slbenz

Welcome back. I am probably new to you. But the people here have been great. Met a great person here who is local to me who MKII'd two of Carver M-1.0ts and a M-500t for me. Loving every minute I listen to them. Because of the people here, they made me a Carver addict. Just ask my wife. I now own a couple of tape decks, CD players, a C-1 and a stereo receiver, all by Carver. The journey continues......

Nice!

Hashy, Thanks for taking the time to completely explain the new classifications, who is who, and how things are now determined. Great job!

Hawaii Five-O

Chris, welcome to the forum from a member living in Silicon Valley. Sounds like you and your family have enjoyed your Carver equipment a long while.

Well, my Velodyne is up for the task!

Listening to my free Slacker and Pandora accounts on my Magnepan system currently sounds fine with me.

Bob, welcome! You will quickly find that the people here are great.

Must be a running theme here, Sgt. Peppers on 8-track was my first album I bought. CD- Phillips demo disc called "Here the Light on Phillips". Cassette- Herbie Hancock, "Future Shock". Mostly I copied albums I had onto cassette to play in the car. LP- Foreigner, "Double Vision".

Thinking of the same group but the song, "Highway to Hell" will get me going faster down the road.

Welcome as well. From one newbie to another. I used to own a late 70's Sansui receiver that I eventually sold to a relative.

I am very happy with my Yaqin CD1 which uses the single twin triode tube. I had the JAN Phillips green label tube which was very nice but I am currently using a Russian 6H23 tube which is nicer sounding. This tube buffer set up even when I used the JAN Phillips tube sounded better than the Musical Fidelity X10v3 tube buffer I had. I also used a set of Herbies Tube Dampers on the tube buffers. Adds an extra touch of realism to the sound.

Give me an iPod or MP3 player instead. But I wouldn't mind the car.

I sold off my turntable, phono preamp and record collection last year. Converted it all to digital. Took me a while to digitize over 1000 records in my collection. Did the same with my CD collection. I definitely have more room in my house.

I am new as well and just like you got my first Carver piece a C-1 just last month around Thanksgiving. Now I have two M-1.0ts being used in bridge mode to power my Magnepan IIIas. The two M-1.0ts replaced my Emotiva XPA-5 amp. Pretty soon you will start seeing people recommending you do the upgrades to both components you have. I know they have for me. Also, welcome to the forum and Happy New Year!

I would agree. There are great people here that I have responded to. Seems everyone here really wants to help and get the most out of our Carver equipment.

You are absolutely right. As with other technologies, process is to move forward. I guess Bob Carver was waaaay ahead of his time. Honestly, I expected that the Carver amp was going to lose to the Emotiva amp because as you said, technology advances. I was thinking that if the Carver amp lost, I could turn around and sell it for the same price as I paid for it. All this because of my interest in the Sonic Holography in the C-1. Now I have to think about what I am going to do with the Emotiva XPA-5 since I don't have my system in a 5.1 configuration.

Decided to add to the bottom of the C-1 and M-1.0t a set of Herbie's Tenderfoot. Added more clarity, imaging and detail to the components. The Tenderfoot also reduce the low hum coming from the M-1.0t's power supply. The Herbie's Tenderfoot did the same to the Carvers as it did for my Emotiva amp. Just more musical goodness. Still enjoying this vintage combination goodness.

Hello Everyone, Had a chance to extensively compare the M-1.0t to the Emotiva XPA-5 this weekend. As a background, I have been using my Emotiva for the last two years. It replaced a Parasound HCA-1205A I had for nine years as my reference amp. So I had already had the Emotiva on a high benchmark knowing that it replaced my Parasound and having compared it to a $10K Karan Acoustics amp which it beat in my system. Here are the sound tracks I used to listen to in Marantz DV-9600 as my source and what I found: Norah Jones - Come Away With Me (Album) - Lonestar This song has Norah singing at the same time with one of her backup singers. They are both miked very close together and on lesser system sound like Norah is one person with an echo. The Emotiva can discern the difference of these two singers where Norah is in the middle and the backup singer is just to the right of her. But in the Carver, it gave the impression that the backup signer is not only to the right of Norah but also behind her. There was the first sense of depth I have experienced with this sound track. Norah's voice sounded more liquid on the Carver than the Emotiva which made the Carver easier to listen to. Also, the overall depth and soundstage was wider and deeper on the Carver. Diana Krall - The Girl In The Other Room (SACD Album) - The Girl In The Other Room This soundtrack is probably where I was initially most surprised. The bass guitar on this soundtrack sounded more full on the Carver. Compared to the Emotiva, the Emotiva has an apparent lack of midbass compared to the Carver. Listening to the Carver, the bass guitar can easily be located in space where the Emotiva less so because of the lack of midbass I didn't realize was there. Martin Mann - Le Petit Concert (Album) - Well You Needn't My friend, Martin Mann, recorded a live album and gave me this copy which I use to check for depth, soundstage and live presence. This soundtrack has Dmitri Matheny on trumpet playing throughout the stage. So depth and soundstage is tested here. As expected, the Carver did not disappoint. I really felt that my friend and Dmitri were playing in my living room on stage. With the Emotiva, I get a sense of the depth of movement from Dmitri moving around the stage but the Carver took it to another level. By now, I am starting to realize the Carver has a greater sense of depth, soundstage and music presence over the Emotiva. Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (DVD-A Album) - Candle In The Wind This soundtrack was a big surprise for me in regards to the use of the Sonic Holography. With the Carver, I was able to hear the surround sound effects even though I am only using two channels. The Carver really gave me the sense of wrap around sound where the Emotiva gave me the sense of sound to the side of me. Again, a deeper and wider soundstage was present on the Carver and even though this is a DVD-A disc, the Carver gave Elton John's voice a more liquid and realistic presentation where the Emotiva was very good to begin with. Overall Impressions: The Emotiva XPA-5 is by far a value leader and can compete with many amps costing several times its price. But in this amp comparison found that another value leader beat it out. The Carver presented a greater sense of depth, soundstage and music presence over the Emotiva. As I did more extensive testing, I found that the Carver was not fatiguing to listen to at all for long periods. When I switched back to my Emotiva, long-term listening was more fatiguing when compared to the Carver. Also, another difference I could hear between the two amps was the apparent size of the image. Seems that the Carver increased the size of the singer or instrument played to true life-size. This is a hallmark with Magnepan speakers but the Carver seems to do this better than the Emotiva. In comparison, the Emotiva felt more one size-fits-all. With all this writing and reviewing, you are all probably wondering, what have I decided. So yes, I agree the Carver M1.0t is a fine power amp and bested my Emotiva XPA-5 multi-channel amp. Is this a fair comparison? A dedicated two channel amp vs. a five channel amp only using two of its channels. All I know is that I bought the Carver and currently have it installed into my system. Like my Emotiva, it has lots of power and unlike what others say about the apparent lack of bass, I did not experience this at all. Also, this particular Carver amp does not exhibit the "thump sound" when you turn it on/off. I don't use the on/off switch anyhow since I have my Panamax turning the amp on/off as well as the Carver C-1 for me. Now back for more listening enjoyment. And for those of you who asked for pictures, here you go and look at what is next to my Carver C-1:

Everyone, Because of all the discussion about the Carver M1.0t power amp, looks like I will be auditioning one this weekend. Will see how it will compare to my Emotiva XPA-5 in two channel. Will let you know how it goes.