I have had several Carver products and I agree that a cause of the lack of power has to do with the impedance curve. The manuals themselves say that they are not good for anything dipping below 4 ohms. The damping factor of the m-1.0t is a 9 and the damping factor for the m-4.ot is just a seven. These amps work best with 8 ohm speakers that do not dip below 4 ohms, something like Klipsch Cornwalls or La Scalas work well with them. Even with subs these amps did not sound strong enough with those Kappas that I had. The seven Kappas sounded alright with one m-4.0t, but even with two m4's bi-amped into the 8 kappas only sounded good at lower volumes, and forget about the 9 Kappas.
Carver Power Amps
Even though the Carver A-760x magnified current power amplifier was rated at 380 watts per channel into 8 ohms and 600 watts per channel into 4 ohms and lab tested at 500 w/ch at 8 ohms at clipping and 725 w/ch at clipping by Audio Magazine in 1997, it sounds gutless, especially in the bass, compared to a Parasound HCA-3500,etc!
Any opinions on why this is so?
Any opinions on why this is so?