Chops' Current System Pics ....

Charles,
i'm new to the forum and just read this thread from the beginning.
It was really fun to watch your system unfold before my very eyes!
Thanks for posting all this.
 
chops said:
Okay, so some exciting times tonight.


I installed the Venu360, ran the cabling to the amps, adjusted the x-over, turned the amps on, slowly turned up the preamp's volume, and sound emitted from the SL3's!


I set the crossover points to 250 Hz, LR 4th order for the woofers and panels (defaults were a combination of BW 2nd order and LR 4th order). The SL3's sound better all set to LR 4th order. I have the high-pass of the woofers set to 16 Hz. If I run them flat out, they end up cancelling out with the sub, requiring them to be inverted, in which case makes the bass a bit too bloated.


I have the JL sub set to 45 Hz LR 2nd order.


Of course, these are just quick preliminary settings. I won't get truly serious with it until I open up the SL3's and bypass the passive networks. Until then (probably till this weekend), these settings will do.


On a side note, my inner youth has been getting the best of me, listening to albums like "The Cure: Mixed Up" and "Depeche Mode: Violator" and turning on the Subharmonic Synth. Takes me back to my car audio days and using the Audio Control Epicenter! :rocker:


Anyway, a few pics...
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Looks awesome Charles. Thanks for the share. I have some very fond memories of my Carver gear. I to had the TX-11A along with the M-1.0T Amp and C-2 preamp feeding my Cerwin Vega speakers. Ahh those were the days.
 
W9TR said:
Charles,
i'm new to the forum and just read this thread from the beginning.
It was really fun to watch your system unfold before my very eyes!
Thanks for posting all this.
Click to expand...

Welcome Tom, and thank you for the kind words! It's definitely been a long process. And you're welcome.



Audiophilehi said:
Looks awesome Charles. Thanks for the share. I have some very fond memories of my Carver gear. I to had the TX-11A along with the M-1.0T Amp and C-2 preamp feeding my Cerwin Vega speakers. Ahh those were the days.
Click to expand...

Hello Paul, thank you and you're welcome.

I too have fond memories of Carver gear back in the day, thanks to my oldest brother and the Carver gear he brought back from Germany. He had a C-1 preamp, a TX-11 tuner, DTL-100 cd player and an M-400t cube amp powering a pair of JBL L-112's. That system and the sound I heard left an everlasting impression on me. He later upgraded to a C-4000 and an additional M-400t as well as an TFM-35x for subwoofer duty.

Anyway, I made up my mind way back then (11 years old at the time) that I would eventually gather up and recreate my brothers system. Well now 30+ years later, not only did I finally decide to get into Carver gear, I also discover that there's a group of people who maintain and modify Carver gear, modifications that are approved by no other than Bob Carver himself.

Due to the technology available back then and needing to keep within a certain price point, Bob had to restrain himself and how far he could go with the gear he designed. The upgrades and modifications that are performed on these pieces now are ones that Bob wanted to do years ago, and now can. Plus, current technologies also help with much further improvements in performance and sound.

I know a lot of people scoff at Carver equipment and trashing the brand. But unless you have a heard a well sorted set of Carver gear with the latest and greatest updates and modifications, your assumptions about the brand will be totally off.

This thread started off a couple of years ago with my system headed by a Parasound Halo P5 preamp, which is an excellent, very capable preamp. What this thread doesn't tell you are all of the other preamps and amps that have come and gone through this system over the years, including preamps from McIntosh, Accuphase, Musical Fidelity, Audio Research, Krell and a few others I can't think of right now. Same is true for amps such as McIntosh, Audio Research, Krell, Cary Audio, Monarchy Audio, Odyssey Audio (custom built by Klaus to my specs), Conrad Johnson, Wyred 4 Sound, Nakamichi just to name a few.

I would confidently put this new and improved Carver gear up against all of them and many others. The modded M-500t MkII amps have power, control, detail, refinement and a hint of warmth to them. The modded 4000t preamp is dead silent on any input. The phono stage alone is the best I have ever had in my system, and I have had some preamps with highly regarded phono stages, as well as a few well regarded stand-alone phono stages.

I have no regrets at all going back to this 30+ year old Carver equipment.
 
New room, some new equipment, some vintage equipment, some original equipment...

A lot has changed since last posting here. New temporary living arrangements, all of the vintage Carver gear is gone, the Martin Logan, GR-Research speakers and JL Audio e110 subwoofers are in storage, and the Genesis speakers are in another system.

The remaining gear is the Oppo 105D, dbx Driverack Venu 360, APC H15 and Technics SH-4060 timer. The returning gear is the Kenwood GE-770B (for show only), Yamaha T-1000U tuner, and ole' faithful, the Parasound Halo P5 preamp.

New-comers are a mint vintage JVC KD-A8 cassette deck, mint Yamaha K-1020 cassette deck, and a matching pair of brand new NuPrime STA 9 amps. Oh, also a new Hisense 65" LED 4K UHD TV and tiny Chromecast Audio.

Loudspeakers are a work in progress open baffle design, which are currently using ugly temporary, slapped together baffles. They consist of a single Audio Nirvana Super 12 Ferrite fullrange driver and a single Eminence Acoustinator N2012 woofer per side. I have six more of those woofers waiting for the final baffles to be built, which then will use four of those woofers per side along with those fullrange drivers. They will somewhat mimic the Pure Audio Quintet15 loudspeakers, only using all 12" drivers on slightly smaller baffles.

