Carver Power Amps

The Carver Lightstar Reference series amps that retailed for $4k each were the real deal. They were A/B'd in Stereophile against a Threshold T200, which was a Stereophile A rated amp at the time. Carver corp made 77 hand built true dual mono amps with separate power supplies per chassis that were so good, and expensive, they pulled the plug on the project because it was too costly to continue. I owned both a Lightstar Reference (1 of 77) amp and the Stereophile A rated Carver Lightstar passive preamp some 12 years back. You don't see either one of those components surface on the used market EVER. Is that indicative of the fact that they've found very happy owners perhaps?

This thread is ancient, but DanVetC had it right. I’ve owned one new (since 1998) and it runs some VERY difficult to drive Stereo Integrity 15" D2’s (a pair of them) and the in room (on just those two subs) is 14Hz, minus 3dB. People who don’t like Carver’s amps have never heard Carver’s amps. The voltage rail difference between the Lightstar and the A-series is correct and completely irrelevant, because of the way it’s designed. Two rails work just fine. The A-xxxX series were mostly "Lightstar" DNA and they sound like it. Mine’s still going STRONG for nineteen years. I understand that it ticks off the "price glory" contingent, and I sympathize. I’ve owned Macs (current limiting, but good return on investment because of the small numbers made and sold), Adcoms and Parasounds and they either went back to the retailer or (in the case of the Adcoms) are in my garage system now. All of the Carver and Phase amps are part of a genetic lineage. That lineage shows evolution. This amp was actually a bit MORE overbuilt than the standard Sunfire. (Even though its power supply rails stayed at 6 volts above demand, if I remember correctly.) It is about whatever floats your boat. That’s why there are different brands out there. I’m a retired professional Musician (Classical and Jazz, with enough R&B/Rock to satisfy my curiosity about it) and Teacher, and the current and voltage they put out (at ANY frequency) just doesn’t support the claims made in the early "flame war" parts of this thread. One of the few I’ve seen here. That’s unfortunate. Some of the mag amps were under heat sinked (I’ve owned all of them) and there could be a bit of hum if you held your ear to the chassis. (That went away over time as well. It was pretty much gone by the time the A-series hit the streets, as short lived as its reign was.) But if you get an amp (any brand) that has an issue like that the FIRST thing to try is to tighten the transformer bolts. They’ve probably vibrated loose. I’ve had to do it with any number of amps (including the ones discussed) and it’s a fixable (and small) problem. I’ll keep ’em (probably) for the rest of my life. They’re among the best overall amps I’ve ever heard. (And that includes the three Sunfire Sigs in my main Multichannel system.)

So is it a good amp or not? I have an A-760x powering a pair of Martin Logan Vantages and it sounds pretty good. I have bad ears, an asymmetrical room,  and I listen to rock music mostly, so I don't know if it should sound better or not. I was going to bridge two TFM-35x amps to the Martin Logans, but it says not to bridge if you're using 4 ohm speakers. 

There are always Carver naysayers who judge the man based on a few solid state amps that may or may not have been designed by Bob himself.  Every designer I can think of have designed a dud at least once in his career. As far a current Carver tube amps and speakers are concerned, they are world class. I lived with his Cherry 180 amp for the past 7 years and ALS speaker for past 4 months. I’ve compared them to so called"high end" amps and speakers costing 2-3x more, and his new gear just puts the other gears to shame. His Silver 7 four chassis tube amp from the 80’s is legendary and one of the most beautiful tube amps I’ve ever see.

I've owned an A-760x since it was new in 1998.  And it eats (yes at the frequency extremes as well, I have the test gear and have been there and DONE THAT) the lunch of any Parasound, Adcoms (I still own two 555's, they're in my garage system) or Brystons I've also owned.  (We won't even talk about Mac.  I own Mac gear as well.)  The 760x runs my 15" Stereo Integrity subs/custom sealed enclosure (2 ohms) with ruthless and foundation shaking authority.  (That's in room -3dB at 14Hz at listening position)  Whomever started this thread has a grudge or sells (sold, the thread's old now) a competitor's product.  It's bottomed every automotive SPL sub I've ever thrown at it, let alone a 20 years behind the times JBL HT ripoff.  The T-mod amps sounded great but had heat sink issues.  They worked fine if you ran them in Stereo or Vertically biamped.  (That's how I ran mine.  I owned a pair of those as well.)  But if you bridged them they ran hot.  The TFM series were an improvement but still had residual (but minor) transformer issues.  The A-series amps were all derived from the justly lauded (and early prototype Sunfire design) Lightstar amps.  I've never had a minute's trouble (or NOISE) out of ANY A-series amps and I owned all of them except for one.  I still own the A-760x, 753x and A-200.  It sounds like to me the thread originator had to have had 'em hooked up out of phase, backwards and maybe not even plugged in.  Or even out of the box.  Or even ordered and on their back porch.  Just sayin'....