hauntedz28 20 Posted August 14, 2023 Share Posted August 14, 2023 So I am a board level electronics tech with over 25 years experience. Last few years I have been restoring and servicing vintage stereo equipment. Person got a hold of me with around 40 to 50 Carver amps and preamps. He wants serviced. I joined here cuz I don't want to reinvent the wheel. I figure people here have a lot experience with Carver. Once I get the ball rolling, going to need an idea of what common components I need to put my inventory. I repaired a 742 and a TFM 35 a while back and if I remember it was mostly resolder work. Thanks for any input. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ar9Jim 6,182 Posted August 14, 2023 Share Posted August 14, 2023 Hello Hz, It depends on the goal. Repair vs restoration. For restoration you will need to change the electrolytic capacitors. Sometimes the larger filter caps are unavailable and replaced with an array on an adaptor PCB.. If you reuse the unavailable big caps, testing them at their rated voltage is best. The service manual section is good. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt 1,470 Posted August 14, 2023 Share Posted August 14, 2023 1 hour ago, hauntedz28 said: So I am a board level electronics tech with over 25 years experience. Last few years I have been restoring and servicing vintage stereo equipment. Person got a hold of me with around 40 to 50 Carver amps and preamps. He wants serviced. I joined here cuz I don't want to reinvent the wheel. I figure people here have a lot experience with Carver. Once I get the ball rolling, going to need an idea of what common components I need to put my inventory. I repaired a 742 and a TFM 35 a while back and if I remember it was mostly resolder work. Thanks for any input. Would be curious to know more about this person with 40 to 50 Carver units. That is an impressive collection! Does he intend to sell them once refurbished? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Community Admin AndrewJohn 8,279 Posted August 14, 2023 Community Admin Share Posted August 14, 2023 2 hours ago, hauntedz28 said: going to need an idea of what common components I need to put my inventory. Welcome to TheCarverSite, @hauntedz28. Glad you found us. And this is exciting to find a guy who knows a guy with that many Carver amps! I hope he has one or two to sell... 😉 I'm looking for a TFM-75, just in case 😉 . Regarding parts lists..., it's hard to find anyone who has an accurate list to share, unless it's one they did yesterday, and is one from a DIY'er. and even then, it's likely out of date due to changes. Most also won't stand behind it for the same reason. I'm sure you'll understand that the paid, and in the business techs who are members here are also unlikely to share their work for free - which is understandable since it's really their I.P. They help out when they can, of course. (BTW, I'm not a tech.) And honestly, with recent supply chain changes, and typical capacitors becoming unobtainium, sourcing is one of those wonderful things that has to be redone, over and over, as what Mouser and Digikey have today, is not what they have tomorrow..., any "list" of parts becomes obsolete quite rapidly. As @Ar9Jim already noted, it's also somewhat dependent on your objective (refresh or ?). In the archives (the SEARCH tool is helpful to find), there are some historical threads that have some lists for some amps - I would use those, along with reviewing the schematics and parts lists, combined with a very healthy dose of building/checking your own parts list(s) for each amp project. It's a PITA, but it is what it is. Hope that is helpful to set expectations. To be clear, noone keeps active parts lists or project lists for Mouser orders for those reasons. the existing parts lists, and the schematics' parts lists in the service manuals are all out of date for the same reason. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hauntedz28 20 Posted August 15, 2023 Author Share Posted August 15, 2023 8 hours ago, Kurt said: Would be curious to know more about this person with 40 to 50 Carver units. That is an impressive collection! Does he intend to sell them once refurbished? He just a fella who has collected tons of Carver gear for many years. He contacted me since he heard I did repairs, service and restores on gear. Yeah he wants to sell them. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hauntedz28 20 Posted August 15, 2023 Author Share Posted August 15, 2023 8 hours ago, AndrewJohn said: Welcome to TheCarverSite, @hauntedz28. Glad you found us. And this is exciting to find a guy who knows a guy with that many Carver amps! I hope he has one or two to sell... 