Undertow,
The Carver holography circuit is what I thought you might be referring to.
It has nothing to do with compression or dynamic range. If your system lacks transparency, think of it as a magic "transparency" button.
technically, it reduces crosstalk between channels. I suppose crosstalk would be considered a form of noise and that circuit then a form of switchable noise reduction.
Wouldn't surprise me if many other newer amps that sound inherently transparent do something similar internally to achieve it. The most unique thing about the Carver is the circuit can be switched in or out as needed. That is the flexibility aspect of it. And yes, it does work exactly as advertised. The tradeoff is a small change in the timbre of the sound, particularly in the mid-range.
I used to use the holography circuit but then realized there were other ways to coax more transparency out of my system that I pursued (power conditioning, interconnects, setc.). Now I do not use it much. But it was nice to have around back when I needed it.
The features I still find most useful on the Carver today are the two switchable circuits for separate signal processors. I use 1 for a dbx range expander that still comes in handy with dynamic range-challenged recordings.
Also, the tone tilt feature I mentioned can be useful to provide flexibility in adjusting tone/timbre in ways not possible with conventional tone controls.
There is an absolute phase shift circuit that can help with the low end if needed, depending mostly on room acoustics.
The blend control can also be useful. It provides the ability to continuously increase or decrease channel separation all the way from mono to greater than normal.
I find I use these features very infrequently these days (the separate DBX the most because many recordings just have the dynamics sucked out of them before they even hit your system) but they have been invaluable tools to help me get my system tuned in better over the years when needed.
The Carver holography circuit is what I thought you might be referring to.
It has nothing to do with compression or dynamic range. If your system lacks transparency, think of it as a magic "transparency" button.
technically, it reduces crosstalk between channels. I suppose crosstalk would be considered a form of noise and that circuit then a form of switchable noise reduction.
Wouldn't surprise me if many other newer amps that sound inherently transparent do something similar internally to achieve it. The most unique thing about the Carver is the circuit can be switched in or out as needed. That is the flexibility aspect of it. And yes, it does work exactly as advertised. The tradeoff is a small change in the timbre of the sound, particularly in the mid-range.
I used to use the holography circuit but then realized there were other ways to coax more transparency out of my system that I pursued (power conditioning, interconnects, setc.). Now I do not use it much. But it was nice to have around back when I needed it.
The features I still find most useful on the Carver today are the two switchable circuits for separate signal processors. I use 1 for a dbx range expander that still comes in handy with dynamic range-challenged recordings.
Also, the tone tilt feature I mentioned can be useful to provide flexibility in adjusting tone/timbre in ways not possible with conventional tone controls.
There is an absolute phase shift circuit that can help with the low end if needed, depending mostly on room acoustics.
The blend control can also be useful. It provides the ability to continuously increase or decrease channel separation all the way from mono to greater than normal.
I find I use these features very infrequently these days (the separate DBX the most because many recordings just have the dynamics sucked out of them before they even hit your system) but they have been invaluable tools to help me get my system tuned in better over the years when needed.