Just wanted to post a link to the manual in case anyone still needs one:

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

Overall sound, excellent

No available service/parts.

Awesome sound. No center channel hum. Need some advice. I have lost the cap that screws onto the fuse recepticle. What could I use as a replacement? Thank God for duct tape.

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none compared

Excellent sound for an excellent price!

No need to bring up. These speakers are well past the need to compete with anything new today.

Seeing that these speakers are no longer available, I thought it OK to bring the review out again and see how other owners have faired with their purchases.

I've had these hooked up for over a year and still extremely happy with them. I've recalibrated my HT reciever a couple of times since and found the speakers blending together even better after some levels tweaking. (The SW has become much more pronounced). The center channel is so nicely matched I sometimes cannot tell if I'm listening to 2-channel music or Logic 7 (HK-AVR 500).

When I get in a paranoid tweaker mode, I still get a little confused with the "Crossover Bypass Switch", though. Does "Off" mean the crossover is bypassed or the bypass switch is Off, thereby inserting the crossover? (here I go again!) I leave it OFF, BTW. Does anybody use the bass management adjustment knob to boost the lower frequencies or reverse the phasing?

Anybody else want to give an extended-use review?

Hey folks...just got my 5.2's and I dont no which wire goes were...did not come with a manual...does anyone have the manual ,,????I need a copy of it..dont mind paying for it..please HELP

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Ohm 300 MKIII

even with my delima the system still sounds awsome!!

stuck with to left towers and the center chanel hum!

I bought my speakers as floor models last pair they had Igot them home found out Ihad to left front towers enyway If someone in the NW endid up with to rights will trade a left for a right.contact me at my E-mail thanks.

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DFS-JBL

Sound: One of the most musican home theater speaker sets. Warm, wide stage, accurate image, tames harsh low-power amp, appreciates high-power amp.

Build: Very solid, looks and feels high quality (The 202lb weight testifies this).

Overall, a great value for a set that's good both for music and movie (accomodates DPL especially well). In addition, they are actually easy to drive, as the towers only to down to 100Hz, which makes them more like satelite/subwooder combo with the exception that the subs are integrated much better (hence, musical).

According to my observation, the non-flatness in frequency response as reported by the previous viewer is caused by room accoustic conditions. You can prove this by moving the speakers around and see how the dips and bumps change.

None unless you prefer smaller front speakers or you have a 27" TV that may look too small under the center speaker.

I am trying to find a new home for this set. Mine is in great condition, same as the day it arrived, with all reported problems fixed, all manuals and boxes intact. I'm asking $900 plus shipping. I'll consider any reasonable offer as long as I can recoup my cost.

I got this set in early 99 for future use, but never have been in a condition to use them. I unpacked them, set them up, and powered on frequestly for a month or so for the purpose of break-in and to check for the reported center speaker humming or mis-wire problem. They have been sitting it their boxes in a storage room ever since. I have pictures of them out of the box and of the boxes in the storage room. Here's Spears's detailed review on the lesser model, Cinema 5.1, which can serve for your reference: www.sdinfo.com/volume_5_1/carver51speakers.html

I also have Pohlmann's review on the Cinema 5.2, which I feel is not as professional as Spears's. I can send the text via email to those seriously interested, together with the transcribed full specs from the manual.

I hope someone in VA and close to Roaoke, Christianburg, Blacksburg, and Radford areas will be interested so that you can save on shipping and I can get my cost back. I can accept credit card through paypal (I'm verified member) or i-Escrow if you cover the extra cost.

Thanks.

good balanced speaker

quality control, placement constraints

Damn! I thought it will bring up another form for Review.

When I got my system, it did not go very well. My little girl connected
the terminals on speakers. The subwoofer and
the other speaker terminal were shorted! When I played the TIME WARP, it
fried the subwoofer amp and a channel of my Carver 705x. I ordered a
Carver A-500x to power the two subwoofers. This 700w(in MONO) amp drives
the subwoofers and
the power is convincing. Earlier I was driving the Subwoofer(1 spk)
with a ch of Carver 705x and while playing
Matrix, the amp led was going on. No more!

Initially the system lacked the image. One speaker was
too close to wall. Because of a fireplace in center of a
wall, the TV is in corner. When I moved The speaker about 2 feet from
wall, the sound improved considerably. Over a period of 10 months, the
sound has only improved. I watched "the 13 warrior" and it was great.
Later I noticed that the amp driving surrounds was off! But the imaging
of the fronts and center is so good that I did not notice it.

These are good speakers, if you do not run into problem. In case of
problem, there is no Carver to help you out.


I balanced the levels of amps using a soundmeter. I found out that the bass cuts off sharply at 29Hz. Also, there are ups and downs between 29-300Hz, i.e., it is not flat ressponse.

Well, lets just say that all the stories I read I was a bit skeptical about the quality, if so many problems with wiring and humming were out there. But me being me 699 for quality speakers, I had to have them.
I bought them, luckily was around the last pair at COSTCO. I just opened, had read all the reviews, and started hooking up to my reciever. Connected the Center and well I was like crap. It sounded like shit. I was frustrated becuase I was afriad to open them up. Found wiring issues discussed below and paired up the Yellow and Green, and Orange and Brown wires in Center Speaker. Seems to have cleared that up fast. The center Came on and sounded sweater than Ice cream on a very hot day.

Having said that I was disappointed that they seemed to lack bass, considering the 2 boys that should be kicking my ass. I seem to have a problem that none have experienced, my subs were not working. My connection was straight speaker wire to the inputs on the center cabinent using the built in Xover adn should have output to my subs from center cabinent outputs, but no dice.

I direct connected them from my reciever and they came to life, and wow but that is not the way becuase then they can not take the highs. Any advice?

Did i screw up?

In any event my review of them is this, If you shell out some dough (mindful of the deal) that the quality of putting them together is important. I have to say I am disappointed that I am currently frustrated as hell, and it should not be that way. I am sure that once I get this fixed they will sound excellent even with the slight HUM, but for now my thoughts are not that high of Carver or of the deal if the subs dont work.

I really appreciate all the helps I got. I couldn't fix the amplifier problem though. I called the Carver, but their number had been disconnected. Instead, I took my center speaker back to Costco for the exchange. First, I couldn't find any more unit in the store. All units including display were gone. I went another store and found out the display unit was there. I spoke with the sales manager, and he allowed me to exchange it with displayed center speaker. There was a problem though. No sound from one of mid driver which I could fix easily thanks to posted message from everyone. Right now, I don't have any problem with amplifier. I guess at least for the moment. I have one question though. Someone mentioned that these speakers from Costco is not covered by Carver's warranty. I think I might be true. The sales manager from Costco insisted it should be covered by the warranty. However, Carver's phone number is disconnected and their website is gone. Then, what can we do? I think everyone should take a close watch to these speakers if there is any problem right now. If any problem like mine will develope in the future, you might have to face big trouble. Since I've already had enough trouble, I'm going to buy surge protector just to be in safe side. I guess no one want to lose these good speakers. So, I advise you to take good care of these speakers. I think we are in the delicate situation right now in terms of warranty. Thanks.

OK! Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the fix for the humming center channel.It's a simple ground loop problem. Get a plug adapter (3 prong to 2 prong)
and place it in the center channel amp input plug. This will "lift" the ground and should solve the problem. Please post your results on this page.