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Can I repair a $20 thrifted audiophile CARVER CD player?
Can I repair a $20 thrifted audiophile CARVER CD player?
#repair #thrifted #audiophile #CARVER #player
“Forever Analog”
I was so happy to find this vintage CD play at the thrift store, but unfortunately, it’s not working. Can I fix it? Join my email list: …
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That door on the tray seems like it slams a little deep try backing that top gear off a tooth or two and see if that quiet the sound of that tray moving in and out
I have the original Carver CD player. It came from an estate auction along with other items including a Carver MXR150 receiver. Mine needed 2 belts, one for the drawer and one for the laser. I got the remote too. It's a nostalgia item for me.
FYI: Manuals, Owner's and Service Manuals – for the 3300, and other Carver gear, are available for FREE on TheCarverSite.
Oh, yes, FYI, and for anyone wondering what happened to the "DTL" feature in later Carver CD players, they renamed the feature "Soft EQ" on later models. Engages with a button, just like the DTL circuit, and presumably, the function improves with later iterations like on the Carver SD/A 490t tube-based CD player released in the early 90's.
you also paid for the gas
Great find. Get the greaseprints off of the faceplate and that thing'll look minty. I've never owned a Carver CD player but I did have both the 'outboard' Digtal Time Lens DTL and the C-9 Sonic Hologram Generator processors back in the '80s, as well as a dbx 3bx III Dynamic Range Expander. I never was a 'straight wire with gain' type of listener, and loved signal processors. Anyway, not all early CDs were harsh, but the DTL did bring some warmth and life to sterile sounding discs. BTW a 'L-R' wiring configuration (aka Hafler circuit) to a rear set of speakers will draw the music out into the room from the left and right mains and add a lot of depth/ambience to a regular stereo set-up. This was pretty much my sound set-up until DSP became available.
Difference in left minus right time? This sounds sketchy. But I'm the 70s and 80s there was a lot of that hi-fi vudu out there with questionable value. Then again I saw a catalog for one of those type vendors just a few years ago and that kind of thing still exists. And boy do they use some silly stuff and make some outrageous claims.
"which is just 16 bits"
And that's all CDs have on then. Sheesh
My biggest concern was it was a Sanyo chip. Not know for their quality and Carver picked it? What the heck!
Carver my first venture into audio was great stuff back in the day
Audiophile?! Complete run of the mill with plastic parts all over.
7:00
Anyone else shouting "PRESS THE DISPLAY BUTTON!"?
Great job getting the Carver CD player working properly again. I heard you mention in the video that you have a vintage store in Murfreesboro, and as I live in Gallatin TN, that grabbed my attention! So I have watched some of your videos and decided to follow your channel!
Wow… I'd not heard of Carver for years! Forgot about these.
My Dad has an early 90s Carver system – Preamp tuner with Dolby Pro-Logic and “Sonic Holography” mode, power amp rated at 250w per channel and the “Amazing Loudspeaker” AL-III floorstanders. He never bought any of the Carver CD players, ran a JVC single disc player then later a five-disc changer. That Carver CD player would look pretty nice with the rest of his gear. And on a side note, we live less than a mile from where Carver Corp. used to have their facilities here in Lynnwood, WA. My Dad met Bob at one of the local former Magnolia Hi-Fi stores when Bob launched one of the first Sunfire products (the Cinema Grand power amp) and held a demo.
Have an Onkyo Integra CD player just needed a little weight to counter a worn spring. 30 bucks. Completes a full Onkyo rack (506rs) great finds out there!
MINE !!! Free
Had an ADC from the 80s. It’s got a lock/unlock switch in the bottom of the case
Glad it all worked out fir you.
I have a Carver tl-3200 cd player it doesn't read any of my cds
I think the DTL feature messes with phase slightly to provide a more diffuse sound.
I had been searching for a replacement CD player for at least four years at thrift stores. I settled on a Sony 5 disc changer with toslink out and remote for under $20. I would still love to find a better model. With times so tough, it's been difficult finding great items second hand. Too many re-sellers! Brilliant find btw! Exactly what I was looking for.
I found a monster of a Macintosh CD player that I think needs a new lens. Can't replace that myself. May pay to do it sometime
I have a neat Carver receiver of the same vintage. It works fine. It needs some knobs though.
Long Live Compact Disk. This was an exciting adventure dude good for you
As a 55-year-old Gen Xer, I just find it so amazing how poorly they delivered the CD listening experience back in the day. The utter crap-level DACs in even higher-end players meant we never got close to what digital can actually offer. I have a Marantz player that was $400 in 1995 and it gets absolutely destroyed by a $59 Walmart Blu-ray player used as a transport for Schitt Modi 3. For a little more than $200 in 2024 money I have sonically far superior option to what would be $825 adjusted.
YOU did good 👍 awesome find
Nice score… Have picked up several Carver units lately… But still looking for the cd player…
I had this exact same CD player. I had it paired with a Luxman receiver and Advent speakers. This system sounded fantastic!
As time marched on, I really enjoyed home theater. I purchased a Sony 4K blu-ray player, and began playing my CD's through it. I compared it to the Carver. The Sony blu-ray player was clearly superior. Not surprising as the Carver was much older.
Not taking anything away from the Carver. It was truly great in it's day, and gave me many hours of enjoyment!
John from Canada 🇨🇦
Great job! i picked up a Denon 5 disc changer that appeared to work at a thrift store a few weeks ago mainly because i read it had a good Burr Brown DAC and nice warmer sound to it and found that it was having a hard time reading any CDs esp the more i tried to play them and had crazy distortion when they did play. opened it up and found bad capacitors in the power supply section replaced them and its running like a top now for weeks!