Brian_at_HHH

Welcome @Patstachio! You are in great company here. That's a great setup, and will be very hard to beat without boatloads of money, and even then it may be questionable. I can't claim to be the original owner to any of my Carver gear, so you have my admiration. When you get it right, no need to change. Your gear may work perfectly for many years to come, but you are really getting past the best before date for the capacitors, at least, but the equipment you have lends itself extremely well to updating, and in the case of the M1.0t, a whole series of fantastic mods should you want to up the ante. No matter what, there's no reason that equipment isn't going to be singing beautifully for the next 33+ years. Regardless , kick back, and join in, and remember to enjoy the music!

You, sir, are just SOOOO doomed! Welcome to the club- come on in, the water's fine, just don't feed the piranhas! Time to go Mk Ii Opt 2 on the M1.0t! If you think the basic amp, is amazing... Still, great choice - you can't go wrong with one of those.

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

Sorry Daddyjt - you are WAY too straight & sober, and not into mysticism enough to understand Jon Anderson lyrics. 😀😀

Welcome to the group! Nice set of equipment! The upgrades will give you a huge step forward, even from where you are enjoying things right now!

It's always great when someone who was involved with Carver, back in the day, joins - especially when they are active in looking after gear, still. You'l find lots of kindred spirits, here, along with a mixed bag of other nutcases, like myself. All of us share a love for great audio, with a particular interest in the creations of Bob Carver.

Welcome to the group! You certainly started at the right end of the OCCD spectrum! No need for warnings about it in your case - it's clearly far far too late - but what a way to go.

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 to the group! It's clearly too late to warn you of OCCD, it's got a serious grip on you. Sorry about you being in a w/c - my wife was in one for the last 15 years of her life, so I'm all too familiar with what that means. I'm glad to see you haven't let it stop you from enjoying things - good music is universal. You definitely have an amazing setup. I can well understand your comment about shaking the walls, neighbors, and the next villa. When you get it right, as Bob Carver did, it remains right! Good luck with the PM1200!! Let us know how it goes?

Welcome to the group! Good look with the Sunfire sub. There should be some folks here who can help, though they can, apparently, be a bit tricky.

Love the idea of it, Mark! Don't get too overwhelmed by not having all "the perfect" sources. This likely won't matter for the Redbook CDs, and had better not for the SACD, but the mix put on many of the standard CD, has been abusively over saturated to where it's no wonder why vinyl sounds better- the CD version is clipped worse than a 20 watt receiver trying to outdo a MkII Carver power-amp. One of these CD's might be interesting to add to the mix, but could also be a bit disheartening, so beware.

And to borrow a great pic from someone else, here:

Welcome! It wasn't that long ago, that my system was based on a Yamaha receiver. They are no slouch when it comes to sound, but hearing something at the level of Carver gear can be quite an inspiration. I had known what I was missing, but your "friend" @Rob just dragged you to the brink of the OCCD abyss, and shoved you over the brink. Your wallet will shortly be taking a contract out on him. (Well done, Rob - throwing your friends to the lions! I'm proud of you.) The good news is that getting into a Carver based system can be quite reasonable, and the equipment lends itself really well to being maintained, and in some cases vastly improved, from an already amazing level. The downside is that given it's age, it's all at the point of needing a cap job. Electrolytic capacitors having about a 25 year life span, give or take. There no end, and no way out, so sit back, and enjoy the ride!

Welcome to the group! Glad to have you with us. I hope your 732 back soon, and that it sounds great!

If you are somehow not familiar with it, US Audio Mart is a great place to check for equipment deals - it's basically a free buy & sell board for anyone to post what they have for sale. It can also give you an idea of prices for any used audio equipment. https://www.usaudiomart.com/ And yes, in case you hadn't guessed, I am an enabler. It's only fair - this group did me in, that way, so I have to share the love.

Welcome - it's always great to have new members from outside North America! You have some nice amps, there - I'm sure they sound fantastic!

Welcome! You have a great amp, with incredible potential for the long term @Crisp! There are certainly many here who have not refreshed their amps, but yes, after 30 years it is likely very much on borrowed time. The electrolytic capacitors have a lifespan of about 25 years - some less, some much much more. They do tend to degrade as they get old, and you may not notice it happening, as the changes are slow. Then, one day, you hear another system and realize yours doesn't sound as wonderful as you remember it being. Or, of course, it can be sudden, spectacular, and very unnerving and die outright. There are many differnt levels you can take a refresh to. Just changing the elecrolytic caps can give you a great deal of life for ages - probably not a massive effort if you have a smattering of talent (caveat: I'm dangerous with a soldering iron, so I opted to have one of the VERY talented techs, here, do mine). There are some amazing modificatons (approved by Bob Carver) that have been developed for the M1.0t that take it from being a great amp to being something incredible. If you are going to consider going the refresh route, you might want to consder those. I'll let the tech's pipe up on that. No matter what, the good news is there are people who are perfectly able to fix, modify and refresh that amp, and it's more than capabile of holding it's own against almost anything out there - old or new.

Whoops, forgot one of the most critical factors - does WAF have a role, here? That can be a TOTAL showstopper for some speakers! Sorry!

I think I remember that the M4.0t is pretty tolerant of less well behaved speaker loads as a rule. Someone lease correct me if that's not the case. That doesn't absolutely cover the sound, but it does give a better chance at getting he best out of speakers that don't hold to close to 8-ohms all the time (and many don't). @Walrus Gumboot, I'm guessing the curiosity, um er, extended OCCD, cum, maybe new speakers would be god, itch is creeping up on you? If that's the case, give us an idea of where you would put them (some speakers need to be well away from the wall, others close), what sort of budget yo might consider, and aside from the Beatles, what music and volume you are going to be playing. Those concepts can play into things a lot more - your amp is going to be pretty darn capable of getting everything out o an speakers you throw at it, so better to aim for speakers that are going to be good for how you'll use them. Don't be afraid of the budget it - there are folks here that have speakers costing crazy amounts, and many of us who spend very little. What's common is we all love great sound and find ways to maximize that within our means. Best o all, this can be a really fun quest, so enjoy the trip down the rabbit hole!

Just count your blessings you haven't heard me sing. The choice would be instantly unanimous (including my vote)! (And yes, it IS that bad!)

or perhaps might have a place, here, too.

Yup, I think we have a winner, Mark. I consider myself pretty open minded, but that one is clearly designed to push everyone's buttons, in every way - and many times over. And I wonder why I listen to so much instrumental work, these days...

Damn, you are One Connected Dude, Itch! 🙀 I don't want to even dream of what all that costs per month. I should stop complaining about my few dozen expenses.🤑

I have no advice for you, but good luck on the beltectomy! Hope it goes great for you! Grab some photos of that, while you are at it.

I'll second what @Sk1Bum said. If they sound good to you, that's all that matters! No matter what you have, there will always be "better" speakers, and "worse" ones. Enjoy the music, and I do like your name!