long-time fan, new member!

hey everybody, I stumbled upon this site today after seeing a post from 'toy maker' on a forum on another site, where there was a discussion about Carver's Lightstar gear. Awesome to see a bunch of like-minded addicts getting together! I happen to own a perfect example of the Lightstar Reference amp and I've always loved it, but maybe never realized how rare they are. I purchased it from an iSoldit ebay store about 4 years ago, and I really don't think they knew what they were dealing with based on what they were asking for it... I tend to favor any amplifier that requires the use of a hand-truck to move it around.

Anyway, I've been a big fan of Carver amps since I was in high school and was looking for an amp with some serious horsepower after melting down a series of Sony and Pioneer receivers. The first one of my collection was a TFM-35x that I bought from Circuit City, remember them? The collection has expanded ever since, and the only component I've regretfully sold was that first TFM-35. Although I used the cash to help purchase an A-760x, so I justified it to myself. I ran the 760 bridged into a pair of cerwin-vega stroker 18" subs (1,600W RMS each) in some home-built fridges, oh i mean boxes. After a few months of some hard mileage, the 760 eventually threw in the towel by melting the solder off its output terminals. I had it repaired at a local shop and I think it has since forgiven me. I've since treated my equipment with a bit more respect...

Here's my current inventory:
- C-19 vacuum tube reference preamp
- CT-28v home theater preamp
- SD/A 390t vacuum tube reference CD changer
- MV-5 CD changer
- TFM-22 amp
- A-760x amp
- Lightstar Reference amp
- Tri-Trix transmission-line 2-way speakers
- (4) Cerwin-Vega L-7 2-way speakers

I can get some pics on here if anybody's interested!

First: WELCOME!

Second: AWESOME YOU MELTED THE SOLDER OFF THE OUTPUT TERMINALS!!! DUDE!!!!!

Third: Are you shitting me?!? OF COURSE WE WANT PICS!!!!

That's a great line up you have!!! Congrats!!!!

here are a couple pics to give you a flavor of the current setup. No, i don't use three amps to power two speakers, but that would be interesting... The lightstar is the only one used right now, with the side benefit that it keeps my living room nice and warm!!

IMG_2698mod.JPG (140.94 KiB) Viewed 1034 times

Beautiful~

I love the rack.

Welcome to the forum! That is a beautiful set-up, thank you for the pictures! I am curious how are you integrating the ipod into your system? Welcome again!

Very nice!

Welcome can you say Lightstar baby. sweet and juicy like these nutz.

Welcome, nice system.

Welcome to the forum. Very nice setup!

I use a Gigaware docking station for the iPod, I think it's model #12-497. This is one of the nicest ones I've seen. It has a pair of RCA outs, composite video, S-video, and USB, so you can also play downloaded videos on your TV if you want. It also charges the iPod and has a decent little remote control. I still enjoy the sound quality of CD's, but you can't beat an ipod with 2000 songs on shuffle! One other thing, this model doesn't support the ipod Touch, my friend has tried it. Looks like the recess in the dock isn't wide enough for the touch, but the nano's work great. hope this helps

thanks for the comments about my system!

I use a Gigaware docking station for the iPod, I think it's model #12-497. This is one of the nicest ones I've seen. It has a pair of RCA outs, composite video, S-video, and USB, so you can also play downloaded videos on your TV if you want. It also charges the iPod and has a decent little remote control. I still enjoy the sound quality of CD's, but you can't beat an ipod with 2000 songs on shuffle! One other thing, this model doesn't support the ipod Touch, my friend has tried it. Looks like the recess in the dock isn't wide enough for the touch, but the nano's work great. hope this helps

thanks for the comments about my system!

Yes kaiser507 thank you, I will do some research on the Gigaware docking station, thanks for the reply on this.

welcome to the forum--nice rig also.

I love the Equipment but also the audio stand NICE!!! Happy to have you with us...

Welcome.

Your gear looks real nice.

Brian.