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Carver PM 1.5 as monitor amp
I have an old Carver PM 1.5 and was wondering if anyone had thoughts about its suitability as a studio monitor amp to power some nearfields. Yay or nay?
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last try....
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Yes. I have 2 Carver amps running monitor speakers. kfhkh
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I say "yay". I use a Carver TFM-6C to power my rear speakers in the 5.1 system. I did a real time analizing test on the Carver, and it put out a very flat response, with no eq adjustments needed. Sound quality ?? Very good, your mileage may vary, but I'd say at least try it, you may be pleasantly surprised.
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I'll vote "nay", without the slightest hesitation. I've used PM-1.5's fairly extensively for live PA (both FOH & monitors) and I've always been underwhelmed by the sound of these power amps. (I've always been tempted to show up w/ a Carver PM-1.5 to one of those double-blind ABX challenges held by so-called "objectivists" who claim all power amplifiers are sonically indistinguishable. But I digress...)
In my experience, when compared to a Crown or Crest amp of equivalent power, the Carver is "mushier", with a slower transient attack (less "slam") and softer bass. And this is not a subtle difference. Given that, it would be one of my last choices for a critical studio monitoring application. |
I've got a Carver 2.0t, the PM1.5's big daddy. Sounds like absolute ****e in the control room, works for driving wedges in the tracking room on occasion. Used it on a third set of nearfields once, great incentive for me to pick up a second hand Parasound instead. Cannot stress enough how unsuited these orignal Carver switchers were for critical listening.
Oh, but YMMV... |
2 yay, 2 nay - not looking good. I'll give it a listen but it's time to buy a power amp me thinks....
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I just did a salvage job on an abandon restaurant which had a DJ booth in the basement. I found 4 Carver power amps of which only one a PM 1.5 worked. I put it in my monitor system and it is about half as powerful as the Alesis it replaced. I'm underwhelmed but free is a very good price. I expect it to fail shortly.
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Carvers are sensitive to bad power. And the biasing can be off. And use them unbalanced if you can, via the TRS inputs
Having said that, I find them fast and articulate. However there are better amps out now, the old Carver PMs are -- old! |
And just being curious here, what inspired the ten year resurrection?
(Former PM350 and 1.5 in the live rack so... freshflowe |