Opinions on Sunfire, Carver Lightstar amps

Twilo, I heard the Carver Lightstar amp at the Stereophile show in 1996. The system was Carver Lightstar amp, Carver Lightstar passive preamp, Wadia 16 CD Player. Carver AL 3+ ribbon speakers, that had a 10 inch woofer at the bottom. All I got to say, this system sounded unbelievable. It sounded fast sweet and had an amazing soundstage. The bass was great.

I have had a pair of Lightstar II's for years. One of the amps I bought from Jim Croft(the main engineer/designer) off the floor of a Stereophile show when it first came out. He even showed me the proof of the REG review in TAS! The other amp was purchased minimally used. I used them to biamp the Carver Amazing Platinum IV's (until 4 yrs ago when I gave/loaned the Amazings to a friend )and was always happy with the sound. Now I use them to drive my Magnepan 20.1's and the sound is heavenly.

I too believe that Sig600 (havent heard the Lightstar) could be the end point and could go with any high performance speaker at any price paid.
I did lots of vs. vs. of modern D class Wyred4Sound, NuVista, Krell KAV400i, Bryston monos and found that sig600 has sonic advantages over models listed plus is affordable. It works its best in the balanced mode.

I can tell you I am lucky to have the Lightstar Reference ver.1 (2 Ac cords Dual Transformer and built-in line conditioning) not clear on the difference between the original Lightstar Reference, and the newer 2.0? - anyway I drive a set of Magnepan MG1.6/QR (Magneplanar loudspeakers) with all the volume I need with no apparent need for more, and can say I think it's a very good fit, with a wonderful detail and presentation with a very nice soundstage, - and I compared it to the Sunfire Cinema Grand Series as my friend (Rolland at Hi-tech Audio) had the Sunfire at the same time we auditioned the lightstar, they both could drive anything you want with ease, but I did prefer the earlier model Lightstar to the newer Model Sunfire Cinema Grand Series for my Magnepan MG1.6/QR loudspeakers, in a single word I would say the Lightstar was a Fuller sound. And would be Very reluctant to get rid of this Amp. without having something better to replace it.

IME, his 1st Sunfire power amp was a killer. Played especially well (no pun) w/ Vandersteen speakers.