1.5 Monoblocks
- austinstephens
- Newbie
- Posts: 36
- Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 8:33 am
- Location: Memphis, TN
1.5 Monoblocks
Hi everyone...
This past winter I became quite bored both with myself and my Carver system..I have a pair of origional Amazings, and as we all know are very hard to drive..I used a TFM-55. While this is a wonderful amp. the Amazings would spank it pretty hard when the volume was up..I was scanning Ebay one evening and came across some Clair Brothers Carver 1.5 monoblocks for sale..These amps powered concert monitors for some pretty big acts, The Stones for one.. and were installed in huge racks, about 10 per..They said no hums, bad fans, cleaned, and produced 1200 watts into 4 ohms...I was extremely skeptical..My Amazings will sometimes dip to 2 ohms..The asking price was $250.00 each..I put in an offer of 200 apiece, and I was the proud owner on them..
When I recieved them, wow..These were some old road dogs..Beat up and extremely dirty..But...When I hooked everything up, they were right on the no hums..There were quiet. But the fans sounded like chain saws..The faces were quite scratched and the inner chasis was very dirty, but wow, what power they produced. I reseated all the rows of power transistors, cleaned the heatsinks and the pan below them, replaced the 50/80 V Capacitors, repaired several cold solder joints, and cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned..I had an old PM 1200 that didn't work, but had new fans installed, and used those. I could tell they were electrically maintained, as some solder joints were new, as were some resistors and diodes. I checked rail voltages and adjusted the biases.. They weren't too far off..The power cords were only a foot long, because of the racks they were mounted in.. So I replaced the cords with PS Audio power cords...My last delimma was the metal covers and faceplates..I decided to have the covers power coated in black, and the faceplates in dark metallic silver..The only drawback is they now have no output level graphs, as the power coating covered them up..I work in aviation, and am designing some with an avionics labeling machine we have at work..I purchased some brushed aluminum feet for them, and they look great..Some folks complain of the fan noise..Mine are very quiet, and if I can even barely hear them, some volume cures that!!
Now, the amps look and sound wonderful..while the pro amps can be a bit harsh sometimes, with speaker placement and tweaks, they sound wonderful, and have plenty of power. I mean, these amps kick ass..I can crank the hell out of them, and the amps barely get warm..The TFM, I could have fried an egg on...So, with a little bit of elbow grease, a schematic, plenty of electrical cleaner, power coating, some potting compound, a few beers, and plenty of cold winter nights, I now own a pair of Carver Monoblocks that look good and sound even better..I love it when a gamble pays off...
This past winter I became quite bored both with myself and my Carver system..I have a pair of origional Amazings, and as we all know are very hard to drive..I used a TFM-55. While this is a wonderful amp. the Amazings would spank it pretty hard when the volume was up..I was scanning Ebay one evening and came across some Clair Brothers Carver 1.5 monoblocks for sale..These amps powered concert monitors for some pretty big acts, The Stones for one.. and were installed in huge racks, about 10 per..They said no hums, bad fans, cleaned, and produced 1200 watts into 4 ohms...I was extremely skeptical..My Amazings will sometimes dip to 2 ohms..The asking price was $250.00 each..I put in an offer of 200 apiece, and I was the proud owner on them..
When I recieved them, wow..These were some old road dogs..Beat up and extremely dirty..But...When I hooked everything up, they were right on the no hums..There were quiet. But the fans sounded like chain saws..The faces were quite scratched and the inner chasis was very dirty, but wow, what power they produced. I reseated all the rows of power transistors, cleaned the heatsinks and the pan below them, replaced the 50/80 V Capacitors, repaired several cold solder joints, and cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned..I had an old PM 1200 that didn't work, but had new fans installed, and used those. I could tell they were electrically maintained, as some solder joints were new, as were some resistors and diodes. I checked rail voltages and adjusted the biases.. They weren't too far off..The power cords were only a foot long, because of the racks they were mounted in.. So I replaced the cords with PS Audio power cords...My last delimma was the metal covers and faceplates..I decided to have the covers power coated in black, and the faceplates in dark metallic silver..The only drawback is they now have no output level graphs, as the power coating covered them up..I work in aviation, and am designing some with an avionics labeling machine we have at work..I purchased some brushed aluminum feet for them, and they look great..Some folks complain of the fan noise..Mine are very quiet, and if I can even barely hear them, some volume cures that!!
Now, the amps look and sound wonderful..while the pro amps can be a bit harsh sometimes, with speaker placement and tweaks, they sound wonderful, and have plenty of power. I mean, these amps kick ass..I can crank the hell out of them, and the amps barely get warm..The TFM, I could have fried an egg on...So, with a little bit of elbow grease, a schematic, plenty of electrical cleaner, power coating, some potting compound, a few beers, and plenty of cold winter nights, I now own a pair of Carver Monoblocks that look good and sound even better..I love it when a gamble pays off...
- Attachments
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- As purchased...
- DSCN2644b.jpg (192.58 KiB) Viewed 3627 times
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- Starting to look a little better...
- DSCN2684a.jpg (267.23 KiB) Viewed 3630 times
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- Work continues..
- DSCN2685a.jpg (276.91 KiB) Viewed 3630 times
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- Caps..
- DSCN2638a.jpg (247.99 KiB) Viewed 3630 times
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- Work in progress
- DSCN2693a.jpg (249.38 KiB) Viewed 3630 times
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- LED Ladder circuit board..
- DSCN2688a.jpg (225.28 KiB) Viewed 3630 times
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- One finished, one not..
- DSCN2704a.jpg (209.92 KiB) Viewed 3630 times
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- Finished Product
- DSCN2991a.jpg (231.74 KiB) Viewed 3630 times
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- Finished Product
- DSCN3012a.jpg (224.18 KiB) Viewed 3630 times
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- My stuff...
- DSCN3027a.jpg (382.37 KiB) Viewed 3630 times
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- California Audio Labs Tube DAC and CD Drive..
- DSCN2994a.jpg (324.46 KiB) Viewed 3630 times
"Despite all the amputations, she could dance to a rock and roll station, and it was all right"....Lou Reed
- thuffman03
- !! CarverFest Evictee !!
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- Location: Pittsburgh, PA
- TNRabbit
- R.I.P. Friend
- Posts: 13360
- Joined: Sun Jan 14, 2007 11:53 am
- Location: TN Native Languishing in VA
- Contact:
Re: 1.5 Monoblocks
They look fantastic! Glad the gamble paid off for you~
Thanks for the pics!
Thanks for the pics!
TNRabbit

