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I am a long time member, first joined in 2009, I plan to be here until I die. TCS is a great site and the people here are wonderful friends!

Everyone. Should hav an edible and play some good music, tonight I’m listening yo Led Zeppelin ! Your doing a great job Greg!

Hey Guys, As a newby to the site (about a month I guess) I’ll say the admins do a fantastic job and I enjoy the site very much. I’m a very political guy but would never shove my beliefs down someone’s throat. I actually avoid a lot of the forum type political stuff and prefer face to face discussions because it’s too easy for someone to sit behind a keyboard and be way more nasty than a face to face talk. I do like the political memes and a good laugh because people are way to serious these days. I say let’s listen to some music and chill out. Life was so simple in my twenties 30 yrs ago when you got a good buzz and turned up some good jams. We live in a country where we have a first amendment if you don’t like what I say don’t listen I promise it will not hurt my feelings (very few things do LOL). I have a quote on my work laptop wallpaper that says “I may not agree with what you say but I would fight to the death to protect your right to say it”. Maybe if more people had this mind set this thread would not even be needed. Ignore the negative Nancy’s and enjoy the music and of course the awesome Carver equipment. I know I’m a little late to this thread but I wish all you guys a very happy New Years!! Best Regards, Chris

I'm Mathieu, living in Burgundy/France. Discovered Carver stuff when I was about 13 old, in the 80's. The time of huge systems, big Magnepan tympani's driven by 2 of 4 Carvers, and so. I forgot the brand for about 20 years, and went to other stuffs (...). I specialy dedicated my time to repairing/optimising Electrostatic speakers (Acoustats and Dayton Wright's mainly). These stay very desirable speakers, and have been forgotten by the audio word. About 10years ago, I had occasion to purchase a 1.5, and was amazed by the musicality and living energy of that amp. I start collectecting many 1.5's, TFM's 42 and 45, Bose 1800-VI, even a preamp c19... Carver amp have replaced high-end stuff in many of my friends's systems now. These transistors amps pass very well with low efficiency systems, they bring a sensation of life, deep and clean bass, without any agressivity or harshness. And in addition, Bob Carver has all my sympathy. His incredible engineer skills and ability to keep alive his company are amazing, and he really brought to the audio community a new and diagonal vision of what should be audio stuff.

Hello fellow Carverites, I’m a newbie, here to soak in some wisdom. I’m trying to put together a system that I’ll be able to enjoy. I’m starting with a TMF-45 that Nelion is scheduled to update. I’m researching preamps to pair with it. Thanks for sharing your experience.

New to the site. I grew up reading Crutchfield catalogs as an early teen and dreaming of "someday" 😀 The thing I loved most in those catalogs was the beautiful Carver separates, especially the amps with the meters. So very pretty and to my eyes. Three decades later, here I am with enough money to buy them..... and the Carver of old is no more. BAH!!! No matter, I've been buying the old things. Small collection so far... A C1 (half broken), a TX-11 (doesn't save stored stations), and a PM-600 (that works all the way 😁 ). I'm wanting to learn how to repair these things, and restore a nice all Carver, dream setup. (or maybe two) I've got a nice soldering iron and ready to begin learning electronics. All the mods people have done over the years, I'd really like to figure out how it all works. I think it's amazing that these can be tweaked and improved. I came across this site as I was searching for the current Carver, and after looking at the new tube amps he's doing (wow). That super high-end stuff is incredible, but there's still such an attraction to those units I'd read about in the Crutchfield catalog so long ago.

+1

Thanks for including me. I have a few pieces of Carver equipment. I like to take things apart and figure out how they work. Many years back I uncovered my m1.5t and started poking around. At one point, my o-scope ground ring inadvertently grazed the top connection between the main board and the front amp card. Let's just say that the 4800uF cap that was charged up to something around 120V did not appreciate my sloppiness. Don't remember actually damaging the amp at that time, though likely shortened the life of that capacitor? It was a good lesson. I've been significantly more careful in my future efforts. I downloaded the m1.5 service manual and found it to be excellent. More detail than I expected. Thanks. Fast forward to the present ..... I was poking around here a few months back and one of the topics that really interested me was a thread where it was possible to "ask Bob" a question. Great idea. I find the Carver solid state amp design to be very interesting. At some point I'm going to find that topic and "ask Bob" a question about his design philosophy.

