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Excellent Rock solid preamp ! All the bells & whistles are great but you don't have to use them . Lots of switched & un-switched AC plugs ...very musical sound which becomes a tic more clinical when using some of the manipulations. MC cartridge input (with variable step up ). Sounds great !
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
The C4000 is a good preamp, and compliments the rest of that era's Carver equipment. That being said, it has two nits - the layout of the control buttons are a bit weird, and it has Carver's poor choice of lettering color that forces you to practically need a flashlight to read the labels in anything but bright light. It seems that Bob Carver was still trying to find the "look" for his equipment, and the C4000 is the 2nd "look" (dark grey with light grey lettering) of 3 that was used before he left the Company and the "look" was changed again to black with white lettering.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Vintage Carver audio gear is some of the most desirable electronics available from the "golden age" between the late 60's to about the mid 80's. It was so well engineered for excellent audio quality and was built to last. This combination has left Carver with a loyal following of dedicated audiophiles. Audio forums like theCarversite.com have members taht help each other maintain and even improve their Carver gear. There are many other audio forums that also have groups of Caver followers. Bob Carver was the genius behind the brand and he pioneered many unique and useful innovations in high-end home entertainment stereo electronics. The C-4000 may be the falgship of the line and is the "Swiss army knife" of preamps. It features nearly all of the sound processing ideas Bob Carver had come up with back then. It's a massive component and I find the Carver C-1 to be a more manageable sized preamp. The C-1 is also slightly sweeter sounding to my ears, and a bit more musical. The C-4000 has many virtues and has a very accurate sound that to me is almost to the point of being clinical. The style of this old Carver stuff has help it maintain it's popularity as well. It's beautiful, timeless and if it's not already, should be in the museum of modern art. If the price is right you could do much worse than a C-4000 preanp. In the future I predict that it will become one of the most popular and collectable pieces of all vintage Carver audio equipment.Read full review
Ebay asked for review. It is always a gamble on these (very old) vintage pieces of gear. Mostly I have had good luck. I bought this because I have had a Carver amp which has worked beautifully for several years. Audiophile evaluations are pretty subjective but my Carver amp just sounded better than my orher amps so, when the price was right I bought the preamp to go with it. This particular preamplifier is loaded with extras which can be experimented (played) with on cold winter days but none can really be considered "necessary". If your are really (acience) geeky, find the manual and read the section on Sonic Holography - a facinating read - even if you are not planning on buying this unit. You can definately spend more money on gear but, Carver in general is a great bet. The reason I only give it 4 stars is because it is probably 30 years of so old.Read full review
I bought one of these beasts new in 1985. At first they are fascinating with the huge holographic image that they portray when speakers are place equidistant to the listener. Pink Floyd The Wall is amazing. But the actual sound (instruments) are colored and artificial sounding. I ended up purchasing an Audio Research SP9 MkII which sounded MUCH better and more natural. I never quite figured out the auto correlater and peak unlimiter. they did not do much in my system. For true audiophiles you wont' be satisfied with these sonic timing tricks because the sound is degraded, but they are nonetheless a fascinating piece of equipment. I also owned a small carver cube amp I blew when I turned up my Pioneer CS 905 speakers also. Carver was musical genius. I put him in the same catgory as Bose although most of Bose fame was because of relentless marketing.Read full review
Verified purchase: No