Sunfire The Ultimate Receiver [Archive]

jmasterj

11-13-2002, 03:19 PM

Hey look what Bob Carver's been up to he went and made a new receiver. I need to know how much it cost. Anybody know anything about it yet? Check out www.sunfire.com This is what I
want to upgrade to. :D

audionutt

11-13-2002, 05:10 PM

I want one!!

joe

HBombToo

11-13-2002, 05:29 PM

The Grand Theater III is 1 of the receivers I have looked over. Have you seen the option for off axis speakers outs? That is exactly what I attemped when I ran 2 floor speakers in parallel for my front left/right. I wish I could demo that box!

I saw it on a web site for about 3.0K... pretty pricey but probably well worth the coin.

HBomb

Frank Z

11-13-2002, 06:21 PM

Hbombtoo,
Look a little harder, the Theater Grand III is not a receiver, it is a pre-amp.

Ron-P

11-13-2002, 06:46 PM

200 WATTS rms PER CHANNEL into eight ohms from 20Hz to 20kHz with no more than 0.5% THD
Holy shintz, that's not good, .5%, YIKES! Plus you have all those amps with only 1 power supply, also, not good. Especially if your going to drop 3k.

Peace Out~:D

TroyD

11-13-2002, 07:09 PM

Ron,

All of Bob's amp's, that I've seen, are rated at .5% THD which is still inaudible to the human ear.

BDT

scottvamp

11-13-2002, 08:22 PM

I am sure it kicks ass. But the 200watts isn't a consistant output.
He created a "new" technology that uses one power source and distributes the power in a split second to what speaker needs it.
Very pricey but I would love to get my hands on it.;)

mantis

11-13-2002, 10:27 PM

I already played around with it,
I will say this,it's one of the best sounding receivers on the market.I'd say 3rd...in the running.Sounds almost exactly like there seperates.It sounds better then the Integra,Denon,Kenwood.

weavercr

11-14-2002, 08:12 AM

I demo one while looking for speakers, I got a side by side compare to the B&K 307 on B&W 805s. IMHO it is very very close to the B&K.

jrausch

11-14-2002, 09:34 AM

I recently heard this piece a couple of days ago. Very clean sound with the Boston Acoustics sub/sat system. I don't think separates take up that much more room, but if you need an all-in-one solution this is definitely worth consideration. Bob's right on track with this one. Good clean channel separation with plenty of juice for most HT applications. I listened to allot of systems that day and the only speaker system I thought was better than my LSi's was the Martin Logan's @ 4X the cost. All I can say is Sonic Butter.
The Lsi's do beat the logan's out in the "out of sweet spot" area. You walk away from those electrostats and everything collapses, the Logan's are a definitely a sit down system. The Klipsch movie room was nice, but the horns are still not my taste. The coolest new toy they had was the $20,000 force feedback couch that will tilt any direction and rumble during explosions. The scene in "Pearl Harbor" where the Japanese were attacking was like a virtual ride at Disney Land.

HBombToo

11-14-2002, 10:31 AM

Frank, Sorry for the confusion, I thought we were talking about the pre/pro. Thats the box I want...

Does any1 have experience with off axis speaker settup?

HBomb

Ron-P

11-14-2002, 11:18 AM

All of Bob's amp's, that I've seen, are rated at .5% THD which is still inaudible to the human ear
Ok then, set me straight. I've been raised on the assumption that the higher the THD the poorer the amp quality. I was told (by many) never by an amp rated over .1%thd the distortion level can become damaging at higher volumes. True or not? Even the crapy Sony's are rated at .09%. What's the deal here?

Peace Out~:D

HBombToo

11-14-2002, 11:36 AM

Here is an interesting read....

http://www.dogstar.dantimax.dk/tubestuf/thdconv.htm

just trying to help. ;)

TroyD

11-14-2002, 11:49 AM

Originally posted by Ron-P

Ok then, set me straight. I've been raised on the assumption that the higher the THD the poorer the amp quality. I was told (by many) never by an amp rated over .1%thd the distortion level can become damaging at higher volumes. True or not? Even the crapy Sony's are rated at .09%. What's the deal here?

Peace Out~:D

Ron,

I'm certainly not hacking on you at all. Of course I don't have the scientific gear to test all of this but most of the things that I have read indicate that ultra-low THD ratings, while impressive looking really don't mean a whole lot. Like I said, I'm pretty sure that all Carver amps power ratings were at .5% THD. Some of the things I've read are that the distortion is inaudible below 5 percent or something like that. Most sub amps produce in the vacinity of 10-20 percent THD.

Anyway, IMO, I think that the THD ratings are overrated.

BDT

madmax

11-14-2002, 12:35 PM

THD is not that bad of a thing. It is even harmonics which is not distasteful in the least. IMD is the killer. Even .1% sounds nasty and can destroy speakers very easily.
madmax

Ron-P

11-14-2002, 01:37 PM

Thanks for the enlightenment. Great read H!

