Hey Jer, if they don't cost a ton, I would like the biggest and baddest replacements made so there is plenty of reserve power. If they are expensive, I will probably have to wait for a future time to get them done. These M1.5T's are conservatively rated at 350w per channel and is modeled after a Mark Levinson ML-2. The ML-2 are high current 25w Class A monoblocs but weigh a hundred pounds each!!! The Carver is over 10x more powerful and weighs less then most preamps
I have been doing a lot of reading on these, they are amazing powerhouses
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[TD]8-ohm FTC rated power/ch
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[TD]350W
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[TD]IM Distortion
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[TD]0.15% SMPTE
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[TD]Input Impedance (Line)
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[TD]100k ohms
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[TD]Rated full power bandwidth
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[TD]+0, -3dB 1Hz to 100kHz
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[TD]S/N-IHF A-Weighted,dB
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[TD]> 100dB IHF A-Weighted
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[TD]Slew Rate
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[TD]>200
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[TD]Dimensions (HxWxD inches)
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[TD]3�"H, 19"W, 10�"D
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[TD]Comments
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[TD]LED 1msec attack 1sec release, Protection:: Short Circuit, Voice Coil temperature trip, Clipping, Thermal Shutdown, DC offset
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[TD="colspan: 2"]Our M-1.5t description starts out with a story instead of the usual superlatives. Once, Bob Carver visited a famous sound researcher who was attempting to recreate the "snip" of an ordinary pair of scissors. He used no less that TWENTY-FOUR 200-watt amplifiers for playback. Yet when viewed on an oscilloscope it was apparent that the top of that instantaneous transition was being distorted. Believe it or not, he needed more power! It was evident that real-world sound occurs very quickly and requires far more power than ANY current amplifier could produce. The M-1.5t is a culmination of Bob's search for enough power, the ultimate amplifier for the reproduction of music today and for years to come. Why such massive amounts of amplifier power? Music is full of surprises such as explosive crescendos, combinant crests of demand created by multiple instrument sounds and the shock levels that some well-recorded instruments can instantly attain. This is what makes music live. These incredibly intense bursts of sound don't necessarily have to be loud. They are too short in duration. But, like the scissor snip, they are intense and demand power. Recorded music sounds dull without these constantly-occurring high instant peaks. If your amplifier cannot provide the instantaneous power to surmount these rigorous musical punches when they are presented at its inputs, it makes a sound of its own devising, literally an electronic gagging we call, clipping. The result is an audible degradation which has pervaded your listening for years. A form of distortion which has been difficult to avoid until the M-1.5t arrived. How much can the M-1.5t weigh less than some preamps and yet pack more muscle than power amps weighing five times as much? The M-1.5t vs convention. A traditional amplifier's power has only two chances during each AC line voltage cycle to recharge and store energy. To meet musical demands in between, it must maintain a reservoir of energy which means that as conventional amplifiers grow more powerful, their transformers and supply capacitors must grow proportionally larger too. The result is a vast increase in the size, mass, heat and expense. Light as a preamplifier, cool as a cucumber, the M-1.5t transforms almost all the energy it draws into usable power with a patented power regulator. Engineered to be directly responsive to the moment-to-moment power requirements of your music, it is a direct "value" from the power circuits to your house with no need for efficient intermediate storage. Your speakers are literally getting their energy from the power generator! This is done with a patented Triac switch and Magnetic Field Coil which actually spend most of their steeping UP the line voltage values and only deliver maximum line voltages at peaks of peak musical demand. Rating the M-1.5t. The conservative 350 watt per channel rating on the back of the M-1.5t only hints at its true capabilities. When a musical note sounds, each channel of the M-1.5t immediately puts up to 600 watts diminishing over several seconds to the rated 350 watts. Several seconds is a long time in the life of a music waveform. Any peaks requiring anything like 600 watts will come and go in a few hundredths of a second. Let the waveform subside for as little as 1/100 of a second and the amplifier resets itself, capable of providing the 600 watts per channel again. Because of the tremendous capacity of the M1.5t's power supply, there has been no need to isolate the channels. Thus, when pressed hard, either channel is free to BORROW an additional 150 watts from the other for a total of 750 watts. Brute power controlled. Implicit in this much power is a set of carefully designed speaker and amplifier protection circuits. Should you even overload your amplifier, a unique clipping eliminator circuit pulls the M-1.5t out of clipping. Next we designed a set of total shut-off mechanisms into the M-1.5t to protect against temperatures against 70�C, extensive out-of-phase infrasonic/low frequency signals, excessive DC currents. Your speakers are protected from underground line-level connections, oscillations, and real-world accidents like shorted speaker wires. The M-1.5t final protection mechanism is very special. While good speakers have voice coil heat dissipation safeguards, the M-1.5t also keeps track, actually averaging loud speaker input and "remembering" for about three minutes backward in time. If it judges the amount to exceed the safe limits for high quality loud speaker woofer voice coils, it will momentarily interrupt power to cool them. A window on power. Thirteen LED's on the M-1.5t's face simply monitor power. The fourteen signals headroom exhausted. (When it blinks at high levels, you know the special anti-clipping circuits are operating). The fifteenth LED is diagnostically fault indicator. Along with first two LED's and an internally generated tone, it informs you of overload problems, routine protection shut down and other occurrences. The music of power. Of the Carver M1.5t, Peter Aczel, Editor and Publisher of The Audio Critic has said, "� the equal of any power amplifier in transparency, focus and smoothness, and of course, far ahead of any other we tested in sheer gut-shaking power and spatial detail, instrumental definition and completely natural dynamics on familiar records to a degree we did not know was extractable from the grooves when we listened through lesser amplifiers. At this level of sonic performance, the astounding small size and cool operation of the M-1.5t become the icon of the cake, rather that the main attraction". Power of life. The Carver M-1.5t is the amplifier your hi-fi system will ever need. If you like the final edge of reality in your playback, no matter what sound level you choose, The M-1.5t is your answer. Are you ready
I love the story about trying to recreate a scissors snip
I am thinking this is one of the few amps that can compare with a 700B for clarity and dynamics (and I will bet it gives those big Bose amps a run for their money) but if it can be made even BETTER, I am game (as long as finances permit at least). Joe's mention that the output stage is weaker then the 700B is what got me thinking that maybe it can be upgraded to close to what a 700B can do. I realize they are two different animals but if anyone can make an amp better, it's Joe. I am interested in what he is thinking about bigger and badder LOL
EDIT: Farther up in the story they talk about dynamics. The WOPL has some of the best dynamics of any amp I have owned and is easily comparable to the Mark Levinson 333 I used to have before I had to sell it to pay my house taxes several years ago. I am hoping this M1.5T has the same impact but with up to 750w per channel available at any given time, I expect it to actually blow it off the map. My 333 was rated at 300w per channel. I like eye wincing dynamics! The shit that makes you jump out of your seat. I remember a few weeks ago I was playing a ZZ Top CD and Debbie walked by my system when a song was starting. She literally jumped in the air and said "how are you not hurting those speakers Ron... LMAO
Since I swapped the fuses to the ones you recommended Jer, I have not had one amp shutdown and the Cerwin Vegas have not tripped since. The WOPL loves the gas put to her
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