I am new to the Forum as I just recently acquired a new Carver MXR 130 that works beautifully, and another one that needs help. Not new to the hobby, I have plenty of vintage Sansui, Technics reel to reels, and much more. Looking to get into learning on how to troubleshoot and repair the Carver Units. Thanks. Gary

Hi All - Happy to be a brand new part of this community! How about a little about me. I'm a fifty-something empty-nester in Portland, Maine. I've been into stereo equipment since the 80s when I was in HS and college and have recently started getting back into it. Just bought my first piece of Carver equipment; a Receiver 900. WOW! I love it. It was something I coveted back in the 80s but never had the money for that, especially when I started having kids. I am running that with a vintage pair of Allison IIs, and just also picked up a Technics SL-1200 MkII. Eventually, I'd like to get into some separates, but I'm not in any rush...I'd like to learn a bit more about Carver separates and what to look for, etc. Anyone else in this community in or near southern Maine? Chip

Hi all, I recently was given a non-functional Receiver 2000 (aka MXR-2000?) and found this site in my desire to see it operational. This particular receiver was acquired used sometime in the '90s by a friend who collected hifi equipment and built his own tube amp chassis. It was removed from service several years ago when it seemed to develop the ability to randomly turn on. I've since read that this was most likely due to fluorescent lamps triggering the remote control sensor on the front panel. It was put away for several years and recently was rediscovered when the owner found it and an old Sansui G9700 in his shop attic. Upon plugging the Carver into power it immediately blew the input fuse on the back panel. I hope to be able to resurrect this receiver for garage hifi duty but have zero experience in electronics and minimal soldering experience. I've found the service manual on this site for reference should I decide to undertake this work myself. There are still a few hifi service shops in my area (Western Oregon) so I'll contact them for cost estimates as well. I'm happy to find this site and hopefully I can leverage the knowledge to make this receiver fully operational once again. thanks, Mike

Hi All! New kid on the block. I have an MRX 130 receiver and a Nakamichi BX300 cassette deck along with a Nakamichi CD player. I also have a B&O RX turntable. I finally got them out of storage after 15yrs or so. Needless to say all this equipment had issues, had to replace belts on everything, but I'm having some issues with the Receiver. I've been in touch with Les Wolff and purchased new relays, also got the high efficiency power regulator, however my NR board looks nothing like his example and my other resistors don't have all the same values. I can't post my pictures of said devices due to site rules so we'll just have to wait this one out! This Receiver has never been in a shop and I am the original owner. I showed the picture to Les and said he's never seen that version before. I'm guessing it's a very early design if he hasn't sen it before. I would like to know if any of the other Gurus on this site have seen this version before. If I can say anything about it that's different the color of the board is Green and there far less components on the board. I may have shot myself in the foot, by not taking my time with removing output relays. What I'm saying is that I didn't remove enough solder and forcibly removed the relay and pulled part of 2 traces off with it. Does anyone know if I can get an SP 508 board to replace it ? I can probably repair it for now but then it would less than perfect! I'm all ears.

I can think of a few that would get a C-1 every day for politically oriented posts. I can say this.... Where I live, I have slowly become a somewhat silent minority in my beliefs. Since I am self employed I have learned to keep my fool mouth shut 99.9% of the time because the majority of my clientele are on a different side of the beliefs fence. It can be challenging most days to listen to it all. It has certainly made my work less enjoyable, and I really like what I do. I just do not want to deal with these people and their hate. I did come here for the audio. I had and still have questions. I want to learn stuff. I wish there were more projects posts of people restoring gear. That is the real reason I want to be here, to learn and to share. It used to be easier to get away from political slants but unsocial media manages to chase me down every time I get in front of a screen. It has gone a long way to suck much of the joy out of my life. I have become one of those who at this point would rather go somewhere else and live out my life away from this poison. Save for my audio, computer, automotive and other mechanical tinkering based hobbies there is little respite from the negativity. It is like a horde of people I have never met have been coming after me to tell me I owe them something on a daily basis. I don't feel keeping politics out of the main discussion areas is asking too much, just take that stuff where it is appropriate. I mean, I don't go local grocery stores asking random women about their vaginas. It's probably rather inappropriate.... at least at the stores I've been to. YMMV. I belong to another site where they don't do politics AT ALL. It keeps things VERY civil there. I think it is good for that SITE. I have a very small handful of friends i have known for 40+ years I can literally say anything to but I cannot behave like that to random people because they cannot seem to tell A: I'm being a smartass B: have a dark sense of humor or C see A: Anyway, everyone be safe and to all those admins who have thankless jobs..... THANK YOU

Hello all New member here. Years ago I had a Carver system, including a TFM 25, a TFM15, and the rest I don't remember the model numbers, but had a dual preamp, a reference cd player, a tuner. Also a remote, and Klipsch speakers. That system is long gone, and wanting to build another, smaller system. Starting with a TFM 25. Would be nice to find one needing no work. Thanks Fred

