Well I have the Carver 5.1 which I think is awesome. Does anyone know where to get speaker stands for the front speakers there rather large compared with conventional surround speakers?
Thanks Scott

I have now had the opportunity to listen to this system for three months, with three different receivers, Harmon Kardon AVR-40, Sony STR 915, and Denon 3600 DTS.
I have appreciated these speakers with all three, but it must be said that this system responds best when driven by higher quality electronics. There is little doubt that it is most impressive when using the Denon receiver.

However, as this is a speaker system review, I shall evaluate the speakers, not the front end electronics. That said, I give this system an enthusiastic thumbs up!

From the top, the sound is coherent, with smooth blending on the sound across the front system. The main speakers integrate quite well with the center, and the surrounds offer plenty of bass to give good effects on Dolby Digital sound tracks and music. I noted a bit of "chestiness" on a very few male voices, most notably off the "Three Tenors" CD when played in Dolby Surround, but in movies this was not apparent, and the "Three Tenors" is not Dolby encoded so is not a fair test. Female voices sounded a bit thin when Stereo CD is played in Dolby as well, but once again, this may not be a fair example. My Center sits on top of a 36" Mitsubishi, so some of both effects could be reflection and refraction off the large glass expanse, or even some TV cabinet resonance. The surround operate wonderfully to give a full, enveloping feel to well recorded DVD's and even Dolby Surround encoded material.

In Stereo playback, voices are clean, clear, and without any noticeable distortion. The midrange is warm, but not laid back at all, though there is noticeable improvement in this aspect when the more expensive Denon is used. Treble response is appropriate, never brittle or harsh, though I have heard a bit more air and sparkle in similar towers from Definitive Technology, NHT, and Atlantic Technology, albeit at significantly higher prices. I believe Carver chose to roll off the top end slightly to avoid the harshness in some movie soundtracks, particularly as this system was developed for Home Theater versus Audiophile style listening.

Bass response is remarkable, with the 300 watt Lightstar amplifier driving the 10" woofers to prodigious levels in my 14'x 18'x 9' Home Theater room. The floors and walls throb with the low frequencies this system so capably reproduces. Even well recorded and broadcast TV programs produce intriguing low frequency effects, as a recent "Star Trek, The Next Generation" had my brother in law questioning where the palpable sound pressure was coming from.

I have experienced no problems with any of the speakers in the system, save one short crackle later traced to a bad church mode effect in the Sony. Neither my system nor a good friend who uses the system in his home theater, equipped with a Denon 3600 DTS and Mitsubishi 70" rear projector, have experienced the Center Channel "hum" found by others.

Overall, I would have to rate this system at 5 stars, comparable to much more expensive systems. Currently available at Costco for $699.00, this system is a true BEST BUY.

nice looking,good sounding,great for home thearter

Great sounding system at a great price after you weed out and correct all the factory screw-ups. Here is another bug I discovered on my system. The crossover bypass switch is backwards on my system. When the switch is "off", the high pass outputs should not have 100hz and below on them. Mine was backwards and was muddying the highs and midrange(by sending the low bass to the top of the towers). When put in the correct position, the highs and midrange came alive and the clarity was dynamically improved. The owner's manual shows the switch labelled opposite of what it actually is on the back of the center speaker enclosure. If you have the switch in the "on" position to defeat the crossover, you could be double-crossovered, if your unit has the same problem as mine. Did Carver get anything right on these??!! I rate the sound of these systems as a five but will only give them a four because you have to be a technician to fix all the defects.

These speakers are great for the money, even if there are a few flaws here and there. I'm currently running them off my Denon 2700 receiver, and have had no problems with the 4ohm resistance of these speakers. For 700 bucks at Costco, you really can't beat this deal. Good vocals, good imaging, and the subs are enough to shake the floor. The hum's there, but it's not noticeable to me even a few feet away. I'm assuming the drivers are all by Peerless...anyone know anything about this company? Also, has anyone bothered attaching the pointed feet on the bottom of the speakers, and if so, do they make much of a difference?

