WTB: Adcom or Carver amp at 300 wpc @6 ohms

[waxman]

I'd like to buy an amp that puts about 300wpc into 2 channels at 6ohms. Top of the list is an adcom gfa 555 or a carver m1.0t or 1.5t. I'm already watching ebay (especially the m1.0t someone discussed in this forum earlier this week). Does anyone have something in this grouping for sale? It's job will be to drive my SDA SRS 2.3 TL's.

I've got a pair of mint R10's and a pair of decent monitor 7c's without grills that I can offer in partial trade. I have disassembled one tweeter as there was a small indentation in the plastic dome to push it out. The other speakers are dusty (no grills) but look to be in tip-top shape. Cabinet has seen better days, but I'm also not looking for a mint in trade in value for these. My ebay ID is waxman to see my feedback (129). I've previously bought a pair of RT55i from thegreyghost on the forum as well to establish at least some buying history in the forum.

Let me know what you have- my email address is cwr43@yahoo.com or you can PM me. Thanks everyone.

[waxman]

bump...
Anyone out there with a gfa-555, gfa 555 II, carver m1.0t or m1.5t for sale?

thanks
Chris

[F1nut]

Just my opinion, but you don't want a 555 or 555II. Too harsh at the top end for the 2.3TL's.

[waxman]

Thank you F1nut. What is your opinion of carvers with the 2.3tl's?

Regards,
Chris

[F1nut]

I've no personal experience with Carver amps, but I've heard a lot of folks say they are happy with Carver/Polk combos, but not the m1.0t. What's your price range?

[waxman]

I'm flexible depending on power-- trying to see what's out there for $300-400. Why do you not like the m1.0t?

[F1nut]

I've never heard the m1.0t, but have it on good authority that it's not up to snuff with the other Carver gear.

For the money, the m1.5t or maybe a TFM35 would be your best bet.

[TroyD]

From what I gather, the issue with the m1.0t isn't so much the sound but that the ones you find have generally lived hard lives as DJ amps and so forth. The other thing about them is that there is a pretty nasty thump from the caps discharging when you shut them down. Sound-wise they are probably ok.

waxman,

If you are interested, I have a minty Carver m400a (201wpc into 8 ohms) that, for the right price, I might be able to liberate. Shoot me an email at troy.dion@charleston.af.mil

BDT

[Vr3MxStyler2k3]

Let me see here....

How about the Adcom Mono Blocks? 300 watts into 8 ohms... They go for about 600-700 on Ebay....just a thought

[TroyD]

little out of his price range of 3-400 there Sid....

BDT

[Ceruleance]

the M-1.0t's Cap discharge thump never bothered me. Doesn't sound as good as an M-500t though.

[brconflict]

I don't have experience with Carver amps, but I run my 2.3TLs with Bob Carver's Sunfire 300 (300wpc @ 8 ohms). Since the 2.3TL can be bi-amped, the Sunfire offers two things that most other amps don't venture. The 2.3TLs bass extension offers very low distortion, and tube amps offer more distortion at low frequencies than high-end solid-state (but sound more musical than solid-state at higher frequencies). The Sunfire offers a combination of a "voltage" output to the low frequencies, which is an accurate solid-state output with lower bass distortion, while offering a "current" output for higher frequencies, which comes very close to emulating a high-end tube amp. So it offers the best of both worlds.

The other great thing about the Sunfire amp is that it does not get hot!! Not even warm!! This was because of Bob's efforts since the late 70s to create a power supply that only gave the amp the voltage and current it needed only when it needed it. The power supply only offers the amp about 6v constant above what the amp needs at any particular millisecond, and the power supply can ramp up voltage much faster than the highest frequency that a human can hear, so there's never any brown-outs because of that design. Quite impressive, for sure. Anyway, I'm pretty happy with this setup.

Although it would be nice to have 600 watts delivered to each speaker (left and right), the 300 does a pretty good job of pushing the SDAs.

[PolkWannabie]

Besides the other benefits the Sunfire's whether 2 or multi channel are also a lot less weight than most high power/quality amps ...

[I-SIG]

I may be wrong, but isn't the M1.5 non-common ground? If so, you are begging to waste some great speaks.


Wes

[brconflict]

Probably, but even the Sunfire can be set to non-common ground. As long as the Polk-owner has the special non-common ground interface interconnect, this shouldn't be an issue. I was told that I may have to float the ground on the Sunfire if my pre-amp was on the same electrical circuit, but Polk knew this would be an issue and provided the upgraded interconnect cable, which they may still have some in stock?

[F1nut]

No AI-1's available from Polk.

[Tour2ma]

Ran my original SRS's on a M-1.5t for many years... no problems...

The only old Carver I have been told in non-common ground is the M-500(t)...

As for sound, the last x.0 series Carvers were the best sounding IMO. I've got 1.0's and 4.0's and at moderate volumes find very little diffrerence between them. At volume the 4.0 does start to separate itself a bit. I've heard the same said of the M-0.5t and 200t as well.

As for the 1.0's power thump, the simple solution is to leave it on, which is better for the amp annyway.

Must also note that the latter M1.5t's (SN 8000+) also had an improved sound, very similar to the x.0's. Carver service updated my my original 1.5t (SN #2787 or so) and it came back much sweeter sounding.

Sidenote:
It is good to see more Sunfire aficionados around here... PW you are as crazy as I am... Twin Sig Cin I's here... LOL.

[PolkWannabie]

Hey ...

I started "this" particular incarnation of HT with just an Onkyo 801 and RTi12's in the front and other Polk's for center & surrounds which I'm still changing around.

The Onkyo will drive the 12's at low to I guess moderate listening levels okay for either HT or 2Ch, but the 12's really come alive with the extra punch and headroom of the Sunfire, especially in the HT environment. At this point, one of the GC II Sigs is mine that I picked up from Audiogon in perfect condition and one is a friends that I initially borrowed to "play" with. I may yet still pull back to one Sunfire and drive all the surrounds from the Onky, but more testing is necessary. I still haven't added a sub. I'm sure all here would say I don't know what I'm missing but the 12's hit the lows pretty well.

[PolkWannabie]

PS ...

Are you feeding the Sunfire's with a B&K Reference 50 ? What's your evaluation of it as a pre-amp/processor etc ...

I'm thinking about moving the Onky elsewhere in the house and replacing it with a pre-amp/processor ...

Rick

[Tour2ma]

Ed Zachery...

I like the results of Ref 50 with the Sunfire, however, I'd bet the 50 is not the most user friendly Pre/Pro. I know I still have more to learn about programming it.