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Thanks everyone! I'm blushing with all the attention my welcome post received. I'm sure that I will enjoy this forum! And I hope to be able to assist those who are engaged in keeping their Carver gear up and running and sounding great. -Elecdonia

I've got an old hitachi 20meg scope which I will upgrade soon, several dm i've aquired over the years, dc power supply, variac, home made curve tracer, transistor checker and cap meter. I was looking to upgrade my scope out of the dark ages and considering owon sds 1102. Any suggestions?

I've got an old hitachi 20meg scope which I will upgrade soon, several dm i've aquired over the years, dc power supply, variac, home made curve tracer, transistor checker and cap meter. I was looking to upgrade my scope out of the dark ages and considering owon sds 1102. Any suggestions?

Welcome !! What type(s) of gear are you going to work on?

“I love my country, not my government.” ― Jesse Ventura

Greetings! I recently learned about this site while browsing YouTube videos relating to repair/restoration of vintage Carver amplifiers. I myself am a "vintage" electronic engineer and former owner of an audio retail store (August Systems) and an electronic repair shop (Audio-Video Service Center) located in East Central Illinois. During my retail career I was a Carver dealer and authorized service center. Those parts of my career began in the 1970's and extended into the late 1990's. These day's I'm semi-retired but still restoring/repairing vintage audio gear for my friends and family. This includes Carver and Phase Linear products. My experience is that nearly all vintage Carver/ Phase Linear products can be restored and enjoyed for many years. As a Carversite member I hope to be able to provide assistance to those who are repairing/restoring Carver gear. Here's my personal contribution to Carver history: Only two products were available during the very first year of the "Carver" brand name: These were the C-4000 "sonic holography" preamp and its companion C-500 power amplifier. These items were updated/modernized versions of Bob Carver's previous Phase-Linear 4000 preamp and 400 power amplifier. They looked and sounded great. But except for the addition of the "sonic holography" feature to the C-4000, their circuit designs were still fairly conventional. The real excitement happened about a year later with the initial release of Bob Carver's M-400 "cube" power amplifier: 200Wpc in an unbelievably small and lightweight box. As a young audio engineer I was entranced by the brilliant circuit design of the M-400. It contained two ingenious (but extremely logical) improvements compared to traditional solid-state power amplifiers: 1) The "magnetic field" power supply circuit: The primary winding of the main power transformer was supplied by an active triac circuit which reduced the conduction angle from full cycles of incoming mains AC to much shorter "pulses" controlled by the triac. Under the "no-signal" condition the pulses of AC feeding the power transformer primary were only a few msec in duration. As more power was demanded the triac conduction angle increased to maintain a regulated DC output voltage from the secondaries of the power transformer. Both the primary and secondary windings of the main power transformer required a much lower inductance compared to a "standard" 60Hz power transformer. This reduced the size/weight of the "magnetic field" power transformer to about 1/3 of a "conventional" 60Hz power transformer with the same ratings. 2) The 3-step "commutating" DC +/- rail voltages applied to the audio output stage. This greatly increases the power efficiency of the amplifier when driving loudspeakers with typical music audio signals. Audio signals have a very high "peak-to-average" power ratio. This can be as high as 20dB. The average power output is often <10W, but when a musical peak comes along >200W will be required for a few msec. Traditional solid-state power amplifiers apply the full B+ voltage (+/-75V DC for 200Wpc) at all times to the collectors of the output transistors. But during "normal" listening < 20% of this voltage and power is being fed into the loudspeakers. The remainder is dissipated in the form of heat by the output transistors. This is why conventional high-power solid-state amplifiers require such massive heatsinks. In contrast the Carver M-400 has additional +/-25V and +/-50V DC power supply rails. A system of diodes and "commutating" transistors varies the collector voltage applied to the main output stage from +/-25V up to the full +/-75V, rising just high enough to prevent clipping. Most of the time, while listening to music, only the +/-25V power supplies are active. This reduces output transistor power dissipation of by a factor of about 8 times. In other words, much less power is wasted in the form of heat. This is why the M-400 doesn't require large heatsinks for the output transistors: The aluminum case itself provides a sufficient heatsink surface area. Each later model Carver amplifier after the M-400 improved the efficiency and audio quality. To the best of my knowledge nearly all of Carver's later solid-state amplifier designs were improved and scaled-up versions of the circuit design first introduced in the M-400. Best regards, Elecdonia

"There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution." ~John Adams

Welcome to the group! This can be a great place to dust off any supposedly rusty skills and find fun and interesting uses for them. You'll definitely find some kidred spirits, here. Let us know a bit about your musical interests and what kind of geat you might have, or might be looking at fixing or just meddling with. In the mean time, relax and join in on the fun.

Welcome!! Looking forward to your post and journey here.

Welcome and thank you for your service!

Welcome aboard @cantrele! Glad you found us here, there's a wealth of knowledge here on all things Carver. Once you've put up a half dozen posts you can post pics of your gear. We all love pics of members gear in here.

Greetings @cantrele ! We're glad you found us!!

Welcome to the forum Sir... Glad to have you aboard...

Welcome!!!

Welcome @cantrele. Glad you are here. What kind of gear do you have? and..., have on the bench! Looking forward to your contribution to the community !

Hi Gents I'm a new member to your forum. I'm a retired Warrant Officer from the ARMY. I'm rusty bench tech with time on my hands trying to refresh a fleeting skill set.

It's "China Grove" that does me in for speed. Have to keep that one out of the car media for sure...

Most of the tunes in here cause me to want to fly low! "But officer, I really wasn't speeding. I was just flying low!" I also find myself picking up speed to the Doobies "Rockin' Down The Highway" And really have to watch it when Eagles "Life in the fast lane" comes on!

White Zombie - Supercharger heaven

Rage Against The Machine Renegades Of Funk

The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty. Plainly, the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of liberty. Abraham Lincoln

Welcome aboard!

Greetings and welcome. Your background reveals you're a nutter like the rest of us.

Welcome to the site. Good to have you.

Say, BTW, in addition to the Welcome, what town do you hail from? We have a member in Bloomington, I'm up north in IL. East Central IL..., is that Champaign Urbana area?

Welcome aboard...it is always interesting to hear about the historical aspects of the beloved Carver company and its products. Thank you for sharing and hopefully you will continue providing these tidbits to the site.

Welcome !! We're glad you are with us.

Welcome Elecdonia!! Impressive background. Sure is good to have you. This is a great group of guys that are knowledgable and just a whole lot of fun. You will enjoy it. If you need it, ask for help. Everyone is very nice and willing to help out. Enjoy the great company here😁.

Welcome to TheCarverSite @Elecdonia! Looks like you'll fit right in here no doubt. Glad you found us here.

Welcome aboard!

“I, myself, am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions.” ― Augusten Burroughs

Welcome fellow Vet. Plenty of knowledge and helping hands here. Enjoy and have fun.

Welcome to the site. You just made the biggest mistake of your life; this place is awesome and you are going to love it! 😛

Welcome!

Hi Cantrele!!!! Welcome to Carversite. Lots of great information, music, knowledge and always good things happening here. Hope that you enjoy it. Look around the posts and if you need any help just ask. Lots of good guys here always willing to help and make you laugh😁. Great to have you.

Hello cantrele, 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. Thank you for your service! Once you get to Novice status, please consider 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.

We all have THAT song or album, that just makes you mash the gas and go fast... What is it? For me, It's gotta be Motley Crue's Kick Stat My Heart... Just makes me want to go FAST:-)

Yeah, what he said......grin Thank you for your service!