Gentlemen. @SteveFord posted this thread way way back in 2010, with a link to this article. Member @John Smallwood (thank you John) happened to post the article in pdf form, on the Facebook daughter-site to TheCarverSite, a couple days ago. I read it, and realized it was an incredibly apropos interview with Bob Carver - really brings a pile of history, his background (all the way back to being 4 years old, in cub scouts), his parents, through physics shaping his philosophy, and some poignant comments about "the media..." that are very applicable today. I've attached the "PDF" to augment Steve's original post with a link. Some of the newer members may not recognize the commenters in the short thread..., some have gone to Audio Heaven. Others are still here - ALL have made great contributions to this site, nay "BrainTrust," we call TheCarverSite! I challenge you all to read the Audio Critic Interview from Issue No. 19 in 1993 with Bob Carver. In the PDF link in the first post from Steve Ford, it starts on page 51. AND, if you are really engaged, I challenge you to read the NEXT article right after the interview with Bob Carver..., It is titled: "Hip Boots: Wading through the Mire of Misinformation in the Audio Press." My thoughts: a) this criticism at some level (maybe 30,000 feet) is applicable to ALL press/media, and b) anyone in our present world thinking that this perspective is "new" in our lives and present times, well, nope, this has been around for centuries..., back to the days of confidence men, carnival snake-oil salesmen, even in biblical references, and probably as far back as language (cave drawings?) can go. Nothing new, but critically a good idea for teaching "discernment" to children..., I digress. But, true to form, at the bottom left corner of page 65, the last page of the interview - even Bob makes reference to how "media incites fantasy into beliefs...," and how that can cause harm. And for those that want it direct and immediate, I've cut and pasted the text of the Bob Carver interview here: This interview is followed by this article... What do you think of (who, what three letters, or what website...) when you read the Editor's note? 😉

OK updated once again. Martin Logan Theos mains, Martin Logan Stage center. dual SVS SB 3000 subwoofers. I ditched the Sony 5 disc cd player. I had to raise the screen up a bit to accommodate the center speaker. I turned the 2.1 channel rig to the other wall and got a Sony STR DA5400ES receiver for a pre, I sold the Threshold S300 and right now am using ATI 1502. I have a Bryston 3B SST2 on the way. I also got a Paradigm Studio Sub 12. I am using the Solstice speakers for the time being and have the Quad Z-4 and my other Sr-71 builds in the rotation. I have decided to let the rest go.

"If the work of any jazz composer lends itself to elegant reframing, as opposed to crass sweetening, by a chamber orchestra, it is that of John Lewis, co-founder of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Lewis' ambition, most often metaphorically realised but sometimes literally so, was to achieve a synthesis of blues and Bach. His blends were mostly successful and only occasionally, in self-conscious forays into "third stream" music, did his innate vibrancy become subsumed in arid academia..." More here.

21st Century "Education"

Hello everyone , glad I found this site. I Find the topics very interesting and informative. It's winter here in Ontairo, Canada. So i have until April/May to get the maintance and upgrades done on my sound system. The rest of the time I do Astrophotograghy, which is challanging at times. My current system consists of the following Turntable-Techinics SL-1310MK2 CD Player-Azur 640c (analog L/R section disconnected), tube buffer from GlassWare ACF-2(6SN7 tubes) is what I use for the cd player analog selection replacement . It was built by me Tuner-Sony Preamp-Aikido Stereo Octal using 6SN7 tubes( currently building a dual mono preamp-Aikido) and built by me Phono-Tetra Sans PS Phono preamp and built by me Amplifier-Bryston-3B st Speakers-Martin Logan Aerius i My goal is to switch to bi-active crossover and using the 2x M1.01t for amplification. One of the M1.01t channels is defective. I have already posted my problem-got a responces (very quickly i must say and direction) So I am resoldering the input pcb now then I test I have already have been reading up on the topics here to help me plan the change over. Take care Many Thanks

I just joined this forum today in hopes that I could get a little help with this MXR-130 I am working one. Indeed, got the help I needed! Thanks! I operate an audio repair shop part time out of my home here in the Portland Maine area. I started with some local advertisement, but quickly got overwhelmed with work! Seems audio tech work is in high demand here! I discontinued the ad, and am now working from word of mouth, along with doing repair work for a few audio shops in the area. I attended electronics engineering college back in the early 70's, and have done audio work off and on ever since. Glad to be back at it these days. Back when I was in college, a friend of mine purchased a Phase Linear system coupled with Bose 901 speakers. He had that preamp with the joy stick. It sounded great to me back then, and the name Bob Carver stuck in my mind ever since.

