xavionics

You open with -biamping- , list a bunch of Carver and Sunfire gear, and turn tail and run? With active threads about active crossovers in the making? Dude, you've reached kinship here! Ya gotta tell more!

Sorry Bob, but I haven't bought a CD player in decades! I have an older Marantz model stashed away somewhere. Prior to that I had a 1994 vintage Yamaha carousel player that lost a sound quality shootout to my iPad. I use my 2009 MacBook nowadays when I need to spin a CD, fed into my DAC. Thanks for bringing this topic to the forefront! I gotta get some kind of a better solution, maybe later this year... A quick search led me to this: https://www.whathifi.com/best-buys/hi-fi/best-cd-players I have an ARCAM irDAC that has served me well for quite a long time. I would likely put their CD player on my short list. Already having a DAC, the Cambridge CD Transport would also (to me) be worth checking out. The few that I looked into all had external usb drive capabilities. Seems common. Crutchfield has a 60 day return policy. I've dealt with them in the past and have always been happy. Maybe a way to audition a few... You say your NAD is getting worn out - perhaps a good cleaning/lube and some new belts would be a cheap option? Good luck on your quest! Let us know how your jobber unfolds...

Congratulations on your success and welcome aboard, Bob! Please take a moment and tell us about yourself, your gear and your audio journey. When you've received a handful of 'thumbsup' comments, you will be able to attach pics. We all love Carver, of course, but also appreciate everything audio. There are several other members from The Buckeye State here. Pull up a chair, pour a beverage and crank up some tunes!

I was looking at the Wiim Ultra on thier website. $263.20 through Amazon. I've been looking for a preamp to go with my m400a for my office system. Looks like a perfect, affordable solution I thought! Just then, my enabling wife walked in and caught me... ...and forced me to add it to my cart!

Welcome to TheCarverSite Craig! Good to see another care stereo buff among us. I haven't had Carver car audio, but I got addicted to the A/D/S stuff in the late '80s. Had a chance to do some work on a M240 a few months ago but had to pass due to our relocating. Looks to be pretty easy to work on - and getting manuals seems to be the tougher part. Have fun and share your journey!

Here’s what I’ve been running for years: Sonos streamers. Several ‘Connect’ units. I upgraded my main system to their ‘Port’ unit which is an improvement in sound quality over the aging ‘Connect’ units. Simple interface - their app will run on most any mobile device. It supports Qobuz, Tidal, Pandora, internet radio, and will play files from a NAS. My main system runs the Sonos Port digital output through a separate DAC. An Arcam unit I’ve been quite happy with. All other Sonos Connects feed various preamps or receivers an analog output signal. The Sonos Port and Arcam DAC combined cost me around $1300 iirc. And then some experiments I’ve been involved in, in the pursuit of better sound: My $800 Arcam DAC vs a $1500 Mytek DAC shootout. As expected, the Mytek was the superior device. Not superior enough to make me run out and replace the Arcam though. Another shootout - the theory being ‘resident files’ (cd or ripped files) will sound better than streamed files ( in this case, streamed via Tidal using a wired connection). The setup - my 2009 MacBook - Mytek DAC - preamp - amp… We played several various cds through my MacBooks internal player, and streamed the same music via Tidal, again through my MacBook. In each case (and a bit to our surprise) the cds sounded quite noticeably better than the streams. We did not pursue any possible reasons why. It was enough of a difference that I ripped my entire cd collection to a usb hard drive for use at AXPONA 2024. In the end, I’m still streaming through my Sonos Port via my aging Arcam DAC. It works, is easy to use and it sounds good enough for now.

Welcome to the Carver site Chris! This is, indeed, “the place to be” for all things Carver (and more!). Thats a great combination of Carver gear - the m500t is a long-time site favorite. The c-2, while not as feature rich as the c-1 is a very capable preamp. If you are spinning vinyl (or have plans to dive into that pool too), the c-2 has a unique feature that allows for customizing cartridge resistive loading. Feel free to wander around. It a short time you will be able to add pics to your posts. We all love pics of all things audio.

Thanks for those audio treats guys! I’ll have to do some digging and add some new tunes to last years’ AXPONA playlist.

“ If you say you’re going to do something, do it! If you’re not gonna do it, don’t say you will.” -my Dad- My siblings and I (and my family) live by this code. It has served us all well.

+1 on this. Also, you can plug a cd player into the tape 1 input and then depress the Tape 1 Monitor switch. This would confirm (or eliminate) the rotary switch as the problem.

@wlmarI'm looking at the pic of the rear panel and it specs an AGC6 (6 amp) fuse.

Welcome to the site BLD2! I don't mean to sound dismissive, but it sounds like some switchology problem to me. Not to worry - those things can be damn hard to read. Sounds like you have the correct SOURCE selected if you are getting an output on the tape outputs. But if you have a Tape Monitor selected, it will not apply a source signal to the output. Just ensure ALL pushbutton switches are OUT (except Power of course) and you should be good to go. You can then change modes from there and play around with it. The manuals are in the library, accessed within the Manuals and Spreadsheets tab above. Just scroll down to the preamp section and there you will find the manuals for the c-1. That's a very popular combination you have there! Envied by many.

Cool project, not for the faint of heart! I have a pair of MGII’s that required a tweeter wire repair. i fixed the wire but never fixed the sock. i read a lot of articles about restoring these back then. Nowadays, they’re my ‘amp testers’ in my basement.

Welcome aboard LSD! I love the m400a, beautiful example of industrial packaging! Share with us what other gear you have. And when you’re able (soon) share some pics.

Welcome Adam!