😉 I'm looking for a TFM-75, just in case 😉 . Regarding parts lists..., it's hard to find anyone who has an accurate list to share, unless it's one they did yesterday, and is one from a DIY'er. and even then, it's likely out of date due to changes. Most also won't stand behind it for the same reason. I'm sure you'll understand that the paid, and in the business techs who are members here are also unlikely to share their work for free - which is understandable since it's really their I.P. They help out when they can, of course. (BTW, I'm not a tech.) And honestly, with recent supply chain changes, and typical capacitors becoming unobtainium, sourcing is one of those wonderful things that has to be redone, over and over, as what Mouser and Digikey have today, is not what they have tomorrow..., any "list" of parts becomes obsolete quite rapidly. As @Ar9Jim already noted, it's also somewhat dependent on your objective (refresh or ?). In the archives (the SEARCH tool is helpful to find), there are some historical threads that have some lists for some amps - I would use those, along with reviewing the schematics and parts lists, combined with a very healthy dose of building/checking your own parts list(s) for each amp project. It's a PITA, but it is what it is. Hope that is helpful to set expectations. To be clear, noone keeps active parts lists or project lists for Mouser orders for those reasons. the existing parts lists, and the schematics' parts lists in the service manuals are all out of date for the same reason. Yeah I totally get the supply chain. I have a dedicated coworker whose only job is to order and find old parts. And I am just trying to get ahead of the game before he brings me units. Well as long as the schemos are somewhat available I can figure it all out myself. I'm starting with his TFM series amps. Heck he has no idea of the status on most of them, he hasn't plugged them all in at all. Of the couple I've tore apart in the past years, the solder work seemed to be horrible 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hauntedz28 20 Posted August 15, 2023 Author Share Posted August 15, 2023 10 hours ago, Ar9Jim said: Hello Hz, It depends on the goal. Repair vs restoration. For restoration you will need to change the electrolytic capacitors. Sometimes the larger filter caps are unavailable and replaced with an array on an adaptor PCB.. If you reuse the unavailable big caps, testing them at their rated voltage is best. The service manual section is good. Thanks bud. Yeah caps get changed quite often on most equipment, and known transistors. Filter caps I take to work and check on the cap checker. Most test good on many units I take them out of, except ESR is out of spec . Hmmmm adapter pcb? Never thought of that 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xavionics 1,425 Posted August 15, 2023 Share Posted August 15, 2023 (edited) Hey hauntedz28 It happens I have a m1.0t on my bench, preparing a restoration and mods to mkII. Im doing the mods because, well, I have the parts on hand. Otherwise I would just be doing a recap. Here’s my cap list, made by physically checking each one… Each item with a green blob I have on hand. The last 4 are in the power supply. The cost and questionable availability of the 6800uf caps were such that I found it cheaper and easier to order an pre-stuffed adapter assembly from Circuits and Concepts. Les is a member here and has an EBay store. I have one of these assemblies in another m1.0t I reworked 5 or 6 years ago. That amp has been in the main rig since completion and has been flawless. By the way, the m1.0t came in two flavors - inverting and non-inverting. This amp is an ‘non-inverting’ amp, which has the stereo/mono switch on the back. I’m not sure if there are differences in cap values between the two. Hopefully this will help. Edited August 15, 2023 by xavionics Added inverting info 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hauntedz28 20 Posted August 22, 2023 Author Share Posted August 22, 2023 Thank you so very much. Hadn't come back in awhile. Never had the notification bell on and it seemed individuals were pretty hush hush. Well I should be meeting up with the guy this Saturday. He supposed to bring 2 amps and a pre amp so I can get situated and started. Thanks for the info 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xavionics 1,425 Posted August 22, 2023 Share Posted August 22, 2023 (edited) Good luck with the meeting! Sounds like you may become rather busy if it goes well. Don’t be too put off by the hush. Dialog requires two participants. It’s a great community here. Feel free to join in conversations, or start your own (again).😎 Hell, I joined (holy crap!) 14 years ago, looking for info on my Carver preamp and power amp. They haven’t kicked me out or chased me away yet…. By the way, is your Camaro named Christine? Edited August 22, 2023 by xavionics HAD to ask about the z28! 