From FrankieD's lips to your ears: Sunfire - a quiet box of endless power.
Sunfire TG-IV/400~7 Amp
Carver SD/A-360 CDP
Benchmark DAC-1
Sony SACD/DVD-A
Active bi-amp: Ashly XR-1001 & 2 Rane PEQ-15s
Main: HotRodded AL-IIIs
Sub: Klipsch RT-12d
Center: Sunfire CRS-3c
Surround: Sunfire CRS-3 (x 2)
RIP WIlliam B. Dibble, 1948-2012. I'll miss you my friend.

From FrankieD's lips to your ears: Sunfire - a quiet box of endless power.
Sunfire TG-IV/400~7 Amp
Carver SD/A-360 CDP
Benchmark DAC-1
Sony SACD/DVD-A
Active bi-amp: Ashly XR-1001 & 2 Rane PEQ-15s
Main: HotRodded AL-IIIs
Sub: Klipsch RT-12d
Center: Sunfire CRS-3c
Surround: Sunfire CRS-3 (x 2)
OconeeOrange wrote:"Gary likes to play it 'loud' as do I. His system begs you turn it up until you die"
RIP WIlliam B. Dibble, 1948-2012. I'll miss you my friend.
Re: 1.5 Monoblocks
Man those things look brand new, nice work. I love the pro amps, they kick butt.
TFM-75 serial #0001
PT-2400 serial #0001
Baby Black Magic serial #0001
Baby Black Magic serial #0002
Cherry/260wpc Mono Blocks
Lightstar Reference
Sunfire Series II 625x2
Carver 490t
OPPO-103
Lucas Labs CF-14
Sunfire Tube pre
DENON DP-62L TT
DUAL CS 5000 TT
DQ-20's
Tesla CF-15 speakers
Douglas Cables
OK ERIC, LET GO OF THE MOUSE AND BACK AWAY FROM YOUR PC WITH YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR. NOW SLOWLY LAY FACE DOWN ON THE FLOOR!!!! - Snoop65
PT-2400 serial #0001
Baby Black Magic serial #0001
Baby Black Magic serial #0002
Cherry/260wpc Mono Blocks
Lightstar Reference
Sunfire Series II 625x2
Carver 490t
OPPO-103
Lucas Labs CF-14
Sunfire Tube pre
DENON DP-62L TT
DUAL CS 5000 TT
DQ-20's
Tesla CF-15 speakers
Douglas Cables
OK ERIC, LET GO OF THE MOUSE AND BACK AWAY FROM YOUR PC WITH YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR. NOW SLOWLY LAY FACE DOWN ON THE FLOOR!!!! - Snoop65
Re: 1.5 Monoblocks
They look very good, real nice job.
Brain
Brain
VPI Classic Turntable (black)
Transfiguration Phoenix Cartridge
Devialet 440PRO Mono Blocks
Audioprana SP/DIF-AES/EBU cable
Aurender N100H Music Server
Audioquest Diamond USB cable
B&W 803D3 Speakers (black)
Auditorium 23 Speaker Cables
Raysonic CD-168 CDP (silver)
Carver TX11
Transfiguration Phoenix Cartridge
Devialet 440PRO Mono Blocks
Audioprana SP/DIF-AES/EBU cable
Aurender N100H Music Server
Audioquest Diamond USB cable
B&W 803D3 Speakers (black)
Auditorium 23 Speaker Cables
Raysonic CD-168 CDP (silver)
Carver TX11
- kingman
- (pair of) SILVER-7 TUBE AMPs
- Posts: 6359
- Joined: Sun Nov 30, 2008 2:10 pm
- Location: Upstate South Carolina
Re: 1.5 Monoblocks
Great story, work, and preserve the Carver sound!!!! Congrats and enjoy the music!!!!





