slbenz

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.

Another thought on Klipsch speakers from the same era. You may find that the Forte would be better balanced than the Heresys because of the increased amount of bass that the Heresys lack. The Heresys lose bass around 60Hz and when I had mine, I has to use a subwoofer to supplement the lower registers, unlike the Fortes that go down to 32Hz. In my area, the Fortes and Heresys are pretty close to the same price.

Having owned a set of Klipsch Heresy IIs for years, you won't need to biamp them. They are very efficient. Around 96dB/watt. You would be probably better off with a low-powered tube amp. The highs are quite piercing if you don't match it up with the right amp.

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 have owned Klipsch Heresy IIs, Martin Logan Scenarios and currently Magnepan IIIa speakers. All of which will need a sub to fill out the lowest octave. The Klipsch will only need a few watts to be very loud while both the Martin Logan and Magnepan will need more. Actually, the Magnepan will need the most power of the three I listed. With the wrong electronics, all three speakers can easily sound harsh. I like the open sound of the Martin Logan and Magnepan over the Klipsch. Because the ML has a conventional cone woofer, it will produce bass similar to a conventional box speaker. The Magnepan even though doesn't have the same type of bass production of a conventional box speaker, the quality of the bass produced is perfect save for hard rock or rap music. I decided to stick with the Magnepans over the Martin Logans because I wanted the open sound without the beaming effect that the ML have. The ML have a very small sweet spot. This is even true with their larger Prodigys. But the ML mids are superb as are the Magnepans. But the Magnepans have a more forgiving sweet spot vs. the ML. Another choice to consider are speakers from Eminent Technology. I used to own Eminent Technology LFT-IVs which would be a direct competitor to both ML and Magnepan since it uses a mylar sheet but in a push-pull design that give you the speed of an electrostat with a similar sound presentation to Maggies. Probably their most popular speaker is their LFT-8b which directly competes with the Magnepan 1.6 and 1.7. The ET speaker also uses a cone woofer similar in design as the ML but the ET uses even more power than a Maggie to be loud!! I probably would have kept those ETs if I had the Carver M-1.0ts that I currently own. Those darn ET speakers were rated between 80-83dB/watt. Those ETs are bullet-proof and don't require the maintenance needs like the ML or Magnepans do over time. Just so you know, you need to vacuum the electrostat panels of MLs periodically or the accumulated dust can create an arching sound. Lastly, MLs need to be near an AC outlet in order to keep the electrostat charged. Keep this in mind for speaker placement. Regarding Magnepan ribbon replacement. The Maggie true-ribbons are soldered in two places. One wire at top and one wire at the bottom of the ribbon. When I did my IIIa rebuild, that is what I found. The most difficult aspect of the rebuild was removing all the staples from the bottom of the speaker. Rebuilding my IIIas midrange panels several years ago cost me $50 for the kit from Magnepan. By the way, Magnepan used Monster Cable wiring on my speakers back in the 80's when my speakers were built.

2 sets of Magnepan IIIa 1 set of Magnepan MMGW 1 Eminent Technology LFT-XII center channel 1 set of Cambridge Soundworks Ensemble III 1 set of Cambridge Soundworks Ensemble IV 1 set of Celestion Little Ones

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.