Just wonderin' what bias setting is preferred with the Carvers 350's.
ozzy
Carver Raven 350 Amps
Has anyone heard these amps?
They supposedly can produce 350 watts per channel which in my opinion is remarkable for a tube amp. I have the Atma-Sphere M-60’s 3.3 and I love their tube sound.
But I am curious, Bob has made some very interesting products through the years.
ozzy
They supposedly can produce 350 watts per channel which in my opinion is remarkable for a tube amp. I have the Atma-Sphere M-60’s 3.3 and I love their tube sound.
But I am curious, Bob has made some very interesting products through the years.
ozzy
Showing 50 responses by ozzy
Thanks, Hopefully I will have the Treasure Super tubes soon to try. http://psvanetube.com/wordpress/ ozzy |
Well I did a disservice to the Carver Raven 350 Amps based on one of my previous posts about hiss coming from the Carver amps when using the balanced outputs from my DEQX. I discovered that my DEQX preamp had some internal output jumpers in the wrong place. Either the previous owner or somewhere earlier I did it. Once corrected these amps are now the purist best dynamic amps I have ever heard, beit solid state or tube. ozzy |
erichgs, There are a lot of settings in the DEQX and it can be difficult to master. The instructions make you jump back and forth. I was just wonderin’ if you have it figured out yet. I have found that my main DIY speakers sound best without any DEQX adjustments but the sub crossover, delay and mixing with the main is valuable. On the tubes, is it the sum of both of the Telefunken tubes or is one slot better than the other? ozzy |
erichgs, Upgrading the power cords has provided a fairly impressive sonic improvement. Don’t sell this upgrade short. Another improvement can be made by changing the supplied 12ax7 input tube to a vintage Telefunken tube. And believe it or not I found upgrading the 1A fuse to a SR Red was also significant. Later on I’m going to replace the red for a blue fuse. But only after I’m confident the tubes have settled down and will no longer pop the fuse. The DEQX has quite the learning curve, but once mastered it can provide great integration between subs, mains and the room. ozzy |
So I am going to keep the Carvers since they allow me to try other "hard to drive" speakers. Quads, Electrostatics, and Planers are on my list to try. I must say though my Atma-Sphere M-60 3.3’s are very nice sounding amps that I hope I do not regret selling. I have an ad on the "Gon’" for their sale right now with over 800 views in 4 days! ozzy |
erichgs, I have moved my jumper and output settings on my DEQX premate to its highest output settings and still no hum. I can't tell you how satisfying it is to have discovered the source of the hiss. It was amazing that I missed something so obvious for a week. smokenjo, They can be purchased from many places. I bought mine off of EBay from a guy located in Michigan, they are of very high quality and with fast delivery. Now remember these are caps not shorting plugs. I have used them on all of my unused rca and xlr input/output throughout my system. ozzy |
erichgs, and others. Well I finally found the reason for the hiss. I was using the XLR output of the DEQX preamp with a XLR cable into the Carver XLR input. Since the Carver does not have a true balanced input (but my DEQX preamp does have a true balanced output) you have to use the rca (single ended) output from the preamp into the Carver inputs. Confusing but it makes sense. Single ended output to single ended input. Simple as that. That being said the Carver amp really should not have a xlr input connection without it being a true balanced connection. What would be the use? Anyway, I now have a DEAD silent connection, no hiss or hum etc. ozzy |
erichgs, If I connect the output from my Direct Stream Dac directly to the Carver amps there is very little hiss. But if I connect the Direct Stream output to the input of the BSG QOL or to my DEQX Premate preamp and then to the Carver amps I get the hiss. Either piece of equipment will cause the hiss. Bob Carver suggests reducing significantly (50% from full level) the Carver volume control and just turn up the level on the DEQX Preamp. To do this I would be playing the DEQX Preamp at its 85-95% top settings. I'm not sure I like that. When my Atma-Sphere Amps are used instead of the Carvers there is complete silence. I don't know what more to do. All of my equipment has true balanced connections and quality balanced interconnects are used. The Carver even though it has a XLR input it is still just a single ended connection. I think if the Carver amps had a true balanced input there would be no problem. ozzy |
erichgs, Thanks for your reply. I would not describe the hiss as hum, but it is quite noticeable sitting even 15 feet away from the speakers with no music playing. The Atma-Sphere are pretty much quiet compared to the Carvers. I just tried reducing the Carver volume knob and it does reduce the hiss but it probably also reduces the overall volume too, hopefully not too much. ozzy |
Question: I have noticed considerable hiss coming from my speakers with the Carver amps. When I turn off my preamp the hiss goes away. So, I’m thinking that the hiss is not coming from the amps but from the preamp or other upstream components. My DEQX preamp has adjustable input/output settings that have not reduced the hiss. There are also internal jumpers to increase/decrease the preamp output but at this time I have not changed them. I do not hear this hiss when I use my Atma-Sphere amps. erichgs, dracue 1, or others, any suggestions? ozzy |
Thanks, I’ll check them out. My present DIY speakers consist of one Aurum Cantus G-1 Ribbon tweeter and one 7" ScanSpeak woofer. I used Mundorf SGO caps, Janzen Inductors and Path Audio resistors. They are crossing over to 2 JL Audio Subs at 80hz. So, I would like speakers to have enough surface area to reflect a large soundstage but not necessarily deep bass. That’s why I thought of the Magnapan. And... I also want them to look cool or unique. ozzy |
Ok, thanks. I am looking forward to trying them. BTW, I did talk to Bob Carver. Can you recommend speakers for the Bob Carver Raven 350? I like 60-80’s rock and perhaps some jazz and more recent music. I must admit at times I do like to crank it up... I have (2) JL Audio Fathoms F-113 subs with an electronic crossover in my Preamp (DEQX). So the speakers would not have to handle much below 80hz. I have owned Legacy Focus, Eggleston Works Andra 2, Von Schweikert and a few others. Nowadays I would prefer less bulky, less boxy speakers. I just listened to the new Focal Kanta 2. It had a good mid range and soundstage but the little 6.5 woofers were having trouble in the bass. However, with my subs that probably wouldn’t be a problem. I did like the way they looked. I also just listened to the Magnapan 3.7i’s and was sorely disappointed. As most agree they are not rock music speakers. I knew they wouldn’t do the lower end but I was surprised how much they lacked in dynamics. ozzy |
dracule1, Well thank you for that comparison. It is very appreciated. The newer version of the M-60's (the Mk3.3) is supposed to have taken care of most of the previous problems and the sound quality is said to have been greatly improved. Although, I can't tell since this the only unit(s) I have owned. I have only had one output tube fail in more than a year of operation. Dam Russians... I'm also crossing over at 80hz and using some very (DIY) high efficiency flat line 8 ohm speakers. The M-60 meter barely moves. But, I would like to try in the future some Martin Logan or Magnapan speakers and I know that I will need different amps to use with them. So the Carver is on my short list. ozzy |