Sunfire Ultimate Receiver???

What do you guys know about this, as far as performance and reliability? My In-law is looking at one his friend has, and he asked me, and I know nothing about them, nor had even heard of that unit before. Receivers just aren't my thing, except the late 60's and 70's vintage kind.
What should a used one, in good cosmetic and operating condition go for?

Any comments welcomed.

Being that nobody will work on them if they break....as little as you can get it for.

Being that nobody will work on them if they break....as little as you can get it for.

Really? Any idea what it is that makes them not able to be worked on?

Taking that a step further, does that mean that the Sunfire preamps (particulary the earlier ones) can't be worked on?

I don't think the circuit diagram is available for the receiver- the best place to check is with Bob's new repair facility. Most all other Carver / Sunfire stuff is reparable. You may check with BillD- he may be able to work on the receiver....do not know for sure.

I have no clue how to work on a Sunfire. There are no schemas available to me. You are at the mercy of Bob's repair shop.

I think Bill at Rita's old place was the Ultimate Receiver specialist.

I would think there would be no Problems with repair to a Ultimate Receiver! The pre is pretty much a TGP-3 and the amp is a amp. I am sure someone with Sunfire repair knowledge should be able to figure it out I could be wrong but not from what I have seen.

I have one and I love it. I have never had any problems and I have used it well. The sound is GREAT too but not what separates are, of course but still VERY CLOSE and much cheaper. If the price is right and it is working now OK then you will get your moneys worth!!! My .02

Bill at Bob Carver's Audio Repair is fully capable of fixing/updating the Receivers. The Ultimate Receiver is a very nice unit with all the same features as the TGP-III plus a built in 200x7 amplifier. The amp really only puts out an honest 200x2 for stereo and around 140 watts per channel, all channels driven. That being said, the intended use for the Receiver is a small to medium size home theater setup, not running 3 pairs of ALS! Sound stage is not as big as separates but still very good and perfect for home theater.
As far as what can be repaired; the original Theater Grand no longer has parts available, the TGP-II has limited parts and can possibly be fixed and the Symphonic preamps are just about impossible to troubleshoot so they're pretty much not repairable. All the later models are 100% serviceable, except for the power transformers. Hope this helps!

I have an ultimate receiver and use it to power 3 pairs of speakers that are mounted in the ceilings in my house (Party Mode). The other two pair of in-ceiling speakers (family and living room) I run a pair of M-500ts for off the preamp outputs and and M-400 for a pair of small subwoofers (actually AR-3a 12" woofers).