What are you bringing?

[oldtexasdog 2,315]

What’s everyone bringing? Anything fun or for sale?

[sea 637]

I am not sure yet but I think I am bringing a pair of Ohm Walsh 5’s in Eddie’s honor along with his Black VTA180 Tube amps.  I am hoping to have a beta unit of one of Bob’s new tube preamps as well.

[jazzman53 1,112]

Since you asked;

I will be bringing a complete two-channel setup with subs, and my DIY Jazzman MkIII ESL speakers:

 

 

Grills on: 

 

 

Edited September 21, 2022 by jazzman53

[straylight 356]

I will bring Bob's original Vacuum Tube Reference Model-1 Preamp (James used to call it the Silver-1, I believe). Bob asked me to send him a picture of it and then he told me he used this same preamp on his lab test-bench for many years at CARVER Corp..

 

Ed, if you can bring the beta version of V12 maybe we can have a shoot-out between the sound of the new V12 preamp vs. Bob's original Ref Preamp. As I understand it the new one has twelve 12AX7 tubes. I count 19 tubes (nine 6DJ8s and ten 12AX7) in the original Vacuum Tube Ref Preamp of Bob's, not counting those in the separate power supply.  The new and old are not the same circuit for sure.  Maybe he can tell us more about differences in design.

 

Bob will probably like the shoot-out because no matter which one is better sounding he will be the winner! 

 

Also will have Root Beer 180 Tube Amps, Apogee Mini-Grand speakers ( these have Apogee Stage full-range ribbons on top and Apogee's matching sub-woofer on bottom). May also bring the Blue Hawaii Special Addition if I have room.  Have several good MC cartridges that should show off that phono section in Bob's original Ref. Preamp, which is truly excellent.  Probably the best I've  ever heard including some modern high-end transistor preamps like Klyne and Spectral.

 

FOR SALE/TRADE STUFF: Threshold FET-10 preamp /w matching phono stage, Spectral DMA-90 Stereo Transistor Amp, Acoustic Research ES-1 Turntable /w Alchemist B High-Output MC Cartridge. Will probably bring only if somebody is interested in auditioning at CF. 

Edited September 13, 2022 by straylight

[iamjohngalt 1,814]

Is there any discussion of a DIY project for this year's Carver Fest?

 

If anyone has an interest, I was thinking about a Class D monoblock amp project using Hypex NCore NC500 (500w/ch into 4 ohms, 370w/ch into 8 ohms) or Hypex NC250 (250w/ch into 4 ohms, 130w/ch into 8 ohms)  modules.

Amps using those modules have received good reviews and I have one that I think sounds good.  They are more detailed (less tubey sounding) compared to Carver solid state transfer mod amps.

These modules have power transformers built in and that somewhat simplifies the build.

Hypex offers a kit using a slightly different module (500w/ch iinto 4 ohms) for 600 euros per channel.  I think we could do it for around $400-$500/channel with enough participation.

The cases would be of Chinese manufacture to keep costs down.  These Hypex modules prefer XLR inputs, btw.

(Hypex is raising prices at the end of June, so we could save some on that part if enough people commit to do this.)

 

It's just an idea though. I'm not trying to push anyone into this at all.

[sea 637]

There has not been any talk of a project this year but if you are attending and willing to organize then go for it.  🙂

 

 

[don 69]

On 6/25/2022 at 5:07 PM, iamjohngalt said:

Is there any discussion of a DIY project for this year's Carver Fest?

 

If anyone has an interest, I was thinking about a Class D monoblock amp project using Hypex NCore NC500 (500w/ch into 4 ohms, 370w/ch into 8 ohms) or Hypex NC250 (250w/ch into 4 ohms, 130w/ch into 8 ohms)  modules.

Amps using those modules have received good reviews and I have one that I think sounds good.  They are more detailed (less tubey sounding) compared to Carver solid state transfer mod amps.

These modules have power transformers built in and that somewhat simplifies the build.

Hypex offers a kit using a slightly different module (500w/ch iinto 4 ohms) for 600 euros per channel.  I think we could do it for around $400-$500/channel with enough participation.

The cases would be of Chinese manufacture to keep costs down.  These Hypex modules prefer XLR inputs, btw.

(Hypex is raising prices at the end of June, so we could save some on that part if enough people commit to do this.)

 

It's just an idea though. I'm not trying to push anyone into this at all.

We are excited you are bringing some HYPEX based amps. A couple of us with Charlie’s Stats are very interested in comparing the NCores to the Sunfire 400x7 that we are currently using for power. Wonderful speakers by the way.

[iamjohngalt 1,814]

53 minutes ago, don said:

We are excited you are bringing some HYPEX based amps. A couple of us with Charlie’s Stats are very interested in comparing the NCores to the Sunfire 400x7 that we are currently using for power. Wonderful speakers by the way.

Hi, Don,

I had no replies in 2 weeks, so I decided there wasn't enough interest to invest the time required for the project.

At this point there isn't time to put such a project together for a premium quality result.

Sourcing the cases, controls, inputs/outputs,wiring, etc and building/testing a prototype is a significant undertaking

(and we needed to order enough units to keep the costs per unit down.)

 

 

Edited August 6, 2022 by iamjohngalt

[don 69]

Completely understandable. See you at the Fest. Maybe we can swap a Sunfire 400x7 in your system and compare with your Ncore.

[jazzman53 1,112]

I'll be bringing pair of stats is anyone wants to test amps with them 🙂

[oldtexasdog 2,315]

M500t MKII, Polk Sub, Tube amp, JBL Stadium speakers.

[jazzman53 1,112]

On 6/10/2022 at 4:20 PM, jazzman53 said:

Since you asked;

I will be bringing a complete two-channel setup with subs, and a new pair of my Jazzman MkIII ESL speakers:

 

 

 

Grills on: 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 21, 2022 by jazzman53