chockstarfish@hotmail.com Posted May 2, 2001 Share Posted May 2, 2001 has anyone herd anything about the carver cube? its an older amp that had no cooling fan and was a very small but powerful cube. i have one and was wondering if anyone had a background on it the actual model it m-400 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Garrison Posted May 2, 2001 Share Posted May 2, 2001 That was the first of Carver's amps that used the multi-rail power supply which, in later incarnations, evolved into the "tracking downconverter power supply" as used today on the Sunfire amps. It was packaged in the little cube to emphasize the point that for its power output (200 watt/channel) it ran remarkably cool and was quite small by the then-current standards. It was a little noisey (in the output signal sense, not mechanical humm or anything - tended to have a lot of hiss) and, if it broke, was very difficult to repair 'cause of the construction. Also got really, really hot if you were driving low impedence or very reactive speakers. The M-400 morphed into the M-400t during the period when Bob was trying to convince everybody that he could build an amp that could emulate the sound of any other specific amp; the M-400t was supposed to sound just like a pair of big cj mono tube amps. ------------------ Music is art Audio is engineering Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwgorman Posted May 3, 2001 Share Posted May 3, 2001 Ah the carver cube. One day in a local salon many years ago--a store which sold klipsch and yamaha and mac and maggies and other solid products--a sales rep came in and bodly announced that his "little cube" could blow away a heavy SS yamaha amp that was on the floor. I and the sales staff was curious and more than skeptical as the yamaha stuff had earned a reputation as well-built and musical. The enthusiastic rep hooked up his cube and proceeded to fire up a record. Seconds later the cube burst into flames. The lead salesman at the store was in tears from laughter. I felt a bit sorry for him. This is my only memory of the cube. jwgorman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Workin' Stiff Posted May 3, 2001 Share Posted May 3, 2001 jwgorman: Man, I would have loved to have seen that !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Favog Posted May 3, 2001 Share Posted May 3, 2001 A repair-tech friend of mine used to call the old Phase Linear (old Carver) the line of Flame Linear. Guess it really has merit. Just bought a Carver C-1 pre-amp from eBay and has anyone here used one of these with a (I'm hopefully buying one) Rotel RB-1080 amp to use with a pair of KLF-20's? Right now I'm using the line in to a Carver Receiver so as to use the amp only and that sounds like crap!! Very little bass and excruciating mids and highs. Don't think that repositioning the speakers is going to help much (I found the ultimate place while using the Receiver only). It also gets loud very early in the volume knobs travel, I don't feel good taking it up past the 9:30 point. I'm hoping (naturally) the sound will be much more rounded with the a new amp. ------------------ Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chockstarfish@hotmail.com Posted May 3, 2001 Author Share Posted May 3, 2001 well...... mine hasn't caught on fire yet..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myram Posted May 3, 2001 Share Posted May 3, 2001 Back when I was in college, my fraternity roommate had a Carver Cube that he thought was great. Until that one night that we were having a little party in our room and I had that thing just cranked right up as loud as it would go with my KG4's (no longer own) hooked up to it. All of a sudden the whole room smelled like smoke and the music stopped.....the cube was cooked. So much for his ego for that being the "cat's ***"....he went out and bought a pair of Rotel monoblocks to replace it, now those were sweet amps. ------------------ Home Theater System: Klipsch Quartets - mains for both systems Klipsch KV3 - center Klipsch KG.5's - rear surrounds Klipsch KSW12 subwoofer Denon AVR-1601 Music System: Adcom GFA-555 Musical Concepts Modified NAD 1600 Pre/Tuner Sony C-67ES CD Player Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrel McBane Posted May 3, 2001 Share Posted May 3, 2001 I use a cube for a SVS 20-39 sub and it's very quiet and cool. Love to watch the meters jump on big bass scenes in movies. Got it on E-Bay for about $250. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Favog Posted May 3, 2001 Share Posted May 3, 2001 Hope you got it on a GFI circuit. ------------------ Tom KLF-20 Mahogany Carver C-1 Rotel RB-1080 Yamaha PF-800 Turntable/ Sure V15 Type V Cartridge Carver TL-3100 CD Yamaha K-1020 Cassette dbx 1231 EQ H.H. Scott 830z Analyzer Monster Interlink 300 mk II Original 12ga. Monster Cable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toadtobin Posted May 31, 2001 Share Posted May 31, 2001 My friend has a carver cube and a pair of Forte 2's.... AC/DC never sounded as good to me as they do on his stereo.. ------------------ Rock & Roll!! WOOOOO! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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