DCM Time Window 7 - AMP & PREAMP

Try the link again here.

I don't know what amp to recommend but, the Carver amps your running is being driven to hard, running them in bridged mode.

In stereo mode they can run 4 ohm speakers. In bridged mode, they can only go down to 8 ohms, and that is risky for the amp, and speakers. I looked on the web and found the speakers, and they state 4 ohms. You may be better off running just one amp in stereo mode for now. Those amps are probably running hot and hard now.

That 700 watt maximum for your speakers is most likely for a short term (fraction of a second) peaks. The 400 watts per channel one amp can put out is continuous, and may be more than those speakers can handle. Sometimes a bigger amp sounds better, but just a fraction of the power is normally used. A lower powered amp can sound better in some cases too. [http://www.dcmspeakers.com/manuals/TimeWindowSeven.pdf] [http://thecarversite.com/manuals/files-manuals/Carver%20A-500x%20owner%20manual.PDF]

Dfgkali, I'm not familiar with the amp you have now. But, I did have a Carver TFM series amp that came out right before that one. It was also bridgeable. When I tried it in bridged mode, it was not as clean and transparent, as it was in stereo mode. It took a couple of tries, but the results always favored non-bridged. This seemed to happen with any other amp I tried bridging that had the option. I don't even bother trying the bridge mode anymore, due to the similar results I've received, no matter what brand amps. The sound does have to go through a lot more parts in bridged mode. My amp looked a lot like yours, but it was made when Bob Carver himself was still there. I don't know if any sound changes were made between the two.

The THX logo doesn't mean too much. They just want an amp to be able to provide enough power for movies. Any good potent amp can pass this. Amps like Krell and others don't bother getting it tested by THX, but I'm sure they would pass. Some cheap amps and a lot of receivers may fail THX standards.

Doubling the power of an amp only gives you about a 3 decibel increase in sound. That's not much. I think if you wanted to actually double the volume, you need about ten times the power (in watts). So in other words, just one amp may sound better, and still give enough power. I guess you'll find out, since you already have everything to compare it. I wish I could recommend you a tube amp that would work, or another solid state amp. I hope you come out happy.

Here is a chart that may help.[http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-levelchange.htm]

Wiki link.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decibel]

What am I being told that a speaker with 92 DB is better than a speaker with 87db?

Not necessarily better, jut easier to drive to a volume level.

For example, a 87 db (at 1 watt, 1 meter) speaker can reach the volume you want with a 200 watt amp.

If you have a 90 db ( at 1 watt, 1 meter) speaker, it should reach that same volume level you want, needing only 100 (half) watts.

If you have a 93 db ( at 1 watt, 1 meter) speaker, it should
only need 50 watts to reach that same volume level again.

So, if these speakers were 100% identical in every way, including sound, looks, size, etc, I guess you could say the one with the higher rating can be better, since it needs less power, if everything else is equal. The all else being equal, usually doesn't happen. This just helps you find a speaker that can play louder for a given amount of power.

This Wikipedia link may help more. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudspeaker#Efficiency_vs._sensitivity]