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Anyone rebuilt carver or other SS amps?


Pete H

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I have a few Carver amps that function fine, but are getting up there in years and I'm sure could benefit from some cap replacements and possibly some upgrades? Just wondering if anyone can offer any information or advice. They are m200t's and I have a stack of them, so having decent soldering skills, but not having an electronics background, I figure that I can, with the right information, get the parts and set up a little assembly line and do all of them at the same time. Thanks in advance for any help!

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If you are unsuccessful with the Carver forum route, and depending upon where you are located, a very good source for rebuilding ss amps is Tim Schwartz (Bristol Electronics) in Hohokus, NJ. Tim specializes in vintage ss. There are others; Terry DeWick comes to mind, along with Warren Bendler in Ohio. Bendler, however specializes in Sansui. Hope that is also of some assistance.

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The Carver amps should not all be lumped together. They can differ significantly from one another.

You mentioned the M-series amps. These in particular have some issues that should not be left to DIYing. The power supplies on these amps were a special design and unless the electronic tech is experienced with these, then the cure may be worse then the problem.

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The Carver amps should not all be lumped together. They can differ significantly from one another.

You mentioned the M-series amps. These in particular have some issues that should not be left to DIYing. The power supplies on these amps were a special design and unless the electronic tech is experienced with these, then the cure may be worse then the problem.

I can appreciate that thought as I'm not an electronic tech. I didn't think that performing basic cap replacement due to the age of the units would get very difficult, but that's why I'm asking for the advice prior to doing something I'll regret. FYI, the amps are all functioning at this point.
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I've had a Phase Linear 700 Series II and a Carver TFM 55 rebuilt by Roland @ carveraudiorepair.com. Check out their web site should you decide to let someone do it. I am very pleased with both the amps they worked on for me. I bought the TFM 55 off ebay, played it a couple of times and sent it to Roland. I have really enjoyed this on since the rebuild.

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"The power supplies on these amps were a special design and unless the electronic tech is experienced with these, then the cure may be worse then the problem."

A valid point if it is broken.

Not important if it works and you are just swapping in new parts.

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"The power supplies on these amps were a special design and unless the electronic tech is experienced with these, then the cure may be worse then the problem."

A valid point if it is broken.

Not important if it works and you are just swapping in new parts.

That's what I thought, so what I'm looking for is a general list of what I should be changing out (considering the age) as well as if I should be looking at some better than original parts for the swap.
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