Thu Jan 07, 2010 1:37 pm
Dusting off the ole AV equipment Part II
I received my indoctrination to this community back in the late 70s with my buddy's Phase Linear 400 and a pair of La Scalas. I managed to procure my own Phase Linear 400 but never acquired the La Scalas until a couple days ago. You may or may not have seen that post on the Klipsch forum.
For many years I was happy with my Phase and the Klipsch KG4s. I had a few issues with the Phase stuff, the preamp went into a local repair shop a few times and they would breath life into for a couple more years. The amp would lose a channel now and then and since i only knew one local shop that would even work work on it, that is where I would take it. They would in turn resurrect it for a couple more years.
With the addition of Dishnetwork and Dolby Prologic it became apparent to me that I would need more stuff.
Being one to like bells and whistles and IMHO the level meters on the old Phase were the coolest thing since sliced bread, I started looking around for a Prologic set up.
I ended up buying a brand new Carver CT 29v for a pre amp and a pair of TFM 15 cb amps. Since the flame...I mean Phase was working at that moment I used the Phase to drive a new pair of Klipsch Epic CF-3s for fronts, I bridged one of the TFM 15s to drive a new Klipsch KV1 and I used the second TFM 15 to drive the KG4s for surrounds.
I also added a Pioneer SW-1000 for a sub.
That worked very well for a couple years. I had Klipsch speakers all the way around (except for the sub); I had 280 watts going to the center speaker, 200 to each of the fronts and 100 to each of the surrounds.
Life was good, I had a jammin stereo and surround sound system with plenty of those cool level meters that were as much fun to watch as the 35 inch TV.
As you know all good things must come to an end. Eventually one of the cool level meters went dark on one of the Carvers and then one of the channels went out on the Phase again.
To be honest with you these amp failures really started to get annoying so I bought an Onkyo TX-DS575X receiver and thanks to the simultaneous divorce proceedings, the Carver and Phase stuff ended up in my storage unit where they have been for the last five years.
You'll probably notice I am one who changes very slowly. So it should be no surprise to find that I migrated from Dish to Direct TV and resisted upgrading the DTV receiver to HD, until the DTV receiver died a few months ago.
I hope you guys like long stories, I like to write.
Anyway, about a month ago my 35 inch TV finally died, I'm pretty sure it's an HDMI conspiracy perpetrated by Direct TV. I mean they had to kill my TV, my dads went a week later.
So, I bought a new Sony 42 inch LCD tv and hooked it up to the old Onkyo. Funny thing about that Sony, it had these things called HDMI inputs. Another funny thing is I also got a Sony Blue Ray player and it also had those HDMI things on it.
As you can imagine this created a real quandry for me, now my Onkyo was old. I'd have to buy a new receiver to use my HDMI thingies.
So I bought a pair of Yamaha RX-V765 receivers, one for me and one for son. I also bought a Klipsch SW-12 sub woofer to replace that POS Pioneer SW-1000.
Boy let me tell you, my speakers really started sounding good now. I mean, really, it was fun to listen to music and watch movies again. It's amazing what a decent sub can add to the mix.
Well, one thing lead to another and a couple days ago I ended up buying 3 La Scalas for my three front speakers and moved my CF-3s to surround.
Man, let me tell ya those La Scalas reeeeaaally make things sound good.
I even re arranged the furniture a little so i could see those old La Scalas and admire them.
As i pondered my latest acquisition, it occurred to me that the Yamaha, as good as it sounds, just doesn't look as cool as the speakers. I mean, where are the blinking LEDs or level meters to watch?
So I went to my storage unit and retrieved my old Carver and Phase stuff, which you can see on the attached photo.
I wonder if i should dust these things off and see what works
Maybe i could ( gasp) unload them on ebay and use that money towards something like the Emotive Amps I've been reading about
Maybe I could use my Yammy as a Preamp and resurrect the Carvers
Maybe I could find a cool preamp that is 7.1 or 7.2 capable and upgrade with refurbished bigger Carver Amps.
Don't know, lots of different directions to go here.
Any ideas?
I have to admit, I find my self looking at a TFM 6CB for sale locally for 50 bucks and to answer this question, I do finding self running "Carver amp" and "Phase Linear" searches on craigslist frequently
Man that TV dying is going to be expensive.
Here's my stack as it now looks:
Hee hee, here's the unintimidating looking yamy:
Oh yeah, howdy to everyone
Tinpan
For many years I was happy with my Phase and the Klipsch KG4s. I had a few issues with the Phase stuff, the preamp went into a local repair shop a few times and they would breath life into for a couple more years. The amp would lose a channel now and then and since i only knew one local shop that would even work work on it, that is where I would take it. They would in turn resurrect it for a couple more years.
With the addition of Dishnetwork and Dolby Prologic it became apparent to me that I would need more stuff.
Being one to like bells and whistles and IMHO the level meters on the old Phase were the coolest thing since sliced bread, I started looking around for a Prologic set up.
