These speakers are better then most anything you can find in the sub $1000 price range. Anyone who is comparing them to mls or soundlabs, you're nuts. These things have got a nasty top end, with a bloated bottom. They are not +/- 1.5DB across the spectrum, I've measured these things to around +/- 4.5db from 250hz to 2.9khz (where they should have a hf driver, my god 2.9khz and up sound like crap!) Yes, the mid-range transparency is excellent, this would be why these ribbons were used in the Genesis 1s, but the platinum's top and bottom end suck and you also have to remember that genesis had to notch filter these bad boys to tame them.

Superior highs and mids, nothing I've ever heard beats a ribbon.

Very wide, they take up a lot of space. Because of the thin design, when a lot of bass is applied at high volumes, the speaker rattles making the bass seem less sharp.

By far the best sounding speaker I've ever heard with the exception of Apogees Scintilla and Diva, both full ribbon speakers. The Platinum ALS blow away any electrostatic or box speaker I've ever heard.

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I've never owned a speaker that held a candle to these. I've got a pair of Infinity RS4Bs, but the sound quality does not compare to the Platinum ALS.

Clarity, crispness, effortlessness, "wow factor" when seeing and hearing them for the first time. Most people just sit and smile. I've had them for 4 years now and sometimes I just sit and grin myself.

They're big and they need a lot of air space.

Mated to a TFM55x and a TFM 45. I've listed to box speakers to $4,000 a pair and IMHO they're not even close. I like the Martin Logans to $5,000 but they seem to lack the some crispness in the mids and highs and, of course, the punch on the low end, in comparison.

I was shown a set of these by Bob Carver's wife at their factory listening room in Lynnwood, WA 12 years ago and I knew I would have them when I could afford them. What will Carver do for an encore at Sunfire?

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Nothing close.

I own the mkIV iteration of this fine loudspeaker (oak finish). It is quite simply the finest transducer I have heard. Although I take the opportunity to listen to newer speakers whenever I can, I have never been tempted to replace my Carvers.
These speakers have an incredibly flat frequency response (+/- 1.5db 25Hz to 20kHz as measured in Issue #16 of the Audio Critic; +1/-2db 63Hz to 16kHz as measured in Volume 18, Issue 1 of the Boston Audio Society Speaker). The accuracy of this speaker is easily apparent in its perfectly neutral rendition of both male and female voices. Bass response is excellent with palpable low frequency energy even at modest listening levels.

The speaker also has a wide and spacious dipole soundstage and terrific imaging. It is interesting that the volume hardly changes even as you approach quite close to the speaker. The speaker is very sensitive to placement and must be pulled back quite a ways from the rear wall.

Highly Recommended (if you can find a pair on the used market).

I have the Mark IV version and I find them to be "Amazing"! The first thing I noticed when I set these speakers up in my listening room was how open or transparent they sounded . It seemed as if the sound was coming from all around the room. At first this seemed rather strange and took a week or two to get used too. But now I can't stand to listening to music from any other speaker then the Platinums. The Amp I am running is the Sufinre 300x2. I can play it so loud with this amp that the midrange adjustment on the back of the speaker get so hot that it smokes. So loud that my ears are ringing. Well I can make any speaker make my ears ring but they won't sound as good as these speakers. I can give the Platniums as much power as the Sunfire has and they are still just as clear as if I were hearing them at minimal levels. The 4 12" woofers in each speaker can move so much air, that they can punch the grill cloth an inch or so out. The dipole bass sounds better then any other bass I've ever heard. The response is so flat on the bass (all the way down to 20hz) that it will make the addition of any subwoofer a down grade. These speakers do not need a subwoofer! The bass is full, rich and is extremly real. I have made sealed subs with a qtc around .7 and I don't think they sound as good as the Platniums. I don't think that you can really compete with open baffle bass because the driver is working indepently from an enclosure. If you ever find a pair of these speakers, get them, I picked mine up for $1300 and it is a steal. Some people say they are the best speakers at any price, I won't say such a thing, but I am happy with mine. I recently listened to a pair of Martin Logan reQuests and although I think they are a great speaker. I don't think they sound a good as the Platniums. They Martin Logans had some of the same sound qualities as the Platniums but missed out on bass and you can't play them as loud as the Platniums. The Martin Logans also cost 8k and Mine were $1300.

I've owned my Platinums for about ten years (Serial # 2) I bought them new when I lived in Chicago. They have survived 7 moves. I used to go out to stereo shops all the time and listen to all of the cool speakers. I haven't done thatfor ten years. In my experience I've never heard a speaker that is both punchy
and robust and also delicate, transparent and pristine. These speakers do this
in a big way. These baby's are like a member of the family. They are kinda huge though.

that magic ribbon tweeter, gut shaking bass, very open sound that a box speaker just can't match

size, original ribbons loosen up over time, lots of placement tweaking to get them to sound their best, power hungry

I've had my Amazing's for about 8 years and can't say enough about how much I love them. I bought them used for $800. They are the original series (#906 and 907) that had the 2 30" ribbons. The previous owner updated them to the 60" ribbons and crossovers. He had to move and couldn't take them so I picked them up cheap. Best deal I've ever gotten.
I have listened to several Magnepan's and Martin Logan's and would not trade these for any of the models I've heard up to $8000/pair. The Maggies seemed too bright at the very top and also don't like to played very loud. The Martin Logans I've heard don't have the powerful mid range that the Amazings are capable of. A snare drum on the Logans doesn't have the snap that you can feel like the Amazings.
Niether the Maggies or the Logans can hold a candle to the Amazings in the bass department. The Amazings have a low end that is effortless, yet powerful and deep when need be. Put in an organ disc with a 16hz pedal and prepare to be shaken. Sometimes they might seem a little shy in the low end but that is because they do not over-exaggerate like 99% of box speakers. They only play the bass that is really in the rcording. The down side is that they require a ton of power to bring them to life. By lots of power I mean at least 350wpc@4 ohms. The amp that I use to drive them is an old Marantz 500 which puts out more than 500wpc @ 4ohms. Depending on the music and how loud I play them, I find myself wishing that I had more power. I'm planning on purchasing a Sunfie Signature sometime in the future just for this reason. I can only imagine how good they would sound with this killer amp and it's 1200wpc @ 4ohms.
I have changed a couple of things on them after I bought them. I replaced the capacitors in the crossovers with better quality caps and also changed the wire going to all the drivers with some nice Phoenix Gold wire. It made a nice improvement but took quite awhile to solder everything. I thought about using Kimber Kable but I couldn't bring myself to such an ungodly time consuming wiring project(4 times the conductors). Another trick was to put solid cement blocks on the pedstal stands to keep the speaker from rocking back and forth because of high playback levels and very low bass. It really improves the low end and tightens it up, plus it's a cheap tweak.
If you are plan on buying a pair of these be prepared to spend $600 sometime down the road to have the ribbons rebuilt. Over time the Kapton ribbon material loosens up and casues a buzzing noise. Mine are in need of being rebuilt and I plan on sending them to Dave@carveraudio.com to be repaired. He uses a different material that doesn't stretch but still has the same frequency response as the original.
They are hard to find but if you like the sound of ribbons or electrostaics you won't find a speaker that does it as well as the Amazings for anywhere near the price. Highly recommended.

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