HELP > Newbie Seeking Advise To Test Carver Platinum Amazing

Thanks again OBI!

OBI, Bill, Rabbit, you all make me crack up with the car analogy to the amps.

I have a bunch of amps at my disposal so I hope I have at least one good amp to drive these babies. I don't have any tube gear yet but I can probably try to obtain a pair of 7Ts or 9Ts later on.

Tuesday is the day to drive 80 miles to pickup these babies.

Thanks everyone and I'll report back here.

It's kinda like the difference between torque and horsepower. High current amps are like high torque engines in cars. Lotsa of those little rice burners (Subaru comes to mind) have plenty of horsepower and almost zero torque, so they can't haul any load.

sorry to the OP....kinda off topic...
Mr BillD sir, for once i strongly dissagree. the WRX my little brother owned was the scarriest little fu@kin car i have ever rode in(turbo upgrades granted). launches BIG TIME harder than any of the V8 cars i ever have owned/built/driven.
..haul a load...idk..sure hauled ass tho.
cheers/MERRY CHRISTMAS!

It's kinda like the difference between torque and horsepower. High current amps are like high torque engines in cars. Lotsa of those little rice burners (Subaru comes to mind) have plenty of horsepower and almost zero torque, so they can't haul any load.

sorry to the OP....kinda off topic...
Mr BillD sir, for once i strongly dissagree. the WRX my little brother owned was the scarriest little fu@kin car i have ever rode in(turbo upgrades granted). launches BIG TIME harder than any of the V8 cars i ever have owned/built/driven.
..haul a load...idk..sure hauled ass tho.
cheers/MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Try launching it from idle AA77, not by dumping the clutch at 6.000 RPM and see how long it takes you to get to the next street corner, then try the same thing with a similar power big V8. Big V8s may run out of steam at high RPM, but cars like the Honda Civic Si can't get out of their own way at anything under 4,000 RPM Unless you drive then at full tilt, extreme revs, small, low torque cars are actually a danger on public roads for "normal, sane" drivers.

I agree that the Suburu WRX turbo is a nimble little rocket, but it weighs, what, 2000 lbs? If you double that, it ain't gonna go for squat. That was the whole point of the comparison.

I've placed the Amazing in the room and tested it with the Citation 7.1 unbridged.

I am using Adcom GTP 880 as pre for the Citation 7.1 and ran it to 0db on the volume. The Citation 7.1 protection trips in the Unbridged mode (4 x 150W @ 8ohms, should be more for 4ohms). I am reluctant to test in the 8 ohms bridged mono mode.

Amazing is not bi-amped as of now yet. I think it's the reason why the Citation trips. It's probably heavy load to the ribbons during the testing with the Classical music at 0dB.

I am thinking bass is a little lacking in this setup. So, I think I will bi-amp the Amazing with Citation 7.1 for the Ribbons and use Denon POA 2400A for the bass. If the bi-amp setup works well, I'll have to try matching with different amps for Synergy.

I have a few other amps that I could try pairing with. Please vote your choice.

1. Pioneer Elite M-90 and M-91 amps (best sounding to my ears compared to other amps I've used and owned) that I'll try after this. These are mono design amps with each transformer for each channel.

2. Rotel RMB-1095 (5 x 200W @ 8 ohms)

3. Parasound HCA-2205AT (5 x 220W @ 8 ohms)

4. Adcom GFA-7807 (7 x 300W @ 8 ohms)

5. 2 x B&K Sonata M-200 Monoblocks for the Highs and Carver PM1.5 for Bass Drivers

6. Your choice of any amps in the list. (other amps not listed above because I don't think these will work, 2 x Acurus A200x3, Rotel RMB-1066 and 2 more Citation 7.1)

I would not want to spend more money buying amps anytime soon. I have other priorities before more amps.

edit: drunk'n ramblings removed

I don't know about the Adcom 7-ch/300w per amp and how it would do either bi-amping the Amazings (if that's doable to send 300w each to the L/R ribbons and 300w each to the L/R woofers using 4 of your channels of power. I previously was running my Amazings in 2-channel only from Adcom's GFA 5800 amp rated at 250w/ch @8ohms (and more at 4 and probably 2 ohms respectively) and pleased with the sound. However, there was a marked sound (especially bass) improvement when I switched to the Carver 7t's (and now 9ts -- haven't bi-amped my Amazings yet using the four Carver amps). The more than double watts per channel @8ohms and of course the still more wattage per channel at lower impedances made quite the difference. Those speakers really do need some major power! Not that the Adcom sound was bad, it was just "less" for obvious reasons.

