Picked up a Carver M-500 at the thrift store...

To be specific, it was the Marysville Goodwill store, but I'm not sure if that makes any difference or if it was just the luck of the draw. It (and many local, inner Puget Sound Goodwill stores) are tied into the "Seattle Goodwill" consortium, and they ship merchandise as far north as Mt. Vernon, and as far south as Federal Way, I believe. The price: $25 with a 7 day return if I was not satisfied for any reason.

I'm working now to come up with a reasonably quick way I can A/B it with my current amp, given the funky connectors (incompatible with banana plugs, it appears) that came stock on the M-500.

thats the story, I was lookin for.....

you got a great score.

I'm working now to come up with a reasonably quick way I can A/B it with my current amp, given the funky connectors (incompatible with banana plugs, it appears) that came stock on the M-500.[/quote]

Just run a short set of jumper wires off your banana plugs. Use the banana's for amp A and the jumpers for amp B.

Nice Find, and at a great price!!! Congrats. Glad you got it working.

I'm working now to come up with a reasonably quick way I can A/B it with my current amp, given the funky connectors (incompatible with banana plugs, it appears) that came stock on the M-500.

Just run a short set of jumper wires off your banana plugs. Use the banana's for amp A and the jumpers for amp B.

Great minds must think alike - that's what I thought of last night as well. I'm going to secure the supplies I need today and try it tonight! I've never owned an M-500 before and never listened to one, to speak of (my buddy, however, does own an M-500t). I'm really curious how it will sound.

FYI, the rest of my current listening station includes:

- Sunfire Vacuum Tube Preamp
- Sunfire 300 ~two Amplifier
- Sunfire TSEQ-10 Subwoofer
- Sunfire CRM-2 Cinema Ribbon Speakers
- Carver TX-11 FM Tuner
- Carver C-9 Sonic Hologram Generator
- Rotel RCD-1072 CD Player
- Rega P5 Turntable (w/ TT-PSU Power Supply) and Ortofon Super OM 40 cartridge

... and a bunch of CDs and LPs that I can listen to!

- Sunfire Vacuum Tube Preamp
- Sunfire 300 ~two Amplifier
- Sunfire TSEQ-10 Subwoofer
- Sunfire CRM-2 Cinema Ribbon Speakers
- Carver TX-11 FM Tuner
- Carver C-9 Sonic Hologram Generator
- Rotel RCD-1072 CD Player
- Rega P5 Turntable (w/ TT-PSU Power Supply) and Ortofon Super OM 40 cartridge

... and a bunch of CDs and LPs that I can listen to!

Thats a nice setup, what tubes do you run in the Preamp?

I'm running 'old' Sovtek tubes on the main preamp PCB, with NOS Telefunken and RCA tubes on the phono PCB.

Listened to the M-500 last night. Based on memory alone, it not only sounded different from my Sunfire, but also from my M-1.5t (currently in storage) of nearly the same vintage. I'm going to drag out the M-1.5t soon and actually compare it against the M-500. One thing that is very cool (to me) about the M-500 are the large meters on the front panel. Watching them dance about is almost as much fun as listening to the music!

The M500 is certainly Bob's best looking amp.

And maybe the best looking amp period.

A reputation of being "very musical" as well.

The M500 is certainly Bob's best looking amp.

And maybe the best looking amp period.

A reputation of being "very musical" as well.

It definitely sounds different! And not all that bad, either. Of course, my pair of CRM-2 speakers does not put a significant (current) load on the amp, compared to ALS or some other models.