Lastly, I am now using a trio of Pangea Audio Vulcan audio racks and three pairs of Pangea balanced XLR cables as well as a pair of WireWorld XLR cables. So now, everything from the Oppo to the preamp to the dbx to the amps is all balanced.

As a side note, even though these are some ultra ugly speakers, they are also probably the best sounding ones I have, and definitely the best sounding I have ever built. Very precise, dynamic, natural, clean sounding speakers. And even with the undersized baffles and single woofer arrangement with very minimal EQ on the bass drivers, they put out tremendous amounts of clean, deep and accurate bass. I honestly have not used the JL subs in months, nor do I miss them. And it will only get better once I add the other six woofers to the mix!

Anyway, a few quick pics...

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p2987954927-5.jpg
 
Paul said:
Congrats! How is the speakers sound ?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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chops said:
As a side note, even though these are some ultra ugly speakers, they are also probably the best sounding ones I have, and definitely the best sounding I have ever built. Very precise, dynamic, natural, clean sounding speakers. And even with the undersized baffles and single woofer arrangement with very minimal EQ on the bass drivers, they put out tremendous amounts of clean, deep and accurate bass. I honestly have not used the JL subs in months, nor do I miss them. And it will only get better once I add the other six woofers to the mix!
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Already answered in the post above...
 
It's been a little bit since posting on here again.

As far as speakers are concerned, my system has come around full circle. Back again, and this time for good, the sweet little Sonus Faber Venere 1.5 with matching stands. I just picked them up yesterday from a small yet very VERY high end audio shop over on the east coast. Made for a nice Saturday road trip for my girlfriend and two of my brothers. Plus it gave us all a chance to hang around and check out the show rooms for a couple hours. It was just us, the owner and one of his friends.

I have also drastically downsized and streamlined my system. Been tweaking the speaker placement and subwoofer settings all day with various music tracks. It's getting close... Real close! A large, wide, tall and deep sound stage, near perfect blend from subs to speakers.

Anyway, on with the pics!

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My Current System Pics...

Sorry, haha. Just realized this is your thread. I thought this was the thread to post systems.

Anyhoo, nice system.
 
Hey Charles, long time no see. Looks like lots of changes. I understand for sure :). How is all going. Hope you're doing well over there.
 
Randy Myers said:
Hey Charles, long time no see. Looks like lots of changes. I understand for sure :). How is all going. Hope you're doing well oovler there.
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Hello Randy! Yes, long time no see.

A lot certainly has changed... All for the better too I might add. This time around with these speakers, they sound a whole heck of a lot better than what I remember last time. Probably because of the new gear and cables. With the NuPrime amps bridged, these little Venere 1.5's are getting a very clean and healthy 290 watts each. It's not that they need that power or that I was looking to do this, but since I don't want to drop to just one amp and/or don't want one channel of each amp sitting there idle, this was the best option.

The little Venere 1.5's certainly love it though. There's truck-loads of current on tap and these amps control those drivers like no other. Bass is so clean, tight, detailed and extended, most of the time I can't even tell the JL subs are on and working! I have to physically go up to them and touch the woofers to see if they're moving. Then again, I have the Venere's running fullrange and have the subs crossed around 60 Hz via the Halo P5's built-in crossover.

Other than the system, been doing some more work on my 370Z as well. In the past two months I've installed a fully adjustable coil over suspension, match ported and polished both upper and lower intake manifolds, match ported and polished as well as bored out both throttle bodies (from stock 60mm to 65mm), and flashed an updated tune to make use of all of that extra air getting into the motor. Lastly, just last week, I installed an all new big brake setup running brand new OEM Sport/Nismo front and rear brake calipers, braided brake lines, StopTech slotted rotors front and rear as well as StopTech Pro brake pads front and rear, and Motul DOT 5.1 fluid.

Pay no mind to the filthy wheel. LOL
p3129383895-5.jpg



Hope all is doing well on your end as well. Still waiting for you to move to Florida! :snicker:
 
I hit the edit button and couldn't find delete! I really wouldn't deliberately post a pic of my system with ceiling tiles falling down. hopefully I can get off my sig
 
steve59 said:
I hit the edit button and couldn't find delete! I really wouldn't deliberately post a pic of my system with ceiling tiles falling down. hopefully I can get off my sig
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No biggy. I just find it kind of funny that people keep posting their systems in this thread. I guess I should have put my name in the title. Maybe a mod can fix the title so it says something like "Charles' current system pics"... Mods... Hint, hint. :signhere:
 
chops said:
It's been a little bit since posting on here again.

As far as speakers are concerned, my system has come around full circle. Back again, and this time for good, the sweet little Sonus Faber Venere 1.5 with matching stands. I just picked them up yesterday from a small yet very VERY high end audio shop over on the east coast. Made for a nice Saturday road trip for my girlfriend and two of my brothers. Plus it gave us all a chance to hang around and check out the show rooms for a couple hours. It was just us, the owner and one of his friends.

I have also drastically downsized and streamlined my system. Been tweaking the speaker placement and subwoofer settings all day with various music tracks. It's getting close... Real close! A large, wide, tall and deep sound stage, near perfect blend from subs to speakers.

Anyway, on with the pics!

p3132288304-5.jpg
Click to expand...

Charles, nice to see you have returned to a monitor/subwoofer combo! I have always loved this kind of speaker system, and have stuck to the type over the years, and through my latest upgrade (see signature). I hear great systems with larger speakers in my friends' houses, but there are special things about a monitor/subwoofer combo.
 
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