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPA-1 Man 606 Posted August 22, 2023 Share Posted August 22, 2023 (edited) Holy Cow! Thirteen years here. Time surely flies. @hauntedz28Welcome to the site. Sounds like a good time to me. As soon as I finish up with a couple of turntables I'll be diving into another C-1 BillD mod and a M1.5t. Edited August 22, 2023 by RPA-1 Man 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itchitch 4,011 Posted August 23, 2023 Share Posted August 23, 2023 On 8/14/2023 at 8:40 PM, hauntedz28 said: Yeah he wants to sell them. @hauntedz28 Welcome to the site. I am curious why he would have all of them serviced just to be selling them. The amount of time it would take to service all of them is crazy. There may be some demand here on the site for some of the unserviced units. May be worth asking for a list of his inventory to place on the site... 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halfbaked 170 Posted September 20, 2023 Share Posted September 20, 2023 Welcome to thecarversite and your patron with 40-50 Carver amps and preamps. I am sure there are enough of us here curious to know what is actually in this huge cache of Carver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PMAT 1,843 Posted September 22, 2023 Share Posted September 22, 2023 🦗🦗🦗 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halfbaked 170 Posted September 22, 2023 Share Posted September 22, 2023 (edited) 2 hours ago, PMAT said: 🦗🦗🦗 Sine wave sharks in the water?😁 Edited September 22, 2023 by halfbaked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hauntedz28 20 Posted October 15, 2023 Author Share Posted October 15, 2023 On 8/22/2023 at 6:37 PM, xavionics said: Good luck with the meeting! Sounds like you may become rather busy if it goes well. Don’t be too put off by the hush. Dialog requires two participants. It’s a great community here. Feel free to join in conversations, or start your own (again).😎 Hell, I joined (holy crap!) 14 years ago, looking for info on my Carver preamp and power amp. They haven’t kicked me out or chased me away yet…. By the way, is your Camaro named Christine? well The Carver situation has begun! I have one M500T sounding beautiful and yet the other M500T has an issue driving me mad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hauntedz28 20 Posted October 15, 2023 Author Share Posted October 15, 2023 On 9/20/2023 at 4:45 PM, halfbaked said: Welcome to thecarversite and your patron with 40-50 Carver amps and preamps. I am sure there are enough of us here curious to know what is actually in this huge cache of Carver. i would love to send pictures. I am tasked to do 4-5 per month. Im having a hard time right now understanding the power supply on the M500T, the schemo I copied on paper is virtually impossible to read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hauntedz28 20 Posted October 15, 2023 Author Share Posted October 15, 2023 On 8/23/2023 at 7:55 AM, itchitch said: @hauntedz28 Welcome to the site. I am curious why he would have all of them serviced just to be selling them. The amount of time it would take to service all of them is crazy. There may be some demand here on the site for some of the unserviced units. May be worth asking for a list of his inventory to place on the site... I agree, after getting into a couple of these I need to have a discussion with him. working and recap? Fully serviced? Modded? BTW I started on them Oct. 7th Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itchitch 4,011 Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 I still believe there may be some demand for stock gear here on the site… I recently listed and sold an amp on eBay… forgetting that the spread between what the buyer paid (taxes shipping) and my net proceeds was criminal. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidc 321 Posted October 22, 2023 Share Posted October 22, 2023 On 10/15/2023 at 8:15 AM, hauntedz28 said: i would love to send pictures. I am tasked to do 4-5 per month. Im having a hard time right now understanding the power supply on the M500T, the schemo I copied on paper is virtually impossible to read. This may be stating the obvious, but you do know that there are a host of operating and service manuals on this site? Here is the schematic for the M500t: https://thecarversite.com/manuals/mandir/Carver M-500t service manual.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hauntedz28 20 Posted October 24, 2023 Author Share Posted October 24, 2023 On 10/22/2023 at 9:19 AM, davidc said: This may be stating the obvious, but you do know that there are a host of operating and service manuals on this site? Here is the schematic for the M500t: https://thecarversite.com/manuals/mandir/Carver M-500t service manual.pdf thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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