My Father's Continuing Saga........

[jbeckva]

To clarify........there are TWO amps you call blackie? Blacky with a "y" refers to the faceplate you swapped to yours right? And that's the one you sent me. And Actual blackie with an "ie" refers to the amp you rebuilt and is being discussed with Cassette deck here in this thread right?

On the one you sent me with the black faceplate; nothing was done to it except hooking it up properly for five minutes to my dads speakers and unhooking it and shipping it back? Aside from the meters laying loose inside the amp which I siliconed into place based on our discussions, the internals never got touched? So as to "having some issues when you got it back from me"...........I'm not sure what you are insinuating there?

Agreed on the buzzing. The carver amps ALL have a faint buzz in my experience. The four M500t's I have do, and from what I read on the carver site its normal. Also read up on the design in the original 1980's brochure and manuals I also have. It has something to do with the magnetic field coil design. The faint buzzing is typical it seems. But I understand if you are hesitant to let it go.

All I want are some opinions on the amplifiers fidelity, sound, design and performance. Anyone?....................

Chill out Dave... Wasn't accusing ya of anything here. One of the issues was to reroute the pin 3 direct to the negative rail, which was discovered and published by Lee and Joe, but after the amp was built and fixed after I got it back from you.

As long as YOU know about the inherent buzz on the Carvers, then yep I have no problems shipping it out as a try before you buy deal. It'll have to wait at least a week tho, as I'm heading for Tennessee on Monday.

 

[Phase Linear Phanatic]

Yep. That makes sense. Personally I cannot hear that buzzing when playing music and therefore it does not bother me. My father has his M500t's high on an audio shelf and you cannot hear them. So it's a moot point all around. I understand the "why". It doesn't affect the sound performance on any level that I can distinguish. And shouldn't in my opinion. Frankly, if you are hearing the buzzing, then you aren't using your amps right?

Fidelity reviews are what he is interested on from the people on here. As I told him I have seen somewhere in some threads, discussions some time ago on it being bandied about. For the life of me I could not tell you where and when I saw these comments though.

 

[Northwinds]

The buzz of the M1.5T is not heard when you turn the volume up meaning it does not get louder. It's annoying when you hear it though when there is no source selected. I will say the Carver I sent Jer sounded pretty damn good cranked. Nowhere near the low end of a WOPL but they can put out some serious wattage

 

[Northwinds]

My father has his M500t's high on an audio shelf and you cannot hear them

All you have to do is walk over to his speakers and you will hear the subdued buzz when they are on. When the mag coil is really getting bad, you can hear the buzz in the amps themselves when they are plugged in. Supposedly you can torque down the mag coil mounts which helps somewhat in some cases

 

[jbeckva]

The buzz of the M1.5T is not heard when you turn the volume up meaning it does not get louder. It's annoying when you hear it though when there is no source selected. I will say the Carver I sent Jer sounded pretty damn good cranked. Nowhere near the low end of a WOPL but they can put out some serious wattage

Yep, dang that was a bad move tho - I had it all together, sounding great. Replaced the outputs but dagnabit.. one of the emitter leads was bent and that probably was ALL it was with it. I still have the hulk chassis tho.. someday it will live again, lol.

This was another one.. I think I got it off of ebay, but it already had all the upgrades including the caps! Nice but yeah .. WOPL's wup it..

 

[Phase Linear Phanatic]

Ron, did you trade it with Jerr for a WOPL from him? Anything neat you guys did to it upgrade wise or fixes that had to be done to the 1.5t? My father I think is simply a curious cat. I know for a fact he likes the VU meters and has chosen amps with this design on purpose. But lately he is straying from that. I remember the statement I think from Lee that the VU meters suck you right in, but the sound sends you packing! He has or had a big carver amp that he says the sound was a bit lack-luster. Which is fine. Honest opinions are exactly what I want.

It's just a different design from the phases and may or may not sound better as a result. I also remember Joe saying he doesn't really trust and amp that has no external heat sinks as heat has nowhere to go but up inside one of those amps. However the book explains it runs a lot cooler than the old large coffee can sized capacitor slash / huge heat sink amps of yesteryear and can equal the power. Sooooooo this interests him.

Again, let it be known this is NOT the route I would go. I'm all about the PL's and eventual WO upgrades. HE wants to go this route however. So I'm thankful for your help guys! Your help really does matter to me. I am proud to be a part of this forum.

 

[jbeckva]

Schweet!

Good to have ya Dave

 

[Phase Linear Phanatic]

Yep, dang that was a bad move tho - I had it all together, sounding great. Replaced the outputs but dagnabit.. one of the emitter leads was bent and that probably was ALL it was with it. I still have the hulk chassis tho.. someday it will live again, lol.

This was another one.. I think I got it off of ebay, but it already had all the upgrades including the caps! Nice but yeah .. WOPL's wup it..

If that second one is acting as a paperweight Jerr, I'd be glad to take it off your hands for a bit. Even pay the postage! Just charge me. I have no hurry so being out a week is A-ok, It's all just a trial run right now. Phantastic.

 

[laatsch55]

Ron, did you trade it with Jerr for a WOPL from him? Anything neat you guys did to it upgrade wise or fixes that had to be done to the 1.5t? My father I think is simply a curious cat. I know for a fact he likes the VU meters and has chosen amps with this design on purpose. But lately he is straying from that. I remember the statement I think from Lee that the VU meters suck you right in, but the sound sends you packing! He has or had a big carver amp that he says the sound was a bit lack-luster. Which is fine. Honest opinions are exactly what I want.