I ended up buying a brand new Carver CT 29v for a pre amp and a pair of TFM 15 cb amps. Since the flame...I mean Phase was working at that moment I used the Phase to drive a new pair of Klipsch Epic CF-3s for fronts, I bridged one of the TFM 15s to drive a new Klipsch KV1 and I used the second TFM 15 to drive the KG4s for surrounds.
I also added a Pioneer SW-1000 for a sub.
That worked very well for a couple years. I had Klipsch speakers all the way around (except for the sub); I had 280 watts going to the center speaker, 200 to each of the fronts and 100 to each of the surrounds.
Life was good, I had a jammin stereo and surround sound system with plenty of those cool level meters that were as much fun to watch as the 35 inch TV.
As you know all good things must come to an end. Eventually one of the cool level meters went dark on one of the Carvers and then one of the channels went out on the Phase again.
To be honest with you these amp failures really started to get annoying so I bought an Onkyo TX-DS575X receiver and thanks to the simultaneous divorce proceedings, the Carver and Phase stuff ended up in my storage unit where they have been for the last five years.
You'll probably notice I am one who changes very slowly. So it should be no surprise to find that I migrated from Dish to Direct TV and resisted upgrading the DTV receiver to HD, until the DTV receiver died a few months ago.
I hope you guys like long stories, I like to write.
Anyway, about a month ago my 35 inch TV finally died, I'm pretty sure it's an HDMI conspiracy perpetrated by Direct TV. I mean they had to kill my TV, my dads went a week later.
So, I bought a new Sony 42 inch LCD tv and hooked it up to the old Onkyo. Funny thing about that Sony, it had these things called HDMI inputs. Another funny thing is I also got a Sony Blue Ray player and it also had those HDMI things on it.
As you can imagine this created a real quandry for me, now my Onkyo was old. I'd have to buy a new receiver to use my HDMI thingies.
So I bought a pair of Yamaha RX-V765 receivers, one for me and one for son. I also bought a Klipsch SW-12 sub woofer to replace that POS Pioneer SW-1000.
Boy let me tell you, my speakers really started sounding good now. I mean, really, it was fun to listen to music and watch movies again. It's amazing what a decent sub can add to the mix.
Well, one thing lead to another and a couple days ago I ended up buying 3 La Scalas for my three front speakers and moved my CF-3s to surround.
Man, let me tell ya those La Scalas reeeeaaally make things sound good.
I even re arranged the furniture a little so i could see those old La Scalas and admire them.
As i pondered my latest acquisition, it occurred to me that the Yamaha, as good as it sounds, just doesn't look as cool as the speakers. I mean, where are the blinking LEDs or level meters to watch?
So I went to my storage unit and retrieved my old Carver and Phase stuff, which you can see on the attached photo.
I wonder if i should dust these things off and see what works
Maybe i could ( gasp) unload them on ebay and use that money towards something like the Emotive Amps I've been reading about
Maybe I could use my Yammy as a Preamp and resurrect the Carvers
Maybe I could find a cool preamp that is 7.1 or 7.2 capable and upgrade with refurbished bigger Carver Amps.
Don't know, lots of different directions to go here.
Any ideas?
I have to admit, I find my self looking at a TFM 6CB for sale locally for 50 bucks and to answer this question, I do finding self running "Carver amp" and "Phase Linear" searches on craigslist frequently
Man that TV dying is going to be expensive.
Here's my stack as it now looks:
Hee hee, here's the unintimidating looking yamy:
Oh yeah, howdy to everyone
Tinpan
Tinpan
HT - Sunfire TG IV, Sunfire Cinema Grand Sig. 400 x 5, Oppo 93, Klipsch LaScala (3), Cornwalls (2), SW-12, Sony 60" LCD
2 channel - AN L2 Pre-amp, Carver Cherry 260's, AN 2.1 DAC, Oppo DV-981HD, Klipsch Epic CF3
2 channel - AN Interstage Mono Blocks 300b PSE, AN Sig. DAC 3.1 , AN Sig. Phono Stage, Sota Comet TT, Lowther Medallion Speakers PM5a driver, Rythmik F15 Sub
2 channel - Carverfest Mono Blocks, Grant Fidelity DAC, Klipschorns
2 channel - Audio Note Kit 1 300b SET, Audio Note DAC 2.1, Lowther Allerions DX-65 drivers
HT - Sunfire TG IV, Sunfire Cinema Grand Sig. 400 x 5, Oppo 93, Klipsch LaScala (3), Cornwalls (2), SW-12, Sony 60" LCD
2 channel - AN L2 Pre-amp, Carver Cherry 260's, AN 2.1 DAC, Oppo DV-981HD, Klipsch Epic CF3
2 channel - AN Interstage Mono Blocks 300b PSE, AN Sig. DAC 3.1 , AN Sig. Phono Stage, Sota Comet TT, Lowther Medallion Speakers PM5a driver, Rythmik F15 Sub
2 channel - Carverfest Mono Blocks, Grant Fidelity DAC, Klipschorns
2 channel - Audio Note Kit 1 300b SET, Audio Note DAC 2.1, Lowther Allerions DX-65 drivers
](./images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall")