Carver CS5.2 project maybe

[BernieH]

From the local goodwill I picked up the towers of the Carver CS5.2 although I know carver, I knew nothing about the CS5.2 — just at $7.50 I couldn’t walk out empty handed.

after some research I see this originally came with a center channel speaker which also housed a 300W sub amp. I only have the left and right tower which include:

5.5 in midbass driver
1 in extended-range tweeter
rear mounted 4.5 in. midrange (in dipole mode?)
10 in. ultra-low distortion woofer

the back has bi-amp type setup where the top inputs drive everything above 100hz and the bottom set drive the 10” woofer. The manual says that all inputs must be connected or it will not make a sound must be something in the crossover that senses a load on both inputs

I’m not sure what I would end up with but thinking 1 of three project and looking for input:

Project 1 — forget it disassemble and part them out

Project 2 — get inside make some xover and wiring adjustments to make it what I guess would be a 4 way system with single set of inputs

Project 3 - I have and older sub amp I got from Madisound some time ago it’s 250W, I could put that amp in some sort of enclosure and use it in place of the original carver center channel one.

I’m thinking the best answer is project 1, the easiest answer is project 3 but the interesting one might be project 2.

In any event for project 2 or 3 if they sound good (read very good) for audio (not going to use for HT) that would be nice because in that specific room I really don’t have the right location for a separate sub

anyone have thoughts on any of these alternatives or exposure to the Carver CS towers?... then there is the question of Replacing CAPs but the system itself isn’t that old so probably okay.

In that location these would be driven by a luxman r-1120

appreciate thoughts - b

 

[goodolpg]

I don't know anything about them.
That out of the way, do you have or have you seen the manual?
Is it REQUIRED that they be bi-amped or can they be either bi-wired or just use a jumper across the terminals?

 

[BernieH]

Thanks yes I have seen manual everything is wired through the center channel /sub amp, seems like that unit then takes 100hz and below to the sub and above out to the left and right. There must be something that checks for a load on both...I’ll try hooking them directly at low volume and see if I can get a little further

 

[BernieH]

Well I am fairly certain I am conversing with myself here but hey, I do talk to myself at other times as well.

As I suspected the center channel / amp setup must have load sensing where it will not send anything to the left and right unless both connections (speaker and sub) are made. I’ve hooked these up to my amp and actually sound okay given that it is either above 100hz or below ( not both yet) at a low volume as the drivers are expecting that 100hz break before getting to the input jacks.

I’m going to pull my sub amp out of storage and test that but really think I might look at modifications that would combine the 10” sub driver with the rest, should be straight forward to add a filter but I’ll open and take a look first.

Hopefully I’ll be able to grab a model number from the 10” which will then provide some parameters.

Still open to comments/ thoughts.
B

 

[hjames]

Never had any Carver speakers, but I have owned their receiver, a couple of tuners, C1 Preamp and a power amp or two.
I did the Google thing and found this link for your speakers -

http://www.matronics.com/Carver/
Carver Cinema 5.1 and 5.2 Speaker Systems
Specifications, Owners Manuals, Schematics, and Service Bulletins

5.2 Specifications

Driver Complement

• Left/right front speaker/subwoofer towers: 5.5 in Copolymer precision midbass driver and 1 in extended-range tweeter; rear mounted 4.5 in. Copolymer precision midrange in dipole mode; 10 in. ultra-low distortion large displacement subwoofer drivers per enclosure.
• Center Speaker: Dual 5.5 in Copolymer precision midbass drivers and 1 in. extended range tweeter.
• Surrounds: 5.5 in Copolymer precision midbass driver and dual 2.5 in Copolymer high-frequency drivers in dipole mode.
• Frequency Response: 24hz - 21Khz

Technology Complement

• Dual Subwoofer system using Large Displacement drivers built into left and right towers provides a more authoritative bass presentation and smoother room response for advanced home theater listening.
• Lightstar Powered Subwoofers (300 Watts) using Digital Transformer Power tracking system with spectral/tilt controls for a precise match with acoustical environments.
• Progressive Directivity Array emulates ribbon dipole performance for seamless soundfield imaging, improved loudspeaker room interfacing and expanded soundfield.
• Dynamic range-matched for optimum performance with high end "smart" amplification including Carver Power Steering-equipped systems.
• Dipolar Surrounds (Carver Patent #5,109,416) for optimized surround field envelopment.
• Constant Directivity tweeters for a more perfectly-controlled power radiating pattern.

That should be all you need!

http://www.matronics.com/Carver/

 

[hjames]

Looks like the Center Tower diagram on page 13 shows the hookup for the towers from a regular receiver
http://www.matronics.com/Carver/TowersAndCenter-Page13.jpg

If I read it correctly, the upper section of each tower could be fine fed off L & R main outs of a regular receiver. BUT - not the woofers!

But to do it right, sounds like you'd feed the receiver Preamp MAIN outs into an Active crossover (Like an Ashley XR1000 or similar)
to split off the signals into a Low pass and a high pass.
The low pass (below 100Hz signal) you'd feed to a stereo amp to power the woofers.
The High Pass would go to a different Stereo amp for the upper parts of the tower.
Just your basic Bi-Amp system.