3M_Audio

Welcome!

Welcome!

Welcome Russ!

Welcome!

welcome!

Welcome! Plenty of good stories here, most service manuals, and some really knowledgeable folks to help out.

Welcome John! I'm also in Massachusetts up on the North Shore.

Welcome!

Welcome!

Yes, the dial controls in most audio equipment are potentiometers and commonly referred to as simply 'pots' Pots will generally be sealed to try and keep dust out, but most inexpensive pots still have some small openings where you can get in some cleaner. Here's an example - the straw on your cleaner can sometimes sneak in a little opening like where the red arrow is (and sometimes there are small openings on the back): The better pots are usually sealed to keep all dust and dirt out. These usually are meant to be replaced when they have a problem, but if you're skilled like @Eyexlr8 is, you can often carefully disassemble and clean them. Here's a completely sealed pot for comparison to the above:

Welcome! The good news is that you can still get these components, they are serviceable, and there are a couple of good shops that will make them better-than-new for you.

Welcome! Since you found two amps I'm guessing your dad used the bigger amp (1.5t) for the 'main' system and the 200t for a second room? But if you're only working with one room, the M-1.5t should do the job nicely. But either should be fine if it meets your power output needs. For the volume control, in some cases it's hard to get the liquid into the pot for cleaning. If the CRC doesn't change at least reduce the crackling, I'm guessing it isn't getting into the wiper of the pot. If you are comfortable with removing the cover so you can get direct access to the pot, a straw on the CRC sprayer should be able to get the cleaner in there. Look for a little opening/notch in the pot body to allow access. Spray it with power off (and the system unplugged and sitting for 5+ minutes), rotate the pot fully back-and-forth 4-5 times, then reconnect everything and try again. And @Balok had a good insight as the Balance pot can also get distortion into either audio channel. In fact, if you've gained access to one pot, it's a good idea to clean them all. Good luck.

Welcome! I also have a PM 1.5 which someone pulled out the entire fan assembly. I've got a number of other components to be repaired first, but I'll be interested to see what you come up with for a solution.

Welcome!

Welcome! I'm not aware of any direct parts sources but this is a good place to let everyone know what you're looking for as there are many long-time members who repair and refurb their own equipment.

I know. I'm still trying to get my head around the idea that a plastic part can just be made whenever needed for $1 of plastic cable. Pretty amazing.

Welcome! Nice story on the side panels for your MXR150. And I'll certainly agree - there's nothing like nice real wood for audio components. And sorry to hear about the button but if you search the forums here, you'll find there are a number of us looking for those plastic button caps for various Carver components (I'm looking for a CT-6 power button myself). They are pretty fragile and only get more brittle with age. To the best of my knowledge, there aren't any off-the-shelf replacements so looking for a system that's being parted out seems to be the best option (for now). I'm intrigued by the idea of 3D printing buttons and other small plastic pieces, but I have a long learning curve before I could try this personally. Hopefully someone more skilled in that area will jump in and give it a try. And glad you found Circuits and Concepts for some replacement components. Post some pictures when you get started as quite a few of us enjoy following along with repairs/refurbishments.

Welcome Bob - you're in my neck of the woods as I live just 15 from the North Shore Mall.

Well, Orevox shows the SW-1220FL as the replacement for the original Carver Amazing woofer (618-00001-00) but no stock and a referenced 'new version' but dead hyperlinks. I think by reference they are referring to the AWP-1220FL (also showing OOS) - but the specs are substantially different as is the construction (honeycomb vs paper cone). And I see the SW-1220FL specs but I was wondering if those, in fact, matched whatever the original was. It's an easy thing to say a driver is an 'exact replacement', but often it really isn't. I was just curious if anyone actually tested one of the originals (or found original paperwork). The Amazings were a very interesting design that Bob Carver came up with.

Welcome! As someone in the car audio equipment industry, I'm always interested in anything car-audio. Keep your posts coming!

Do we know the Thiele/Small parameters of the originals? I noticed nothing is listed for the Orevox driver aside from referencing impedance, sensitivity, and Xmax. Kind of hard to know if any speaker would be an adequate replacement for another without that data.

Welcome!

Welcome! You can get schematics and service data at the top of any page by clicking on the 'Manuals and Specsheets' tab. As to recording, I've done a fair amount of location recording over the years (almost all acoustical) and the closest I've come to reproducing the Sonic Holography effect has been with the Neumann KU 100 Dummy Head. If you aren't familiar with the KU 100, it essentially produces a binaural recording taking into account the natural spacing of our ears and the accompanying time delay. And while the effect is good with quality speakers, it's great with headphones where room reflection artifacts aren't present. I think the KU 100 is somewhere around $10,000 right now, so kind of tough to justify to simply play around with it The genius of what Bob Carver figured out with SH was how to deal with the left/right delay and room artifacts in a normal room with normal speakers. The only real requirement is to make sure the listening position is at a nodal point so the cancellation effect is at maximum. I know many have recorded Sonic Holography encoded content and got good results. I'm not sure how one might use DSP to do similar, but I suppose a contemporary engineer who's familiar with that tech may have some ideas. And there are some good threads here on restoring/upgrading the C9 and some members with some real expertise with that unit. Try a search and you should find plenty of info.

haha - you're correct! I just glanced at it and thought $75K

Very cool. Newburyport is only about 8 miles away from where I live. That town does have an interesting history. And I'd like to hear his $75000 InHUMAN towers Looks like he's working out of Lee NH now and doesn't have a regular retail storefront but does accommodate visitors by appointment. Would be fun to visit sometime.