Peace Out~:D

jmasterj

11-14-2002, 03:23 PM

I think all the Carver amps I've ever seen have been rated at .5% THD. I've only owned (2) so far, and each has been connected to a pair of POLK speakers. I personally like this combination. Just a side note. My receiver is rated at .09% THD, but it can't compare to the sound from my Carver TFM-35x Power Amp. I'd love to have the Sunfire Ultimate Receiver with LSi15's, the LSi center, and LSi9's in the rear. Doesn't take much to please me. I need a price...

fireshoes

11-14-2002, 11:35 PM

The more you turn it up, the more wattage and distortion are produced, and vice versa. Don't like the .5% rating? Then turn it down. Now you have lower distortion, but less watts too.

At least it's a 20hz-20khz rating. Look at the sign with Sony receivers. It's rated at 1khz, which is why they are able to display "100 watts" when it's really 30 or less. BTW, don't think I'm trying to put Sunfire and Sony in the same class. I'm just showing that everyone has their own ratings system, since there's no industry standard really.

mantis

11-15-2002, 07:32 AM

It's the numbers game.........and an old trick.

The Sunfire receiver is nice, and for my picky ass,I will go on record to say it one of the finest sounding receivers I heard.I think I said it before,it's 3rd on my list........fighting with the Marantz for the 3rd spot.

weavercr

11-15-2002, 11:38 AM

I am trying to get a dealer in Beaufort to do a shootout with Denon, Marantx and Onkyo intregra line for HT, comparable to the 3803 and 2802. I am mainly interested in the Denon/Marantz compare. He wants Onkyo and Yammie added to the compare. This is where I have the line on the KLF30 for the classic rock.

Whats you opinon on the Denon/Marantz?

HBombToo

11-15-2002, 11:54 AM

Originally posted by fireshoes

At least it's a 20hz-20khz rating.

Yep! big difference when the rating is over the band vrs 1kHz.

Good catch!

HBomb

Tour2ma

01-10-2003, 05:44 PM

Once again I add to an old thread.. tho this one's still warm...

As well as rating his amps across the entire audible spectrum, Bob also rate his amps at full rated continuous output into 8 ohms, which, at least the time of his arrival on the scene, was not the norm.

For my M-1.5t that 350 w/ch. Your ears would be distorting at that point...

God Bless Mathew and Bob...

Apex

01-11-2003, 01:55 AM

Originally posted by mantis
It's the numbers game.........and an old trick.

The Sunfire receiver is nice, and for my picky ass,I will go on record to say it one of the finest sounding receivers I heard.I think I said it before,it's 3rd on my list........fighting with the Marantz for the 3rd spot.

I'm just curious,what is your first and second choice?.

phuz

01-11-2003, 02:09 AM

Originally posted by Apex

I'm just curious,what is your first and second choice?.

I'll bet $5 that he says B&K and Rotel. :)

weiser

01-11-2003, 05:33 AM

All purchasing receivers or amplifiers should read this link!
Very interesting and unbiased information!

http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/specsformats/misconceptions1.php

ntculenuff

01-11-2003, 07:09 AM

the sunfire ultimate reciever is a beauty get to look and play with it every day it retails for just under 4k, 200x7 what a tank. still want to do the sunfire pre amp/amp setup though

Dr. Spec

01-11-2003, 08:01 AM

Originally posted by weiser
All purchasing receivers or amplifiers should read this link!
Very interesting and unbiased information!

http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/specsformats/misconceptions1.php

Good deal weiser - we had a lengthy discussion about power ratings a few months ago and arrived at the same conclusions. There is actually a website that lists the true power output of dozens of A/V receivers with all channels driven simultaneously. It was an eye opener.

Some manufacturers are starting to list their high end units with "all channels driven" power ratings, and I definitely support this change.

George Grand

01-12-2003, 09:10 PM

The two Carver power amps that have THD levels DIFFERENT from ALL the other Carver power amps, are the M-500t, and the TFM-35. They have significantly lower PRINTED specs than the other power amps.

The statement everybody is dicking around with is flawed anyway. The THD level for all the other Carver amps, is described as >.5%. NO GREATER THAN .5%.

NONE of the amps are rated at .5%.

The distortion levels are well below the threshold of HUMAN audibility. Whoever says they can tell the diff, is full of ****.

George Grand (of the Jersey Grand's)

freid

01-13-2003, 03:42 PM

There is actually a website that lists the true power output of dozens of A/V receivers with all channels driven simultaneously. It was an eye opener.

To Dr Spec.
Do you have a link to that site?

HBombToo

01-13-2003, 03:43 PM

Originally posted by freid
There is actually a website that lists the true power output of dozens of A/V receivers with all channels driven simultaneously. It was an eye opener.

To Dr Spec.
Do you have a link to that site?

Link Please.

HBomb