 TB of FLACs with J. River Media Center. I have 2 DACs and trying to figure out which one I'll end up keeping. They are the Cambridge Audio DACMagic and the Emotiva XDA-1.

 

I've been a big fan of Carver products for over 30yrs and it was great to find this site full of others like

myself. 

 

Again, a big thanks goes to 4krow and wrf :-)  

 

Cheers, kcetp

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gene C 1,745]

Speaking in code?

 

[kcetp 47]

Thanks for all the warm welcomes, happy to be here.

 

To reply to a few comments:

 

Sorry, I'm not a fan of fireplaces so it wasn't an issue for me to cover it with my rack. And yes, those Radio Craftsman C-500s do get toasty hot.

 

The pics don't show it well, but they were taken before I sent one M-500 out for an upgrade. So I had 2 M-500s stacked and spaced apart with 1 1/2" spikes. The top M-500 was for the highs and since I'm using the tube mono blocks for the highs now, the top M-500 is disconnected, so no issue with ventilation.

 

Also, what I mean about gain matching amps in a bi-amp configuration is: the speaker designer Clayton Shaw made presets for the DCX2496 based upon the distance from the rear wall. So it's real easy to set up, all you do is recall a preset based upon the distance from the rear wall ... my speakers are 4ft from rear wall (Shaw says the further out the better, but in my room 4ft is about all I can go or else the speakers are in the middle of the room.Unfortunately I'm using the long wall in a rectangular room).

 

Within the presets there are settings for freq xover, threshold, attack, release, long & short delays, limiters ... ect. Settings that are way above my head in terms of understanding and I don't want to mess with them, at least as yet till I know more. The presets have a gain of 2.5db for the lows and -4db for the highs, but that's for using 2 of the same kind of amps. In my situation since I'm using 10w tube mono blocks for the highs and an M-500 solid state for the lows ... a -4db for the highs just doesn't cut it, way too low gain. I've adjusted it to +5db for the highs. But that's not what the speaker designer had in mind and I'm concerned that it's affecting the soundstage presentation and the overall sonic balance.

 

I can live with it till I restore my original configuration of matching M-500s ... but I'm confused about matching gains between an ss amp and a tube amp.

 

Cheers, kcetp

 

[soulofsound 40]

Welcome to the site kcetp

Think you will like it here.

And I know how you fell!

I was broken into two weeks ago!

The members are great here and very helpful.

Welcome again sos

[TNRabbit 370]

Welcome!

 

This is one of the BEST room pics I've ever seen. GREAT perspective!

 

 

Where'd you get the rugs?

[kcetp 47]

Thanks TNRabbit,

 

Actually I cheated a bit, I used a 15mm lens on my DSLR and attached it to my monopod, extended the length, stood in a corner, lifted the monopod up high and took the shot. There's no balcony or second floor in my place though it looks like I might have stood on one to make the photo.

 

The rugs? ... oh they're so old I don't remember where I got them, it's a good thing the photo is far from the rugs, they're actually a bit dirty ... ha.

 

Cheers, kcetp

 

[helicopter pilot doug 110]

Welcome!!  Very nice system and a beautiful listening area you have there.  From the sounds of it, you must be into photography as well as superb audio.