Hello From Central New York

Hello Carver folks. I'm Ed from the Central part of New York. I've owned my Carver gear for a long time now. Got my first Cube back in 81, The M-400a. Shortly after I got a C-1 Pre amp. Just recently I got another C-1 because my original; decided to put out DC current so rather fix that i got anoher one cheaper then fixing the original.

I now have a second cube on its way, the M-400. It should be here later this week. I have these powering my vintage Klipsch Lascalas. I was using my Pioneer SX-1980 that I bought new in 1979 but I think the carvers are a much better match for the Lascalas. The 1980 was originally bought to power my Bose 901 series IVs anyway that are long gone now and were just recently replaced with the series V's

Could some one tell me the difference between the M-400, the 400a and the 400t? I may have to go and get me one of the M-400t's

Anyway, it's nice to be here and maybe one of these days I'll get a chance to post some pics of my stereo equipment. My current rig is rocking real "Loud,Proud,Clean and Mean"

Ed

Welcome the forum. Seems like we have a few up in the Empire state now.

As for the difference between the amps I will have to defer to someone else. Don't have much knowledge on that amp as I would like.

Welcome, edriz~

The 400 & 400a are not "voiced" to sound like a tube amp, while the 400t is. There was some kind of issue with the first models, the plain 400, but the 400a and 400t were good. Congratulations! Planning to bi-amp or bridge?

Welcome to the forum. If you still have the bad C-1 I am interested in buying it for parts.

The M-400 had the original power supply. Externally, you can tell it has the original power supply because it will have an "impedance" switch (for mono or below 4R — I leave mine in that position all the time). The M-400a used the new power supply. Internally, the difference between the old and new power supply had to do with the regulation of the power supply in the feedback circuit. The old way was to use a Vactrol (light dependent resistor illuminated by an LED) optocoupler to control the triac in the feedback loop. The new power supply has a more modern optocoupler (a transistor with a light sensitive base illuminated by the LED). It has no impedance switch. The M-400t just adds the t-mod circuit to the M-400a.

Welcome, edriz~

The 400 & 400a are not "voiced" to sound like a tube amp, while the 400t is. There was some kind of issue with the first models, the plain 400, but the 400a and 400t were good. Congratulations! Planning to bi-amp or bridge?

Thanks for the welcome everybody. You wouldn't happen to know what the issues were would you? That makes me nervous now. I just bought the M-400 off ebay and should be getting here by the end of the week. I've had my 400a for 27 years and have had nothing done to it...yet. I am concidering shipping it out to Rita for a complete rebuid maybe after the first of the year though. I do have a hell of a story about my oroginal gear I may be sharing with you guys one day.

I have heard some stories about the M-400's catching fire but don't know how true that is. I had no plans on Bi-amping. Bridging, as in using the amps as mono amps. Nah. Who needs that much power. I did think of using one amp for each speaker. I thought it would look cool by putting one amp on top of each speaker and then running a cable to the C-1 for wach amp. Then just using 8" speaker wires. But no, My original M-400a will be heading out to Rita for a refurbuild right after the first of the New Year. Maybe I will get lucky and get Bob to sign it for me. I did talk to Rita about that possibility. Maybe after it gets back??

Welcome to the forum. If you still have the bad C-1 I am interested in buying it for parts.

I will keep you in mind. Don't know if I could sell it.I bought that in IIRC 81,82 probably while stationed in Germany. I think 82. I got my 400a in 81, the lascalas in 81 so the C-1 must have been 82 because I was running the M-400a through my SX-1980 for a while. But anyway, I'm a sentimental old fool and the C-1 has more meaning to me then money. I would really like to have that one fixed and sell the one I just bought. I may give Rita another call and see what it would cost to fix the C-1 and once I get my M-400a refurbed I mayget the C-1 done after.

If I do think about selling though, I will let you know.
Ed

I have two of them with no issues. I think you get a good one or a bad one. I have one that I've never serviced that I bought in 1980! It's still in use in my whole house system. The only thing I've done to it is change the LEDs to blue.

Blue M-400 Clip.JPG (47.57 KiB) Viewed 1126 times

I have two of them with no issues. I think you get a good one or a bad one. I have one that I've never serviced that I bought in 1980! It's still in use in my whole house system. The only thing I've done to it is change the LEDs to blue.

Blue M-400 Clip.JPG

That sure is a purty one. I like the red LEDS though. But, it's all in the eye of the beholder isn't it?

As soon as I get past my little bout of laziness, I'll get my Sig block posted and get some pics of my gear up. I am also in another Audio Forum and we have Photo Albums and Galeries there. I'll have to check what pics I have there and post some of them here too. I do have alot of pictures of my stereo. I sure do like my Carver seperates and I think they were created for my Lascalas.

Welcome edriz

Welcome from a fellow CNY'er! It is good to see that we are getting more of us in the good old Northeast part of the great 48. (No offense to anyone north of the border)! Heck, maybe if we get enough of us up here Rita may think about getting a shop set up out here (LOL )

The M-400 had the original power supply. Externally, you can tell it has the original power supply because it will have an "impedance" switch (for mono or below 4R — I leave mine in that position all the time). The M-400a used the new power supply. Internally, the difference between the old and new power supply had to do with the regulation of the power supply in the feedback circuit. The old way was to use a Vactrol (light dependent resistor illuminated by an LED) optocoupler to control the triac in the feedback loop. The new power supply has a more modern optocoupler (a transistor with a light sensitive base illuminated by the LED). It has no impedance switch. The M-400t just adds the t-mod circuit to the M-400a.

Hi Bill, what do you mean by "4R" I won't be using mine as Mono so what position should I have my M-400 switch in. I'm sure it won't be coming with an Owners manual.

Thanks, Ed

Ed, most of us have found that bridging ANY amps results in a diminished sound quality & increase difficulty to drive a low "R" (ohm/impedance) load. I suggest biamping rather than bridging where possible. La Scalas should be an easy bi-amp.

Ed, most of us have found that bridging ANY amps results in a diminished sound quality & increase difficulty to drive a low "R" (ohm/impedance) load. I suggest biamping rather than bridging where possible. La Scalas should be an easy bi-amp.

What would I need to do to bi-amp? Guess I may need to buy another piece of Gear? My wife would hang me by the shrt and curlies. Under my bed is packed with gear and you should see my back room. And I'm NOT even a collector!!

HI ED! Glad to see ya over here too. The M400 is a great amp and bi-amping your LaScalas would be really good.