I decided to keep the Snells for now and got the Bryston 3B SST2 in and it sounds amazing.

Barry we're praying for strength and comfort and a legion of cute red headed nurses to attend you. Remember all your friends from TCS pushing for you! Add "Ordinary World" by Duran Duran to your playlist! Les

I’ve been using Amazon HD music for a good while snd use the echo link into my DAC. Sounds good, easy to use and can easily be controlled with my iPhone app! now I’m in hospital still use it with my iPhone and sound-core liberty iii earbuds. Does a good job, sure can’t wait to go home!

Interesting video. Is Nyquist Theorem outdated?

Welcome. Practice your soldering before you tackle the C-1 preamp. The layout is beautiful and the access is easy but the foil is very thin. Download the service manual from this site. Then buy a small audio signal generator and a digital osciscope and a multimeter(all avalable on Amazon) for less than $200 bucks. Get some contact cleaner and clean all the switches. Down load the owners manual too, need it to set up holographic generator. Then buy the billd rebuild kit, before the install practice your soldering you only get one chance to do it right. Take your time, took me 2 days to install the Billd kit, well worth it. Enjoy Don

Thank you all for my birthday wishes. I really appreciate it. It has been a rough few months. I am in a lot of pain which is why I don’t log on much. But I’m not dying yet. There’s too much music to listen to. I don’t give up that easy. barryg

Thanks for making the article easy to read, AJ.. Bear in mind this article is 30 years old now. This is exactly the difference between aerospace grade science and audio grade science. Notice how much has changed, and also how little things have changed in some regards. The Information Age will be tough on deceivers. When I started working for Bob full time, a year ago next month, the #1 instruction from Bob Carver was "follow your conscience." From decades of experience, working for, and owning an aerospace product manufacturing company, the technology conflicts between the real science of aerospace, and life or death performance vs the audio grade science of deception, and creating imaginary problems, looking for their expensive solutions, with no sonic value to the customer is just wrong. I post about some of these topics, in spite of going against the flow in this industry. It carries some risk, to basically have the same viewpoint as Bob in this article. Reading this 30 year old article, assured me that I'm in the right place at the right time. There is a temptation in this industry to jump on the junk science bandwagon, over building product, with the goal of increasing the perceived value by claiming its new/improved technology. Please read what Bob said 30 years ago, and imagine the conditions today with the internet. As I've seen the conflicts between science and junk science in this industry, and discussed these conflicts with Bob many times. Its very easy to know what his response with be on these conflicts, he talks science and denies the audio grade science every time. I hear from people everyday, that think they need a solution to a junk science problem that doesn't exist. I can make a list. I feel exactly the same as Bob Carver in this article. I will not fall in line and play in the mainstream marketing of junk science. My instruction are to follow my conscience, and my background makes sorting science from deception quite easy. Shortly after taking this position we were under attack, almost from the start. Thats OK. Reading the article shows just how long this has been the case. We will continue to offer our satisfaction guarantee on all of Bob's designs. When the customer hears the performance compared to others, the truth is told. Our customers don't need to sort through the junk science, or marketing deception, to decide where their money is best spent. Real science offers customer value, junk science just takes their money through deception. Jim Clark Director of Operations Bob Carver Company.

Dark Humor? Me. Smart Ass? Me. Stay the Hell away from most people these days. For me, a few conversations are prompted into something that I don't see coming and my instant reaction can be really bad, for me and the other person involved. It can roll around in my head for a very long time. Solution. Stay away from trouble and 'observe' the world. Enjoy the sounds of nature that most people tune out. To be certain, there are a few people who get me and I get them. I am perfectly happy with my own company most of the time.

The coke machine analogy was used in a specific context - that allowing political content reduces participation in audio topics. There's no disputing that political topics cause conflicts. That's the nature of politics and I would say, a necessary outcome. Political issues are contested because they often have no obvious solution. But audio is often no different. The most bitter and disenfranchising conflicts the site has ever had were over audio subjects! In a perfect world, the members are self-regulating. If they don't like a topic, they don't read it. If they disagree, they speak their mind and let it go. If there is a conflict, they don't make it personal. If it becomes personal, they reach out to the member in private and work it out. Stuff like that. Most of the time, members do these common sense things. However some will just attack the site. They condemn it, leave, and complain to other members behind the scenes to convince them they ought to leave too. They play victim and spread a dragnet of negativity throughout the community to cause more harm. Their victimhood becomes a strategic weapon, so negotiations often fail. This is part of the reason some senior members just don't want to see conflict at all.

