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Carver sonic holography

My wife was at a thrift store and found a Carver CT-seven preamp (she said she could tell it was good because it had handles :)in perfect condition for $20 dollars(I've never thought much of Carver equipment, even when i sold it 15 years ago) - I hooked it into my system (musical fidelity studio t amp, mac mini with behringer DAC) and all I can say is WOW! I'm not one usually for gimmics but when the sonic holography is on the sound stage is as wide as the room (20ft) and instruments are razor sharp in placement(I'm a big sound stage guy) what gives? - I've tried it with mg12's,AR m5's, Vandersteen 2ces and a pair of cheap Polk monitor 40's -the sound stage on all these speakers improves dramatically and I really dig the sound i'm hearing(on most songs) - has anyone else had this experience with the sonic holography?
thymanst
mitch4t's avatar
mitch4t
1,611 posts
 
I've had several Carver preamps....I still own three of them, C-16, CT-19 tube preamp and Sunfire Theater Grand pre-pro. For the money they are very good. I rarely listened to the sonic holography. It was cool gimmick, and when guests came over I played it just to mess with their heads. Nothing wrong with Carver stuff for the money you pay for it.
tarsando
578 posts
 
And what in what high end systems is the sweet spot any more than one foot wide? That's about par for the course.
waveman's avatar
waveman
79 posts
 
I've found the results to be very software dependent. Overall, I've enjoyed the effect on many occaisions, both with and without headpones. I've traded up from the C-1 preamp some time ago searching for better resolution. Still, the Carver gear appears to remain a bargain for a starter system or second rig. Kudos to you wife.
glenfihi
525 posts
 
Fun feature on the Carver gear. Not always accurate to the music imo, but nice to listen through. Bob Carver is a true audio leader, and has come out with some very nice gear for the money. A real taste of the high end for far less money with nice features.
sogood51
2,157 posts
 
It works well with some speaker systems. I don't like it with my Apogees...sounds good with my bookshelf VMPS's though.

Dave
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