I bought this preamp new to use with my Onkyo M-504 power amp. The rest of the system includes an NAD turntable and a HK CD player (FL8300). Speakers are B&W 602 s2. The Carver is a clean flat sounding unit. The construction is solid and functions are simple unless you try using the remote which must have 75 rice sized buttons. My only real complaint with the Carver is that the volume knob is not very balanced at low levels. The right speaker comes on before the left.

Very clean, does not add or remove anything audible.

Remote control button placement is a little awkward. Possibly designed by a retard (left handed retard).

After reading the prior two reviews, thought I'd put in my 2 cents. I am using this preamp with a M500t and a pair of Ohm Mk200 upgrades on my old Walsh 4's. There is nothing audible at all when powering on or off either amp or preamp. I was going to hold out for the ct-17 at a decent price on ebay, but I took a chance on the ct-23 and I am quite happy with it. There is nothing audibly detectable coming through the preamp other than whichever source you are using. I plugged the cd player directly into the m500t just to check this and could tell no difference. The sonic holography is a neat feature, although I haven't got the optimal speaker placement for the best results. I think for the money this is a great preamp. You only get out of it what you put into it. I have yet to test the headphone outs as the darn dog chewed through the cord on my Stax. I may still get a ct17 just for comparison.

This review pains me to have to write it, but the truth will be out. I purchased this preamp for three reasons. One:It is a straight stereo pre-amp at a reasonable price. Two:It has Bobs' sonic holigraphy circuit. Three: I have always liked the Carver products, as they have always been a good value at great prices. So, when I found the CT-23 in a demo room at Circuit City, an open box bargain. I brought it home. I use it to drive a TFM-35X which then drives a new pair of 901s'. That aspect is all fine and well. But...early one Sunday morning, not wanting to wake up the wife or the neighborhood, thought I'd plug in a set of headphones and listen quietly. Whoa. Total Shock. The headphone pre-amp section of this unit isn't just a little bit off, it is way off. Shrill, thin, no bass, sharp, tinny, what other adjectives are there? The headphone jack on my camping Sony boombox (CPD-758) is twice as good. The output of any of the four home units I have, from Aiwa, JVC, Phillips(CD-R), and espcially an older Onkyo (DX-702) simply are light years ahead. So what happened here? Clearly someone at Carver just slapped together a headphone circuit and threw it in there, without even doing some teat-bench work or just plain good ol'-fashioned listening. Lucky for me I have other signal sources. But if you are looking for one place to plug in some phones, this is not the pre-amp for you. Pity, because the rest of the unit works fine, has a nice standby capacity, a decent tuner, handy illuminated volume control and lovable rack handles. If you are looking for a bargain Pre-Amp, check out an Onkyo P-301 and find a tuner, either a matching Onyko; which really are quite good, or some other. Sorry to say this Carver, but this one is a stinker. Ooof, that hurts.

Clean bass; accurate treble; outstanding stereo seperation and perfectly quiet.

Tuner needs an amplified Terk antena and then it's fine!

I had to take a minute and give this a review as the previous review is inaccurate. this preamp tuner is 100% Bob Carver. I have listened to sunfire equiptment and this is up to the specs. If you can find one pick it up and enjoy! I have a pair of Walch 5's on this system and it's incredible. I have been using cables from bettercables.com. I noticed some reviews don't mention cables and when I e-mail these folks doing the reviews oftne they have generic junk. Reviews are great if the person knows what they are doing. About 1/2 the reviews here are written by well meaning but uninformed audioweenies!

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Conrad Johnson