All this was to say "try the Adcom if you can run it from two channels or four (maybe the other channels lend their power if unused?) You might like it a lot!" Especially for classical music at 0 db!

run the -90 and -91 elites horizontal bi-amp. about as much power as you will ever need.....1600 watts@2r per speaker should suffice.

edit: drunk'n ramblings removed

Oh....I think we should put that into our next year ballot to put into law.

"Don't Type When Drunk". haha I am just messing with u and it's cool whatever it was you said.

I don't know about the Adcom 7-ch/300w per amp and how it would do either bi-amping the Amazings (if that's doable to send 300w each to the L/R ribbons and 300w each to the L/R woofers using 4 of your channels of power. I previously was running my Amazings in 2-channel only from Adcom's GFA 5800 amp rated at 250w/ch @8ohms (and more at 4 and probably 2 ohms respectively) and pleased with the sound. However, there was a marked sound (especially bass) improvement when I switched to the Carver 7t's (and now 9ts -- haven't bi-amped my Amazings yet using the four Carver amps). The more than double watts per channel @8ohms and of course the still more wattage per channel at lower impedances made quite the difference. Those speakers really do need some major power! Not that the Adcom sound was bad, it was just "less" for obvious reasons.

All this was to say "try the Adcom if you can run it from two channels or four (maybe the other channels lend their power if unused?) You might like it a lot!" Especially for classical music at 0 db!

Thanks Resse for your opinion. I am not sure whether Adcom will sound good or not but it'll be up to give it a try soon. I am done with Citation and Parasound for now and I'll be rotating all the amps I have to see the best possible match for my Amazings. I am sure I would like the 7t and 9t amps but I can't afford these for a while. I'll have to make do with lesser amps for now.

I am quite impressed with the sound Amazing made but I think it's a bit harsh and a tad underpowered on bass. I think it's because I am used to listen music with sealed powered subs before and I am not very used to listen to the subs in Amazings which are Open Baffled (Free Air).

run the -90 and -91 elites horizontal bi-amp. about as much power as you will ever need.....1600 watts@2r per speaker should suffice.

Thanks again AudioAssasin77 (no, please don't terminate me just yet!). The M90 and M91 are a joy to my ears but I'll be testing with a few different amps and see which one works better for the Amazing.

Trust me, when you get the power situation solved, the amazings will not be bass shy. There won't be any of the "boomyness" you're used to from a sealed enclosure, but you'll feel every bass note as well as hear it when your system is dialed. The Carver 9t's have a one db bass boost designed with the amazings in mind.

Two observations:

1. Running at -0 (reference) level should in most cases blow up everything in your system except the Amazings (fuses would go).

2. If you are finding ALS harsh & bass-shy, you don't have them properly placed. I've seen more than a few folks with Amazings finally "get it" when they FINALLY (self included) get them in a decent room properly positioned. The heavens will open up and light will shine down on you then you'll say "so THAT's how they're supposed to sound; WOW!"....

^He's pretty smart for a bunny wabbit. Placement does make a huge difference. You need at least 2-3 feet between the back of the speaker and the wall. Play with toe in until it suits your ears, but it won't be as much as you think. They won't be pointed directly at your listening spot for the best sound. Spread them as far as the room allows while keeping the space behind the speakers and the space to the side walls equal at a minimum. Ideal location would be at 1/4 points of the wall behind them, but try to form an equalateral triangle between the speaker centers and your listening spot (center of your head).