It's just a different design from the phases and may or may not sound better as a result. I also remember Joe saying he doesn't really trust and amp that has no external heat sinks as heat has nowhere to go but up inside one of those amps. However the book explains it runs a lot cooler than the old large coffee can sized capacitor slash / huge heat sink amps of yesteryear and can equal the power. Sooooooo this interests him.

Again, let it be known this is NOT the route I would go. I'm all about the PL's and eventual WO upgrades. HE wants to go this route however. So I'm thankful for your help guys! Your help really does matter to me. I am proud to be a part of this forum.

I'll sell him my Carver PT2400....

 

[Phase Linear Phanatic]

I'll sell him my Carver PT2400....

I'm sure you will? I already know how you feel about it Lee! He's a smaller amp guy it seems. He has all those PL400's but try convincing him to have ONE PL700 and forget it. Stubborn as a mule. I doubt he'll stray from the smaller carvers either. Heck he wouldn't even go for that speaker wire offer. He wants what he wants how he wants it WHEN he wants it? LOL! It's all good. He's my Dad so I'm ok with whatever route he wants to go I guess. Disappointed he wont WOPL, but STILL supportive...................

 

[Northwinds]

Ron, did you trade it with Jerr for a WOPL from him? Anything neat you guys did to it upgrade wise or fixes that had to be done to the 1.5t? My father I think is simply a curious cat. I know for a fact he likes the VU meters and has chosen amps with this design on purpose. But lately he is straying from that. I remember the statement I think from Lee that the VU meters suck you right in, but the sound sends you packing! He has or had a big carver amp that he says the sound was a bit lack-luster. Which is fine. Honest opinions are exactly what I want.

It's just a different design from the phases and may or may not sound better as a result. I also remember Joe saying he doesn't really trust and amp that has no external heat sinks as heat has nowhere to go but up inside one of those amps. However the book explains it runs a lot cooler than the old large coffee can sized capacitor slash / huge heat sink amps of yesteryear and can equal the power. Sooooooo this interests him.

Again, let it be known this is NOT the route I would go. I'm all about the PL's and eventual WO upgrades. HE wants to go this route however. So I'm thankful for your help guys! Your help really does matter to me. I am proud to be a part of this forum.

He was actually rebuilding it for me and took a liking to it and offered me his 400. I don't think Jer did anything to it really except replacing the outputs and the emitter thing happened. It had tons of headroom for sure but the really low stuff that we love about the WOPL was missing. Not that it was bad, it was just not as tight. The highs and mids were great though. There was something about the amp that was very pleasing and if the opportunity arose where I could snag another for cheap I would knowing now that the subdued buzz is inherent to the design. It would not be an issue going forward. I thought something was wrong with it which is why I asked Jer to see if he could figure it out. The thread of him redoing it is pretty interesting

 

[laatsch55]

I'm sure you will? I already know how you feel about it Lee! He's a smaller amp guy it seems. He has all those PL400's but try convincing him to have ONE PL700 and forget it. Stubborn as a mule. I doubt he'll stray from the smaller carvers either. Heck he wouldn't even go for that speaker wire offer. He wants what he wants how he wants it WHEN he wants it? LOL! It's all good. He's my Dad so I'm ok with whatever route he wants to go I guess. Disappointed he wont WOPL, but STILL supportive...................

I hear ya there...

 

[CASSETTE DECK]

That's great.. wow.. ole Blackey halfway 'cross the globe, in New Zealand. That's awesome.. hehe.

Well when ya get a chance to set 'er all up, let's hear it mate!

I have set up my WOPL 500 amplifier temporarily in the garage for the purpose of testing.
The speakers used in this test setup are 4 ohm 140 watt.
I'm currently running the WOPL amplifier off a 100 volt AC supply but will be changing it to 120 volts AC supply later when I have upgraded speakers to handle the full power continuously.
I'm still waiting for my new electronic workshop to be built, where I will be setting up the WOPL 500 amplifier permanently.

 

[BubbaH]

Is that Blackie?

 

[CASSETTE DECK]

Is that Blackie?

Yes that's Blackey.

 

[BubbaH]

Awesome...havent seen pics of that one in a while.

How did it come to be that you now have that amp? I must have missed it somewhere.

Edit: Clearly its in the above posts lol.

 

[CASSETTE DECK]

Awesome...havent seen pics of that one in a while.

How did it come to be that you now have that amp? I must have missed it somewhere.

Edit: Clearly its in the above posts lol.

http://forums.phxaudiotape.com/showthread.php/5428-UPGRADE!!-(NEW-INFO-READ-TO-YER-PERIL-MATEYS)

 

[BubbaH]

LOL, I remember now. Too many blacky/ie/ey's

 

[jbeckva]

LOL, I remember now. Too many blacky/ie/ey's

There was only one Blackey, and he was my spawn... (lol)... I think tho that the real "guts" that was Blackey is now Ron's Silvara.. did a faceplate transplant when 'e got kicked out of Ron's house, rumored to be a WAF issue.. heheh.

Chris ya definitely want to kick that supply up to 120. Rails aint going to be up to where they need to be.

 

[BubbaH]

Who did the faceplate for it? You or Ron?