I purchased the 5.2s the other day from Costco, thanks to this fabulous review board. I used to be in the audio business having been a mid-high end audio manager, factory rep, and wholesale rep. I bought them without a listening test, a real no-no, on the strength of these reveiws, and also a Stereo Review test report on AOL. I had been using Definitive Technology BP-6s(the smallest tower), with a Nakamichi AV-1 surround sound receiver, in pure stereo, and have been wanting to go to a full surround system.
First of all, let me say that I doubt that anyone will ever be able to get any warranty work, and perhaps no service support from the factory. I can tell you that having been in the business, the management will think that the people who bought "on the cheap" don't deserve much. Having said that, it would be prudent for someone to get a service manual from the factory for any future necessary repairs-especially the amp. If someone who has a little extra time could get a service manual, and make copies for all us owners for some sort of nominal charge like $5 or so each, we would have a better chance with future service.

I was very lucky to get a system with no hum, and thanks to Curt from Mi, I was able to fix the center channel right bass in the way that Curt described. Thanks very much, Curt! As someone just noted, if the humming problem is as theorized, some shielding between the amp and the drivers may help. This shouldn't be too difficult. I did notice that there was no acoustical damping material inside the cabinet. If there are any quasi-speaker designers who could comment on the use of some damping materials, and what kind would be best. If anyone has had the tower tops apart, I wonder if there is any damping material in there.

Now for some comments. I was very impressed with the clarity, transient response, bass reach, impact and tightness, and imaging of the towers. In fact, with some good movie material, the speakers delivered some outstanding sound. However, as a pure audio speaker, I found the sound somewhat sterile, dry, and almost lifeless. My opinion is that my Definitives are warmer, and more musical.(my family too) listening to pure audio. My Definitives give up some bass, and some transient qualities. I hooked it up using the subs from the Carver, and using the Definitives for the rest. Very nice. My wife says no to this arrangement, and also says no to using the Definitives as rear speakers. Where are her priorities? Anyway, I would like to give the speakers, a 5 for Cinema, and 4 for audio, with a 4 1/2 overall rating.....

At first, I couldn't believe Costco was selling a Carver product. I checked them out and I wasn't impressed with the sound. Not the speakers fault, the employees had them wired wrong. I took a gamble because it was the last boxed set, and I don't regret buying them. They sound awesome! The built in amp for the subs really puts out plenty of power to feel the base. However, I also had the same center channel hum. A quick run to a video repair relocated the crossover to the right of the right speaker. No more hummmmm! It costed me$30 so take advantage of the savings. On the other hand, I just discovered my left center speaker does not work. Hopefully with all the reviews, I can put two and two together. When it come to stereo equipment, it's like choosing between a Chevy and a Ford. I like Fords and I have been a Carver man for years!

This is one of the worst speaker systems I have ever heard. The center underperforms for the hefty price tag, and housing the two amps for the subwoofers in the front speakers makes it unneccessarily large and heavy for a center......aside from that, the mains are unsightly, with poor to average midrange performance for both music and for DD software. They are power hungry and require too much low-end drive for not enough bass response. For the $2500 price tag, you could look at a B&W, AR, Polk Audio, Infinity, or even a set of harmonically tuned trashcans that would sound better. The fact the the rears are bipole-dipole, and that the system overall gets so loud as to cover up its poor sonice performance, are the only two positives about this system at all. The best sound these speakers made was the groan they made
when I turned them off...

In response the previous review, I doubt anybody paid $2500 for these and they currently can be had for under $1000. For DD nothing can touch them in their price range. For music they sound excellent. I don't know where you heard these (Costco?) but they probably were not hooked up correctly. I thought these were a step above Def Techs and close to NHT VT-2's. I prefer direct for surrounds but these did a more than adequate job on all soundtracks. I think when these were designed ProLogic was taken into consideration more so than DD so that is why the surrounds are dipole. Try putting together a dual sub, high quality, brand new system for under $1000 and please post your recommendations otherwise I would give these a second listen. BTW, the center blends perfectly with the mains and sounds crystal clear so what does it matter how much it weighs?

Well I finally got my Carver 5.2 hooked up with the Sony 50ES and let me say one thing. If you can still get your hands on these speakers get a set!!!! The sound is awesome in both music and home theater. I had to make the center channel fix(THANKS CURT) and once that was done what a system. I will also plug the Sony receiver. What an amazing receiver!!!!! Especially now that Sony is going to exchange the bad remote with a new better one!!!! My rating would be six stars but I guess five is tops. All this with NO CENTER HUM!!!!!!