[earlmarc]

I spoke with Steve Nugent the other day about mods for the ZR-1600 amplifier. During our conversation, he was reviewing the schematics of the amplifier. He seemed very excited about modding this amplifier. He mentioned several things he felt certain would improve the overall sound of this amplifier. I will be sending my amp to him tomorrow and look foward to the outcome. I'll post my impressions once finished.

[NealH]

Let us know what he ends up doing in addition to how it sounds.  If he gets rid of the op-amps and opts for a very direct signal path with discrete transistors or a tube then I may be interested in one.  I like to see a bit of engineering diligence in these mods.

[earlmarc]

Steve has auditioned the stock ZR-1600. His initial impression was the the Carver is a decent sounding amplifier. He felt the amp has a high frequency sibilance that distorts the treble region. He has already began ordering parts. He will begin his mod by bypassing alot of the unneeded circuitry and concentrating on the power supply. After this he will assess its performance and add whatever he deems necessary to take the amp to the next level. His goal is to bring the level of this mod to his Reference Adcom mod. and beyond if possible. I can't wait!

[PeteG]

Thanks, keep us posted.

[TheChairGuy]

rnhood,

I doubt any part of Steve/Audioengr's mod would include tube....he hasn't expressed a fondness for their sound.

Will be interesting to see/hear what he does come up with tho.....

[-Richard-]

I looked up Empirical Audio on the web...their web sight
seems to have a bit of glitch...the top panel that has their logo
displayed is half obscured...I could find no telephone
number anywhere on the sight...

Also Steve does not seem to have posted his
mod for the Carver Professional ZR series of amps yet.
So as Earlmarc has indicated this must still be a work
in progress.

Can anyone post Empirical Audio's telephone number for me...
I would like to chat with Steve about his mod for the ZR 1600.
I realize they have moved to a rather lovely area in Oregon and
Steve seems to work out of his house there.

Question: has anyone done an overview survey of all the mod
gurus who have an interest, or who are currently working on
mods for the ZR amps? If so it would be enlightening to hear
what you have found out.

And perhaps those owners of ZR's in our audio community
who have first hand experience with moded versions of their
amps would like to share their experiences with us.

Nathan Loyer of 8th nerve seems to have a great deal of credibility
for his admittedly conservative mod...and I understand his philosophy
of not tinkering too much with amp design...which always has the potential
to change the sound...not necessarily to make the intrinsic sound of
the original amp "better" or as I would like to see, more refined...
designer sound, so=to-speak., for its own sake..

Yes of course, sooner than later Carver Professional will have their
home audio amps available...but until then, it would be nice to tame
some of the upper frequency "extroversion" of the ZR1600 for not
a great deal of money.

So if anyone has information that would help us ZR owners to render
an intelligent decision of who to use for a mod...
we would be most grateful to you for your help.

Warm regards to all.

-Richard-

[earlmarc]

Steve is still working on the Carver ZR-1600 mod. He has the support of Carver Professional and they are extremely interested to audition his final product. He has consulted with David from Carver during his modification process. In fact, Carver has a prototype two channel home audio amplifier using TriPath that they want to compare with Steve's modded ZR-1600. Steve is going the extra mile with his mod. and I'm sure the final product will be very special!

[TheChairGuy]

Steve is still working on the Carver ZR-1600 mod. He has the support of Carver Professional and they are extremely interested to audition his final product. He has consulted with David from Carver during his modification process. In fact, Carver has a prototype two channel home audio amplifier using TriPath that they want to compare with Steve's modded ZR-1600. Steve is going the extra mile with his mod. and I'm sure the final product will be very special!

Those tweaky Oregon-ers sticking together again!  This should be fun.

[JoshK]

Those tweaky Oregon-ers sticking together again!  This should be fun.

Having worked in Portland for a summer, I think the correct term is Oregonians.  

[TheChairGuy]

Yeah, I know and I remember your not originally from NY...but most native NY'ers pronounce it Ore-gone, not Oregin (or similar).

Seriously, must be something in the air up there for tweekers: Steve Nugent, Dan Wright, Stan Warren and Richard Kern up are all Ore-gonians.

Us here in SF have glaucoma and on medical marijuana - too blind and stoned to tweek.  

[JoshK]

I was just messin'  

You have Alex (APL HiFi) in NoCal.

[TheChairGuy]

I was just messin'  

You have Alex (APL HiFi) in NoCal.

Alex is just a hi-functioning glaucoma patient   .

The rest of us are too stoned to tweek   .