2.1 channel rig is as follows, well for right now anyway. Sony ES SS M7 mains, Sunfire true architectural subwoofer, totally rebuilt Threshold S/300 series 2 amp, Sony STR DA2ES receiver using as a pre. Sony DVP S770 and CDP CA 70ES for CD playback. Again Emotiva for power cords and IC's.

It's long but worth the listen. Thanks @ChrisTFM35

AJ, In my case, I use the external Red Dragonfly as a DAC, and then feed that through the preamp or headphones. You bet. The computer wasn't made for what I am doing with it. So a LOT is bypassed. Windows OS isn't on If I understand what the original wizard did to it. Anyway, CD's are ripped bit perfect and then loaded to a FLAC file. The AudioQuest Red takes it from there. This is an old Lenovo Think Pad. FWIW, I also have an AudioQuest 'Jitterbug' in line with the Red Dragonfly. Don't know that this is really needed but it's there. I tend to run the computer from its battery, but that probably doesn't really mean much. Headphones sound amazing, at least the Hi-Fi Man 400S does. When I feed the signal to my audio system, the sound is 'perfect' as I have ever had it. Really pretty shocking to me after all the horrible ('New and Improved!') stuff that I have heard up till now.

Very high dynamic range does not sound good. Very high sampling rates (over 48kHz) is useless. Bit depth beyond 16bit isn't useful either. The problem with digital audio is not these numbers, but the shenanigans that audio companies have developed to 'save on costs' in DACs, Analog Filters and Media. However, some people swear by their 192kHz/24bit audio files. You won't ever change their minds.

Dammit, it took years to get that movie, and its images out of my mind..., Flashbacks are starting again. Tripping to movies was a thing, back then..., remember?

Update! my multiple myeloma is pretty bad and now has metastasize to my bones. Since I can’t type, I’m using voice to text so this may mess up about two weeks ago. I had a 10 mm titanium rod, inserted into my femur to strengthen it as my cancer had eaten a hole in my femur and we can get to a point that if I put weight on it it would have fractured. I am recovering well too from that surgery will receive more radiation on that leg. While in physical therapy center where I was staying while putting on a gown shirt, basically putting my arms through the sleeves we heard a loud pop, and I have a small fracture in my clavicle at my shoulder joints that’s from the myeloma home there’s also myeloma lesions inside my shoulder joint and there’s several tears in my rotator cuff, which is my current issue, I’m hanging in there I wanted to go home. I have not been home in months however I got my iPhone and I’ve got Amazon music unlimited and my sound core liberty three earbuds so I’m pretty happy listening to music. I am getting good care but I really want to go home. I thank everybody for your prayers , I also thank everybody who has donated to my go fund me to help with my expenses and I thank everyone who has donated to Amanda‘s go fund me to help my family pay for her burial. I have not seen my daughter Amanda in a couple years actually it the last time I went to Carver fest. https://gofund.me/eae9533a I am going to try and login at least weekly until I get back to normal, which seems to be a long way off!

Hello, finally got the C-1 preamp and I am going to pair it with Phase Liner Pro 700 amp and a Technics SL-1200 MK3 turntable for my listening pleasure of vinyl.

I just saw and read this thread. While I can understand some people getting offended or upset over political topics, the solution is simple. I have never looked at or entered the "Political" forum or the "Meme" forum. It's just that simple. All they need to do is avoid the forums!!! Greg made the choice for them and has my support. Yes the world has and continues to change. Everything seems so sensitive and touchy now.

Greg, Those are some harsh complaints considering the excellent job you have done by providing barriers for people who don't wish to engage in such political topics. The Thunderdome doesn't hurt anyone. I've never been to the Thunderdome, but that is my choice, not to click on it. It doesn't seem fair, to expect you to legislate, the complainants ability to control their own free will. I can understand not wanting to read political fighting in the 'just posted' list, instead of audio topics by default. But to expect you to legislate their behavior for them, is just lack of self control on their part. Your localizing it to Way off Scale and Thunderdown is really good. Imho., you have done an outstanding job, in keeping the political topics away from those like myself, who just don't go there. It easy not to click on topics marked political, its not porn.😀 I don't judge people by politics. Its an affliction either way, and both sides will not like me. Thank you Greg. I've made lifelong friends here. We know you have been through some tough times lately. We want to let you know how good it is to see you here again, and do better than welcoming you back with complaints. You are Appreciated! Here is to a better 2023.

HHHMMMM, It's called a scrolling. see a topic ya dont like, scroll right on by..... Easy peasy. It's upon us. "The Pussifcation of mankind"