Carver PM600 amp, any good?

Billysan

Billysan

New Member
I have the opportunity to purchase this amp. The current owner uses it in a band setting with his PA system. I have not seen the physical condition of the amp yet. I want to use it in my 2 channel setup. I would be using a Yamaha 810 integrated in pre-amp mode in conjunction with it. Any opinions out there on this amp and/or using it for home instead of a commercial unit? I have seen two used units online develop a low level hum. Thanks in advance.

Oh, I should add, that for just a bit more I could buy the Carver 1.5 amp instead. Basically same look but with more power. I don't know what the difference is internally.
 
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I've had two PM-300's and liked them fine, but I would go with the M-1.5t if you have a choice. The Carver PM series amps have excellent sound and are dang near bullet proof, but the larger units tend to have noisy fans which are not a problem in commercial installations. The only have balanced inputs, or TRS inputs, no RCA's. They do have 70V outputs if you have really long runs to your speakers. The other drawback to the PM series is that almost all of them have rack rash from being moved a lot.
 
Sort of depends on your needs/wants.

If you want the more powerful amp that's what you should buy.

If the PM600 is what you want, fans are easily replaced/modified with quieter versions, adapter plugs or cables from XLR/TRS to RCA are common, and yes, rack rash can be an issue if appearance is paramount.

I now have seven pro audio amps and the front panels on all are nearly perfect. The only rack rash on mine are (to me) relatively minor marks. One has more than the rest, four are nearly perfect all around, and two have minimal rack rash.
 
I realize this is old.. have you made your decisions yet? I have owned the PM-600 for about 4 years. Rock solid. I used to haul it to friends apartments for parties and run Cerwin Vega LS-12's (replaced woofers with dual 8 ohm voice coil woofers from a pro line) for 3 hours straight at ear splitting levels (200 watts continuous per channel into a 4 ohm load). Thing never went into protection. There is no fan on this amp, btw. It hardly gets hot either, except in the above scenario. The amp itself will run for hours at moderate listening levels and be just slightly warm. Now my old Adcom GFA-1 is a different story (but thats A/B and fan cooled, not class G like the carver)
 
whoaru99 said:
Sort of depends on your needs/wants.

If you want the more powerful amp that's what you should buy.

If the PM600 is what you want, fans are easily replaced/modified with quieter versions, adapter plugs or cables from XLR/TRS to RCA are common, and yes, rack rash can be an issue if appearance is paramount.

I now have seven pro audio amps and the front panels on all are nearly perfect. The only rack rash on mine are (to me) relatively minor marks. One has more than the rest, four are nearly perfect all around, and two have minimal rack rash.
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Just got a PM900. Fan noise sucks, amp sounds awesome. Would love info on replacement fan? THANKS!
 
DonHackett said:
Just got a PM900. Fan noise sucks, amp sounds awesome. Would love info on replacement fan? THANKS!
Click to expand...

I have one too, pm900 , and you are right...the fan is loud. mine is clean and was a backup unit. the fan is clean so it appears to not have been used much. but that fan is loud. ive not checked into replacing fan cause I have thought about selling it. I do like the am with the dual gain controls and the light meters.
 
gentlejax said:
I have one too, pm900 , and you are right...the fan is loud. mine is clean and was a backup unit. the fan is clean so it appears to not have been used much. but that fan is loud. ive not checked into replacing fan cause I have thought about selling it. I do like the am with the dual gain controls and the light meters.
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If you do decide to sell, let me know.
 
Unfortunately, the fans like that usually do not have common substitutions. That is not to say something else cannot be found, but no direct retrofit AFAIK.
 
I have a PM-1200, with the dual fans. It was just in with a tech, and he cleaned and lubricated the fans, which had previously been pretty noisy. They are now almost totally silent. We'll see how long that lasts. I think some of these that were used in pro environments saw a lot of dust, smoke and the like.
 
WillVT said:
I have a PM-1200, with the dual fans. It was just in with a tech, and he cleaned and lubricated the fans, which had previously been pretty noisy. They are now almost totally silent. We'll see how long that lasts. I think some of these that were used in pro environments saw a lot of dust, smoke and the like.
Click to expand...

I have some 3 in 1 lube I thought about using. or some deoxit.

and I just did and not as loud. i will try that lube in a second.
 
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