Amplifier technology from 2001 to today? What has changed?

lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
I'm No amp expert here, but Bob Carver's amps have his umm unique signature? So to speak, PENG, I believe can speak volumes on amps, he or M Code can go into more detail on specifics of amp designs. Bob Carver had a way of taking a SS amp and making it have a signature sound the guy is a guru for sure with amps. I believe that's what made him famous so to speak. He could make a SS amp have a "tube" amp like sound. Maybe do some research on ole Bob Carver, I did and I found the guy to be a very interesting fellow with what he brought to audio with his designs.
Or was Bob just good at using placebos and marketing? I have had both the M-500 and M-500t....couldn't tell them apart, the transfer function that supposedly gave them (the M-500t's) a tube sound wasn't apparent to me in use at least....
 
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slipperybidness

slipperybidness

Audioholic Warlord
I'm No amp expert here, but Bob Carver's amps have his umm unique signature? So to speak, PENG, I believe can speak volumes on amps, he or M Code can go into more detail on specifics of amp designs. Bob Carver had a way of taking a SS amp and making it have a signature sound the guy is a guru for sure with amps. I believe that's what made him famous so to speak. He could make a SS amp have a "tube" amp like sound. Maybe do some research on ole Bob Carver, I did and I found the guy to be a very interesting fellow with what he brought to audio with his designs.
The role of an amplifier is to take a small signal and reproduce an exact copy with a larger amplitude. In other words, the job of an amplifier is to amplify a signal.

Funny how that works :p

If you want to "shape the sound", that is the job of gear like an Equalizer or DSP.

Amps certain can be designed to sound different. But the design goal for an amplifier should be total accuracy and load invariance!
 
Phase 2

Phase 2

Audioholic Chief
Or was Bob just good at using placebos and marketing? I have had both the M-500 and M-500t....couldn't tell them apart, the transfer function that supposedly gave them (the M-500t's) a tube sound wasn't apparent to me in use at least....
I had his TFM 25 was a great amp, now was it a Tube like sound amp? Not to me anyways but than again I didn't have a Tube amp to compare it to. I would have to agree with you loveinthehd, no doubt marketing had a lot to do with that.
 
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lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
I had his TFM 25 was a great amp, now was it a Tube like sound amp? Not to me anyways but than again I didn't have a Tube amp to compare it to. I would have to agree with you loveinthehd, no doubt marketing had a lot to do with that.
Don't believe so but not familiar with the TFMs....I know that the small "t" designation on several models meant that.
 
Phase 2

Phase 2

Audioholic Chief
That what I forgot! Bob Carver's "Sonic Holography". Did he first come out with that?
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
That what I forgot! Bob Carver's "Sonic Holography". Did he first come out with that?
Sonic Holography is one of his things, yes, a psychoacoustics sort of thing. My C-1 pre-amp has that....
 
VonMagnum

VonMagnum

Audioholic Chief
Also known as the "Sonic Holocaust" by some, Wikipedia says:
  • "Sonic holography", as described in U.S. Patent 4,218,585 was first incorporated in the Carver C4000 preamplifier. It enhances stereo imaging by introducing a delayed and equalized signal from the right channel at the left loudspeaker to cancel the signal from the right loudspeaker at the listener's left ear (and vice versa).
So it appears to be a first of Bob's alright. Some have said SRS was a more advanced version that came out later, but I've never used an SRS system so I won't comment on it.

My Carver C-5 Preamp has it on it and I've been using it since 1995 (same pre-amp) initially with some DefTech BP-2s and then with the Carver AL-III ribbon speakers I still have today (see signature for photo). I'm not entirely sure how well it works with all speakers. It's said to be speaker dependent and some hate how it 'overwidens' the soundstage and supposedly reduces the 'pin-point' nature of the center image. I wouldn't think it would work that well with dipoles, but that's what my AL-III ribbons are and it's FANTASTIC. I think all that matters is the initial direct image gets canceled. Your brain treats the rear wave as reverberant/room type data.

All I know is my center image is just as sharp with or without it, but the soundstage opens up considerably with it turned on. Bass seems slightly elevated (REW tests show a slight increase so it's not my imagination, but it also shows slightly smoother overall response as well; of course that's measuring in stereo which you normally don't do, but does give some idea of the effects it may be having at the listener position). Not all material sounds all that different. It depends on the phase effects, etc. in the recording. I've heard sounds expand as far as a 180 degree arc. It's actually not unlike "Q-Sound" found on some recordings (like Roger Waters' excellent AMUSED TO DEATH album; his 5.1 remix version isn't even close to the Q-Sound original, IMO as at best they image in the same places and somehow sound slightly less musical as well for some reason). It also doesn't work very well with Q-Sound (positions of sounds change in many cases as it seems to be canceling out the same effects, possibly because Q-Sound is doing something very similar on the recording itself, so it's best to turn it off for a Q-Sound recording).

Personally, I think it's great. It's like having the speakers much further apart plus wrap-around to the sides surround all without employing techniques to alter the arrangement. In essence, everything just gets "wider" and more pronounced, although it's possible it sounds a bit different with different speakers (e.g. Billy Idol's Cyberpunk album already has some effects that tend to wrap on their own (very pronounced on my home theater system using matrixed 6-speaker stereo). Sonic Holography pulls the same effect off with two speakers upstairs. I don't know if it's the dipoles or what, but I think the center channel voice is slightly more anchored/clear on my Carvers (feels more like someone is really standing there) with it turned on as well. I hardly ever turn it off after all these years. It's almost always better sounding to me turned on.
 

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