Rounding out my HT plans. Advice needed

I am new to this forum but have been a Carver owner and enthusiast for quite some time (since my best friend bought a Carver receiver 25 yearrs ago). I am now trying to plan an upgrade to our HT setup and I would like a bit of advice. Here is what I currently have, what I plan to pick up, and what I am unsure of.

I have:
Amplifiers:
Carver M-4.0t
Carver M-4.0t
Carver M-0.5t
Speakers:
Paradigm Reference Studio 100 - Front Left & Right
Paradigm Reference Studio 20 - Rear Left & Right
Paradigm Reference CC450 - Center

I want to add:
Preamp:
Onkyo Pro PR-SC886P
Speakers:
Paradigm ADP (not sure which ones would match best with the existing speakers)

Here is my question - I want to run the fronts and rears off of the M-4.0ts and when I get the ADPs I think the M-0.5t will be sufficient for them, but I need to find something to drive the center channel. I have been thinking of picking up another used Carver amp and bridge it to mono for the CC450. I do not know how to tell which of the older Carver amps are bridgeable (I know my M-4.0ts are but it looks like the M-0.5t is not) and I also know that the different amps are designed with different transfer functions to emulate different tube amps (but this may not make much difference). I have thought about picking up an M-400t cube but (as silly as this sounds) I do not know how I can accomodate that different form factor.

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

I also think I need to find a way to get my Carvers refurbished as they are approaching 20 years old and I am very interested to learn more about the service offered by Mr. Carver and Rita Helm, since I am physically very close to Snohomish WA (avoiding shipping charges would be a plus).

Thanks in advance!

I apologize for not having done my homework. I had not explored this forum enough and had not found the repair section - now I have found the answer to part of my question and know how to contact Rita's Vintage Audio Repair. Sorry for starting off in ignorance.

I also forgot to mention that for my HT plans I will add a Velodyne HGS-10 from the current setup and the current display, a Pioneer Elite PRO-610HD, will hopefully be upgraded soon (thinking of a Mitsubishi 73" DLP because I really don't need flat-panel).

I saw in a previous thread that advice was given to use just one channel of a stereo amp to drive the center speaker instead of bridging - how does this work? Perhaps that is the way I should try to go also. If so, what amp would work well for this?

Any ideas?

I think I saw that thread also. They said to hook it up to the left channel and that the right can be left unplugged.

If you have an 8 ohm speaker try both just the left and then bridged. See what you like better. Some say that bridged mode does not sound as good. I could not hear the difference with my HT and a TFM 15cb hooked up to a Definitive Technology center.

Does that mean that I should try to find a third M-4.0t to use its left channel? I had considered that idea (or at least the idea of getting another 4.0 to bridge it to mono for the center channel) but I thought that might be overkill. Would using all the same model of amp for the five main channels produce the best result? Would a M-1.0t or M-1.5t accomplish the same goal?

Well, I succeeded in getting the preamp I wanted (it should be winging it's way to me now) so I will soon be able to start hooking things up to see how it sounds. Since I don't yet have the ADP speakers for the sixth and seventh channels I think I will try to start out with the fronts and rears on the M-4.0ts and run the center speaker bi-amped off of the M-0.5t. I realize this will mean there will be a lot less power available to the center speaker but I am hoping that at medium volume this will be OK. I also am hoping that bi-amping the center will be a better use for that 0.5 amp than just running it off of the left channel - but I am not at all sure. I will try it to find out. In the meanwhile, do any of you have opinions or advice?

I would suggest finding another M4.0t so that you have no timbre matching issues.

Thank you treitz & thuffman!

I will look to find another M-4.0t and in the meantime get the ones I have serviced and ready to go. When I find the ADP speakers I want I will revisit my plan and try to decide whether to try to find a fourth M-4.0t or use the 0.5. How much tone difference can we expect between the various amps in the M series (i.e. the M-4.0t, M-1.5t, M-1.0t, & M-0.5t)? Do they all have their own distinct sound such that you shouldn't mix & match?

the M.5t should be fine if you set your system crossover to a higher point so you won't be trying to drive a lot of bass information with it. What will your processor allow you to do, bass management-wise? I know with the Sunfire TG-IV and later, you can set separate crossover frequencies for the mains vs center/surrounds...can you do that?

The TFM series of amps are all voiced the same as the Silver 7 tube amp as it the M-4.0t.

The M-#.#t series is a whle other ball of wax as those were all designed while the experimenting on voicing like different tube amps was going on.

M-0.5t - Voiced like no amp in paricular; generic tube amp sound
M-1.0t - Voiced like a Conrad Johnson Première Five
M-1.5t - Voiced like a Mark Levinson ML-2
M-200t - Voiced like no amp in paricular; generic tube amp sound
M-4.0t - Voiced like a Carver Silver 7 Tube Amp
M-400t - Voiced like a Berning Tube Amp
M-500t - Voiced like no amp in paricular; generic tube amp sound

Despite not being voiced like any amp in particular, the M-500t is widely regarded as the most musical sounding of all the Carver amps.

As far as not having noticed a sound differnece while bridged running a centre speaker, the sound differences are only noticeable when the amp is pushed hard and then mainly in the lower bass region where the sound becomes loose and sloppy. Since most centre speakers do not respond to the low bass region and depend on the subwoofer, the sound difference is harder to hear.

Here's what I just bought for my 6.1 system. Plenty of crossover settings and bass management. I like it so far with my 3-M-500t's.
The Audyssey microphoned speaker calibration and Audyssey EQ is really cool.
These are of the 9.9 I bought the 9.8 new for far less.





Here's a review from AVR.
http://www.avrev.com/home-theater-pream ... essor.html