Carver Amazing Line Source Speakers

dracule1,

Thanks for the pointers.
I am not sure if I use the 8 or 4ohm tap. Right now I have it on the 8ohm.

What can I expect if I try the 4ohm tap?

ozzy

Congratulations Ozzy.  Usually from the 4 ohm taps, you will get less volume level so you may need to goose the volume control higher.  I tried the 4 and 8 ohm taps on my McIntosh amp and after living with both for a month, went back to 8 ohms as it sounded a little more dynamic to me and the bass was definitely deeper..

Ozzy, the ALS is nominally 8 ohm so the 8 ohm tap is the right choice. Bob confirmed this with me.   If you go with 4 ohm, it would probably will not sound as open or transparent.  But it won't hurt the amp or speakers if you try.  In most cases the higher tap will sound better if you can get away with it, unless you have a 1 ohm speaker like the Apogee Scintilla. Then you'd need the 1 ohm tap on your amp. 

Stereo5, dracule1,

Thank you I'll use the 8 ohm tap. 
I do notice that the meter on the Raven 350 really bounces a lot now. 

Since I don't have the Carver Rosa subs and I am using (2) JL Audio F-113's subs (with my DEQX Preamp with its built in electronic crossover) any suggestion as to the crossover points?

ozzy

Ozzy, I personally would not use the DEQX preamp built in crossover. I'm a minimalist at heart and don't like what the DEQX does.  I would connect your JLA sub amp to the the Raven amp via the high level connection using speaker wire (assuming the JLA sub accepts high level input, if not use the low level connection RCA/XLR).  It is considered by many to be the best way to integrate subwoofer to the main speaker.  I would go through the built in calibration of the JLA sub amp and then crossover at around 70 Hz as a start.  Then you'll need to play with the phase (start at 0) and crossover freq to get the most integrated and quickest bass response from the subs.  It's a lot of work.  If you don't have an SPL meter and want to do it by ear, get a nice head phone with a flat freq response (Senheiser etc).  Head phones are immune to room induced bass resonances.  Listen to a piece of music with a lot of acoustic bass instruments.  Compare the same music to what you hear through the head phone and through your speakers and get the speakers sounding as close to possible to the headphone bass.

Hope this helps.