AR 9 with Carver amp's (PM-1200). Any good ?

[lance G]

In the U.K. Carver equipment is pretty rare, as are AR 9 speakers. I am lucky enough to have a good pair of the latter, and may now have the opportunity to get hold of a carver amplifier to drive them with.

Specifically, it's a Carver PM-1200. From researching this forum over time I perceive that Carver amp's can be a good match for the AR 9.

Could I kindly ask what opinions people/users may have ?

I do have some reservations, as I believe all of the Carver amp's are fairly old now, and that some models can be a pain to repair due to their complexity. I don't know who could now be relied upon to repair a failed amp', certainly more so in the U.K.

Any reply will be appreciated.

[johnfalc]

I run my AR-9s, AR-90s, and AR-3as all on Carver M-1.5t amps which are very similar (check the schematics and you'll see what I mean) to the PM-1200.  I've been doing so for a number of years ... I generally buy M-1.5t amps that need repair and do the repairs myself.  The PM-1200 and the M-1.5t share a three-tiered power supply to maximize linearity of output while keeping the output devices in their safe operating areas.  The most common points of NATURAL failure in these amps at this point are the filter capacitors for the 36 and 76 volt rails and both the capacitors and circuit boards designed to ease the repair are available on eBay.  The high voltage rail (+/- 126 volts) capacitors seldom need replacement.  The most common points of UNNATURAL failure have to do with unqualified people working on and "buggering up" the amps, either in the output sections or in the circuitry that controls the conduction angles for the line-control triac.  Once checked out and repaired on an as-needed basis, these are, to me, a great value in sound and reliability and the source clean high output nicely in to AR's 4 ohm (nominal) load.  One final thought ... these amps do place significant demands on your home AC wiring when driven hard ... that can be an issue with old, low amperage, circuits (e.g., you may see lights dimming as the amps suck current from the line).

[newandold]

On 5/5/2020 at 2:06 PM, lance G said:

In the U.K. Carver equipment is pretty rare, as are AR 9 speakers. I am lucky enough to have a good pair of the latter, and may now have the opportunity to get hold of a carver amplifier to drive them with.

Specifically, it's a Carver PM-1200. From researching this forum over time I perceive that Carver amp's can be a good match for the AR 9.

Could I kindly ask what opinions people/users may have ?

I do have some reservations, as I believe all of the Carver amp's are fairly old now, and that some models can be a pain to repair due to their complexity. I don't know who could now be relied upon to repair a failed amp', certainly more so in the U.K.

Any reply will be appreciated.

It would be a great match for the AR but I agree, the age may be working against you. If you can get it with a money back guarantee and not over 250/300, You should get your money’s worth out of it.

 I ran Bridged Carvers for 13 years with Big Allisons ( very similar in power demands to the AR. That’s only a part of my 43 years Using Bob  Carver Amps.

 

Bill

[lance G]

Thanks for the replies, both John (?) and Bill. Really good information and somewhat reassuring support .

Partially on the back of these replies (no potential future subsequent blame will be attributed !), I have gone ahead and it looks like I may have snagged and await the impending arrival of the following;

Carver PM-1200 and a Carver PSC-50 pre-amplifier.

To reiterate, I am hoping as previously stated, that they (and more particularly the PM-1200) will be a good match for my AR 9 speakers ? I currently bi-amplify them with a pair of British Quad 606 amplifiers, and Quad 66 pre-amplification.

A couple of things, I may be on the lookout for a remote control for the PSC-50, I believe it's a RH-5 ? If someone has one lying in the bottom of a drawer, please let me know !

Also, I have managed to download an owners and a service manual for the PM-1200, but have only found a service manual for the PSC-50. Does anyone possibly have an owners manual that I could have a (scanned). copy of ?

Also, again any further advice greatly appreciated. I am thinking these things are well over 20 years old now, the previous owner has allegedly had them for the last 22 years, I doubt he bought them new. Although, again allegedly, he has used them very little, and it appears thay are coming from a domestic environment so hopefully not flogged to the point of death, I am wondering what preventative maintenance aspects I should perhaps be considering. I have taken on board the power supply capacitor advice (thanks johnfalc), but without being overly paranoid is there anything else likely to be critical that I should consider with either amplifier ?

Thanks again.

P.S. I appreciate that this is the Acoustic Research speaker area of the site, but if you could all (maybe admin' ?) bear with me for the moment before you throw me off somewhere else, I would appreciate it !

 

[newandold]

5 hours ago, lance G said:

Thanks for the replies, both John (?) and Bill. Really good information and somewhat reassuring support .

Partially on the back of these replies (no potential future subsequent blame will be attributed !), I have gone ahead and it looks like I may have snagged and await the impending arrival of the following;

Carver PM-1200 and a Carver PSC-50 pre-amplifier.

To reiterate, I am hoping as previously stated, that they (and more particularly the PM-1200) will be a good match for my AR 9 speakers ? I currently bi-amplify them with a pair of British Quad 606 amplifiers, and Quad 66 pre-amplification.

A couple of things, I may be on the lookout for a remote control for the PSC-50, I believe it's a RH-5 ? If someone has one lying in the bottom of a drawer, please let me know !

Also, I have managed to download an owners and a service manual for the PM-1200, but have only found a service manual for the PSC-50. Does anyone possibly have an owners manual that I could have a (scanned). copy of ?

Also, again any further advice greatly appreciated. I am thinking these things are well over 20 years old now, the previous owner has allegedly had them for the last 22 years, I doubt he bought them new. Although, again allegedly, he has used them very little, and it appears thay are coming from a domestic environment so hopefully not flogged to the point of death, I am wondering what preventative maintenance aspects I should perhaps be considering. I have taken on board the power supply capacitor advice (thanks johnfalc), but without being overly paranoid is there anything else likely to be critical that I should consider with either amplifier ?

Thanks again.

P.S. I appreciate that this is the Acoustic Research speaker area of the site, but if you could all (maybe admin' ?) bear with me for the moment before you throw me off somewhere else, I would appreciate it !

 

Hi Lance,

The biggest difference with that gear will most likely come from swapping the preamps and not as much the amplification. 
Not better or worse (different for sure). I would want to live for a while with the Carver preamp and the Quads. If that combo yields the better result, you’ve got amplification backup and that’s great with older gear to avoid down time.

 

Bill

[lance G]

Thanks Bill.

I am intrigued as to what the difference (if any/much) in bass control/sound might be ! I have read some glowing reports of Acoustic Research and Carver turning out to be a match made in Heaven. Actually I believe the AR 9's were made (assembled ?) here in the U.K. and apparently the PM-1200 the U.S.A. and finally the PSC-50 Japan, so a bit of a cocktail. At least none of it's Chinese (no offence intended) !

There are an amount of less glowing reports regarding some Carver reliability. However we only live once so it needs to be tried ! The 9's have the low bass capability, I figure what's wrong with trying to make the very best of it ?

I don't know, boys and their toys. Something to play with and for me a tick off the bucket list !

Lance.