In reality, it only matters what it sounds like to YOU!!!
- Snoop65
- SILVER-7 TUBE AMP
- Posts: 2691
- Joined: Mon Jun 28, 2010 9:04 pm
- Location: A galaxy far far away
Re: 1.5 Monoblocks












CARVER LIGHTSTAR REFERENCE+SUNFIRE CLASSIC TUBE PREAMPLIFIER+JBL XPL200+MUSIC HALL MMF-9.1+GRADO REFERENCE MASTER 1+Cayin CDT-17a =WOW!!!!!!
Re: 1.5 Monoblocks
S W E E T
engtaz
Carver M4.0T in front channels to Caver AL VI's in SACD & 2 Channel setup
C 16, PT 2400, Slim Device, Carver TX-8, 490T and Rega TT w Grado Gold cart in the 2 channel setup
Bogen SRB20 is computer amp
Carver PM-350 donated for youth church use
Carver M4.0T in front channels to Caver AL VI's in SACD & 2 Channel setup
C 16, PT 2400, Slim Device, Carver TX-8, 490T and Rega TT w Grado Gold cart in the 2 channel setup
Bogen SRB20 is computer amp
Carver PM-350 donated for youth church use
Re: 1.5 Monoblocks
Very nice job refurbishing those amps. Now you not only have the joy of running great amps but the satisfaction that only comes from doing it yourself.
~There are many roads to audio nirvana. While the ultimate goal may be the destination, don't forget to enjoy the ride.~
Re: 1.5 Monoblocks






To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.
— Thomas Paine
"Try not to become a man of success, but rather a man of value" Albert Einstein
"Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them". Charlie Reese
"The problems we face today exist because the people who work for a living are outnumbered by those who vote for a living." Brad Shurett
"Kindness is a language that the Deaf can hear and the Blind can see." Mark Twain
RIP BILL D. RIP WRABBIT
— Thomas Paine
"Try not to become a man of success, but rather a man of value" Albert Einstein
"Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them". Charlie Reese
"The problems we face today exist because the people who work for a living are outnumbered by those who vote for a living." Brad Shurett
"Kindness is a language that the Deaf can hear and the Blind can see." Mark Twain
RIP BILL D. RIP WRABBIT
- austinstephens
- Newbie
- Posts: 36
- Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 8:33 am
- Location: Memphis, TN
Re: 1.5 Monoblocks
Thank you for all the nice comments on my amps..I'm very proud of how they came out..I'd love to bring them to Carverfest and have Bob sign both of them..
It was a lot of hard tedious work, and without really knowing the outcome..There were only 10 of these amps for sale, and I knew once they were gone, they were gone...So, I purchased a spare and refurbished it also..I will post more pics soon...
It was a lot of hard tedious work, and without really knowing the outcome..There were only 10 of these amps for sale, and I knew once they were gone, they were gone...So, I purchased a spare and refurbished it also..I will post more pics soon...
"Despite all the amputations, she could dance to a rock and roll station, and it was all right"....Lou Reed