New Carver Amazings!

Hello all.
I am new to the forum. I just picked up a set of the original Amazings and would like some recommendations for amps to drive them. I bought them from the original owner, who in fact bought them (demo's) at the CES in Chicago in 86'. He bought the whole rig, ALS, 2 M500t's, C1 and TX-11a. I got what he had left, speakers, 1 M500T and the tuner. I know they need power, and I'm not sure if getting another 500t and bridging is the right way to go as these are 4 ohm speakers. I have an Anthem Pre2L preamp. I see a fellow member is selling a 4.0.. Is that enough juice?

Any help is appreciated Thanks, Jim.

PS. Had 1 bad ribbon, already on the way to Dave......

It could be enough. That's going to depend on your musical tastes. If you're a headbanger, maybe a couple Silver 7T or 9T's are in your future.

I drove my original Carver Amazings with a pair of Boulder 500 amps, both strapped for mono, with great success. That's 500 watts/channel. I wanted even more power so I found a Crown Macro Reference (later called the Studio Reference), E version (all this means is that it replaced the pro inputs with consumer friendly inputs). 760 watts/channel and I used them all. I almost bought another Crown Macro so that I could strap them in mono and get 3,000 watts/channel, but, instead, I converted my original Amazings into Platinum equivalents, an upgrade I have long regretted. Not that it wasn't an improvement but the resulting speaker was unreliable. After replacing the crossover a couple times and the ribbon once, they sit in a back room today with one speaker not working. Someday I'll get around to fixing them - maybe bi-amping would be the ticket?

Anyway - the more power, the better. Make certain the amp is stable into low impedances and you're there. I'd look at at QSC PLX series and its successor, the PLX2, or if you get really, really lucky, maybe you can find a QSC SRA 3622 (consumerized version of the PLx 3402) - if I don't get there first.

It could be enough. That's going to depend on your musical tastes .

I have to agree with BigT on the High power amps. But like George said whats your Musical Tastes. Play around with your M500t for awhile and if your happy with it your set, Most people will give up on the volume before the M500t gives up on power.

But there's some of us here that have 500- 1000 watts on tap per ch. No its not there to blow a wall down , just there when we need the extra headroom.

I also have a M500t and it's a strong solid amp! Enjoy it.

Thanks alot for the replies.. I've read that the more power you get to em the better thy sound! I guess my question is should I get another 500t and bride them? Is that a good idea?

If yours are a set of the original Amazings At 4 ohms, than no on the M500T x 2 in bridged mode. It will dip to 2 ohms and melt the amp's. Yes higher power will bring out the best in the Amazings.


So forget about Bridging, if you want more power look for some of these,

Carver Silver 7't..... 700+ watts per ch 4 ohms

Carver Silver 9't.....900+ watts per ch 4 ohms

Carver TFM-75........1000 watts per ch 4 ohms

Sunfire 300x2..... 8 ohms or..... 600x2 per ch 4 ohms

Sunfire 600x2..... 8 ohms or.....1200x2 per ch 4 ohms

TFM-75

When Carver changed the Amazings to an 8 ohm speaker it opened the door to be able to use a set of amps in bridged mode like your M500t

Just remember with your M500t you have 350 watts per ch at 4 ohms.

I would say that for 90% of my listening habits, a single M4.0t into the Amazing Plat's is adequate. It's the damn Telarc recordings I sometimes listen to that'll run one amp dry.

A single M4.0t, TFM-42, or TFM-45 will get you 500watts into those 4 ohm originals.

Maybe Chuck K. or F1nut would know more on this, when I was 11 my uncle took a 4 ohm speaker and put resisters in line with his speaker wires to fool the amp that it was an 8 ohm load. He did this to run mono blocks on each speaker.

I don't know if this would work on the Amazings or not but maybe someone else has done this?

It would open the door to a lot of people to run bridged amps as mono blocks.

TFM-75

Yea I thought the 8 ohm into 4 ohm thing was a problem... Whats strange is that the original owner bought the display models right from Carver at the CES, and they were running 2 M500t's bridged!! Any thoughts on the M1.5t ? They seem to be available on Ebay often..

Just so you understand. I have been in Audio for the past 25-30 yrs. I will push an amp untill it bleeds.

I have A lot of Carver amps.

The TFM 75

3..... 1.5 T'S Thay keep up with my TFM -75 to a point

2 M500t

3 M400's

Sunfire 300x2

Any 1.5t will give you 550 watts per ch 4 Ohms

And also, remember that the M1.5ts is one of the few Carver amps that cannot be bridge mono (that I know of).

The M-500t should do OK, and a Sunfire 2-channel Signature runs 600 wats into 8ohm, so it should drive the ALS just fine. I have a pair of Martin Logan Sequels, which are notorious for presenting troublesome loads (can dip as low as 2 ohms with some music). I used to drive them with a pair of Silver 7ts, and the sounded beautiful, and only got warm when played certain CDs (most notibly, Telarcs DDD recording of the 1812 Orchestra, Pink Floyd's The wall on MFSL gold discs, and interestingly enough, some Kate Bush...)

Now my Sequels are in storage, because a few years ago, I sold off most of my other gear. But I'm slowly rebuilding my system, and hope to have everything up and running by New Years. I reecently got a minty C-4000t (with original box and manual) from a guy in NC, and now I'm looking for amps. Probably going to go with a pair of M-4.0t's bridged mono, unless I can find a good deal on some Silver 7/9ts.

I am also planning to take my system to the Home theater level, and purchase some sort of Martin Logan center speaker, so I'll need to try and match the sonic signature of whatever amp I use for the main speakers. Because of this I'm leaning toward the M-4.0t or the M-500t, because it would be easier to get three of those amps (bridged mono) than to find 3 Silver7/9ts. Or I may go nuts and try and find 3 Sunfire stereo amps and bridge them. (that would be just insane)

I'll probably go with a Lexicon processor. I haven't been impressed with the Carvers (DPL-33 or DPL-20). I used to have a C-20v, and it was always a little hashy in the rear channels...

Judging from the coments of other posters on here, I'm going to stay away from the smaller Carvers, like the M-400 or the M-1.0. I imagine with the load presented by Martin Logan speakers, dipping into sub-4-ohm territiry would result in a rack full of smoking metal boxes...

Anyone have any suggestions/comments???

--Richard C.

tfm-75 although putting resistors in series will protect the amplifier damage, you will loose all the extra power you're trying to get (in heating up the resistors). so you're basically back where you started. not a good plan, unless all you want to do is protect the amp from damage.

Well I picked up a TFM-45 off Ebay so I'll give that a try and see if I'm content! I hope to have the ALS back together soon!!

Hello tcsm,
Best to find an Amp that suit your need instead the idea of putting a resistor in series.
First, almost impossible to find an 4-Ohm resistor that is 100watts to 500watts in size, not to mention about its a fire hazard when it heats up.
It would not protect your amp in anyways either since it is in series as suggested..., means if the speaker burned, opened with no impedance the resistor in no ways useful, and will damage the output transistors in your amp unless its a McIntosh amp, then you would not need a resistor to begin with since McIntosh can run with no loads means 0-Ohm and nothing will happens to them.
I have a pair of Silver TAL myself and i did not find it to take that much watts to run(25W/ch for easy listening soft rocks), in facts, i found the Bose 901s are the most hungry for power.
(With the same 25w/ch, the 901 hardly makes a noise).

I just pulled the triger and bought apair of amazings to. Now I need some amps to drive them.