Greetings from a noob..

Hello folks,

I'm new to the forum as I recently purchased a set of ALS and have been hunting around the sites trying to learn more. Anyway, besides these new to me speakers I also have a set of AL-IIIa and a TFM-35.

So I am driving the ALSs with the TFM and it feels woefully underpowered. I am hitting the forums in search of information on amp choices. I'm sure I'll have a few questions down the road but I am still in read mode. I really appreciate the info that you guys have already published online, it really helps a lot of people, I know it helps me.

More to follow.....

Best regards,
Terry

Hello Terry and welcome to the Carver forum. Do you know which one of the ALS's you have?

Welcome, Terry!

See my sig line for all you need to know~

EDIT: Hey, James; where the hell did my Sunfire go??

WELCOME TO THE FORUM!

WELCOME TO CARVERLAND TERRY!!!

Hello Terry and welcome to the Carver forum. Do you know which one of the ALS's you have?

I have an original set although I want to pop the covers and inspect the woofers to confirm.

Thanks,
Terry

Welcome to the forum!

I would suggest a Sunfire amp to power your ALS.

I have an original set although I want to pop the covers and inspect the woofers to confirm.

That's what I thought. You can remove the rear cover by taking out the 6 or 8 screws in the back immediately to the L&R of the housing [be sure to hold it up, as wires will be attached leading to the binding post], then you will find the screws to remove the front panel.

In case you don't know, the Originals are the flat, honeycomb shaped woofers that are silver in color. If they look like a regular cone woofer, then they have either been modified or you have a different model.

The quickest way to tell if they are the original Amazings would be to look at the ribbon assembly. If they have two 30" ribbon assemblies per speaker, then they most definitely are the Original Amazings. If that is the case, only a limited number of amplifiers can properly power them.

I have an original set although I want to pop the covers and inspect the woofers to confirm.

That's what I thought. You can remove the rear cover by taking out the 6 or 8 screws in the back immediately to the L&R of the housing [be sure to hold it up, as wires will be attached leading to the binding post], then you will find the screws to remove the front panel.

In case you don't know, the Originals are the flat, honeycomb shaped woofers that are silver in color. If they look like a regular cone woofer, then they have either been modified or you have a different model.

The quickest way to tell if they are the original Amazings would be to look at the ribbon assembly. If they have two 30" ribbon assemblies per speaker, then they most definitely are the Original Amazings. If that is the case, only a limited number of amplifiers can properly power them.

The speakers are the original ALS with twin 30" ribbons. I am assuming the woofers are original, but I need to check before proceeding. The bass is "amazingly" unremarkable.

Thanks,
Terry

Terry, once they are properly powered the bass and overall sound is actually quite amazing. I know, I have had a pair of them. The day I sold them, I got a chance to hear them properly powered and it was at that moment I regretted my decision to sell them. See if you can't find someone that has a Sunfire near you to hook them up to and you'll see what I mean.

The only problem with this speaker IMO is the fact that they are so damned hard to drive. What they need is a high current amplifier that can dip down into the 1Ω arena.

I have an original set although I want to pop the covers and inspect the woofers to confirm.

That's what I thought. You can remove the rear cover by taking out the 6 or 8 screws in the back immediately to the L&R of the housing [be sure to hold it up, as wires will be attached leading to the binding post], then you will find the screws to remove the front panel.

In case you don't know, the Originals are the flat, honeycomb shaped woofers that are silver in color. If they look like a regular cone woofer, then they have either been modified or you have a different model.

The quickest way to tell if they are the original Amazings would be to look at the ribbon assembly. If they have two 30" ribbon assemblies per speaker, then they most definitely are the Original Amazings. If that is the case, only a limited number of amplifiers can properly power them.

The speakers are the original ALS with twin 30" ribbons. I am assuming the woofers are original, but I need to check before proceeding. The bass is "amazingly" unremarkable.

Thanks,
Terry

My personal opinion, the bass was always lacking in the ALS.... Get a nice little sub, and you'll be much happier. I don't like free-air subs at all.
Some disagree, and say the Plats have amazing bass... But I have never heard it.

As for amps, my best suggestion are the amps that were designed to run them correctly.
Get your hands on a set of Silver-7t's or Silver-9t's. Those amps were designed to make the ALS sing !!!
After that, a Sunfire 600x2 or a Sunfire 300x2 (300x2 should be enough power, but the 600x2 would be better, "more headroom")

Let me know if you are looking to UPGRADE, I may have a couple amps that might just fit your bill.

Goodluck, and WELCOME !!

If the bass is unremarkable, something is dead wrong.

If the bass is unremarkable, something is dead wrong.

That depends on what he's used to....

True that.

James can have the house crumbling down around him with neighbors 3 miles away complaining about the noise and he'd still be bitching about........"there's just this lack of bass"........

Basically, I seem to be missing that lowest octave. The bass that I do have is the clearest, cleanest bass that I've ever heard. I can easily discern which drum is being struck, for example, instead of just boom boom boom. It is very impressive but it needs to extend down a little more. I have the speakers eq's to +12 at 30Hz and 60Hz but I have to subtract bass at 120 and particulary at 240Hz. It just is too muddy. If I drive the speakers louder, the bass fills in a little, but I think it is still lacking. My little home theater rig's 10" sub extends down deeper than these ALS. The Carver AL-III's 10" woofer hits deeper too, or at least requires much less EQ to fill in the bass. Perhaps more wattage will help but I though that is more of a requirement for high SPL. While it is easy to clip the TFM-35 with these speakers, the volumes that I listen to does not clip the amp at all which leads me to believe that I have adequate power for that SPL.

Thanks,
Terry