ferenc5

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $200.00 from ebay

Summary:
After reading the prior two reviews, thought I'd put in my 2 cents. I am using this preamp with a M500t and a pair of Ohm Mk200 upgrades on my old Walsh 4's. There is nothing audible at all when powering on or off either amp or preamp. I was going to hold out for the ct-17 at a decent price on ebay, but I took a chance on the ct-23 and I am quite happy with it. There is nothing audibly detectable coming through the preamp other than whichever source you are using. I plugged the cd player directly into the m500t just to check this and could tell no difference. The sonic holography is a neat feature, although I haven't got the optimal speaker placement for the best results. I think for the money this is a great preamp. You only get out of it what you put into it. I have yet to test the headphone outs as the darn dog chewed through the cord on my Stax. I may still get a ct17 just for comparison.

Strengths:
Very clean, does not add or remove anything audible.

Weaknesses:
Remote control button placement is a little awkward. Possibly designed by a retard (left handed retard).

Price Paid:  $429.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
I had to take a minute and give this a review as the previous review is inaccurate. this preamp tuner is 100% Bob Carver. I have listened to sunfire equiptment and this is up to the specs. If you can find one pick it up and enjoy! I have a pair of Walch 5's on this system and it's incredible. I have been using cables from bettercables.com. I noticed some reviews don't mention cables and when I e-mail these folks doing the reviews oftne they have generic junk. Reviews are great if the person knows what they are doing. About 1/2 the reviews here are written by well meaning but uninformed audioweenies!

Strengths:
Clean bass; accurate treble; outstanding stereo seperation and perfectly quiet.

Weaknesses:
Tuner needs an amplified Terk antena and then it's fine!

Similar Products Used:
Conrad Johnson

Summary:
This review pains me to have to write it, but the truth will be out. I purchased this preamp for three reasons. One:It is a straight stereo pre-amp at a reasonable price. Two:It has Bobs' sonic holigraphy circuit. Three: I have always liked the Carver products, as they have always been a good value at great prices. So, when I found the CT-23 in a demo room at Circuit City, an open box bargain. I brought it home. I use it to drive a TFM-35X which then drives a new pair of 901s'. That aspect is all fine and well. But...early one Sunday morning, not wanting to wake up the wife or the neighborhood, thought I'd plug in a set of headphones and listen quietly. Whoa. Total Shock. The headphone pre-amp section of this unit isn't just a little bit off, it is way off. Shrill, thin, no bass, sharp, tinny, what other adjectives are there? The headphone jack on my camping Sony boombox (CPD-758) is twice as good. The output of any of the four home units I have, from Aiwa, JVC, Phillips(CD-R), and espcially an older Onkyo (DX-702) simply are light years ahead. So what happened here? Clearly someone at Carver just slapped together a headphone circuit and threw it in there, without even doing some teat-bench work or just plain good ol'-fashioned listening. Lucky for me I have other signal sources. But if you are looking for one place to plug in some phones, this is not the pre-amp for you. Pity, because the rest of the unit works fine, has a nice standby capacity, a decent tuner, handy illuminated volume control and lovable rack handles. If you are looking for a bargain Pre-Amp, check out an Onkyo P-301 and find a tuner, either a matching Onyko; which really are quite good, or some other. Sorry to say this Carver, but this one is a stinker. Ooof, that hurts.