I just bought four sets of these great looking speakers. As you all probably know by now, Costco are selling them for $700.00 excluding shipping & taxes.
If and when they are out of stock, which will happen by next month, I have them for sale for $1,500.00 per set excluding shipping. No taxes - big savings!!!

Again, I had bought four (4) sets of these great speakers.
I'm keeping one for myself but I have some questions:

1. These speakers are 4 Ohms, what are some of the reciever/amp are some of you using to drive these speakers? For example, one of us here are using a Sony ES 50 reciever to drive these speakers. I was told not to use them because I burn up the amps or cause permanent damage to either the reciever or the speaker? Which could i be? Sony and most other recievers out there including Denon, Onnkyo and Yamaha only pumps xxx Watts X 5 @ 8 Ohms only! So what am I to do, I certainly don't want to cause any damage at all to either piece(s). I did however found a amp by HK, Signature 2.1 Amp that pumps 150 Watts X 5 @ 4 Ohms. I think I get this with a Processor with pre-out & return my Denon 5600 DTS unit if indeed this should not be used to drive these speakers. By the way, Denon 5600 dts pumps 140 Watts X 5 @ 8 Ohms. Can someone advise?

Sony DAE-50ES is switchable between 4 and 8 ohms. Whomever told you that it can't be used doesn't know what he is talking about. The Sony also runs cooler at 4 ohms than at 8.Sherman-why did you buy 4 sets anyway?
and Dave-does your wife know you called her stupid?
By the way, their does seem to be an inherant slight buzz from the center channel on the sets I have heard. I guess having 300 watts behind the center channel is difficult enough to do quietly. Still a fabulous buy...

I've had a set of these in my house for about a week now. I'm powering themwith an H/K AVR55. The AVR55 could use a little more power for these speakers,
but it drives them cleanly all the way up to its maximum output.

The speakers sounded a little strident when I first set them up. However, after
a few days listening they mellowed and now sound very good to me. The bass is
nice and tight. The midrange drivers do an excellent job. When listening to
music, I find the tweeters to be a little soft for me. I'd like them to
be a little brighter. When listening to AC3 movies, the speakers sound great
all around.

A few notes about my setup. I had to place the fronts right next to the
TV, so I swapped them left and right so that the woofers play out into
the room. Also, I was unable to place the rears on each side of the couch, and
instead placed them behind the couch playing into the room. They still do
an excellent job filling the room with sound and they sound much larger
than they are. I am also not using the crossover in the center speaker and
instead I am using the AVR55's bass managment.

My one complaint is that their is that the center channel hums when the
amp is plugged in. The hum is constant and appears whenever the unit is
plugged in and the power switch is on, regardless of whether the unit
is in standby or not and regardless of the inputs to the RCA jacks. The
hum is faint, but just loud enough that I can detect it when sitting
about 10 feet away. I was going to swap this set out for another set at
Costco, however they require returning all four speakers and I don't want
to have to move these beasts again, esp since several other people have
reported the same problem. I don't think a new set is likely to fix it.

I'd give these speakers a 5 if not for the hum, esp at $699. I'm going to
give them a 4 for now.

When I read here of the bargain price from Costco, I ordered them the same day. They arrived Jan 1, 1999. Since I didn't have a receiver to drive them, I did some research and purchased the Yamaha RX-V992 and a JVC XV-2000BK DVD player (I have a JVC 35" TV).
The system is unbelievable! Godzilla will blow you away. Clean, bright, with smooth bass transitions. It is an audiovisual experience. (BTW I don't have the hum in the center speakers.)

Very nice and informative review, Bill!
I think and hope, with better amp/receiver, this package will sound much better, including the occasionally reported not-so-full mid range".

By the way, I'm not sure if I qualify for being an audiophile because I don't know how people define it. If you have to have spent a fortune on equipment to qualify, then I am not. If it's defined as someone who's very meticulous about sound quality and have the capability to actually hear the differences, then I am (one of those very rational ones though).

I just bought these speakers from Circuit City. They sound very good. I have no problem with the CENTER channel, The only time I can hear anything is whenever I put my ear right at the CENTER channel speaker, and what I hear is the power supply sound for the Powered SUBS(which most people can not hear). One suggestion I have is for the people who are having problems, Are you using any can of power surge protector or are you hooking it up directly to the outlet, I have a cheap surge protector that I am unsing, I do not know if this have anything to with it or not, but the surge protector should be able to get some electromagntic field problems, current spikes, fluctuations and so forth. Also I would try getting a long extension cord and hooking the CENTER to a different outlet and see if that helps.BTW I am using a 2095 YAMAHA receiver with these speakers.

mike

I see that almost all of us are being bothered by the hummingof the center channel .I called Carver about it and gave me the phone number of this shop the guys who work there are former Carver employees.they gave me a couple of phone numbers to call in NY but nobody wants to deal with them, and they sent me back to Everett and because I bought them also at COSTCO they dont want to honor the warranty because is not an authorised dealer and they told me that the fix of the problem would cost around $150(with shipping)and it would take a couple of weeks (4or more if they cannot find the parts).Other than that this speakers are great.
Let's hope that now that (John Carver's)SUNFIRE is taking over that our warranties will be honored .Cross your fingers!!!
Carver< phone #'S:(425)335-1978
Everett Audio:(425)339-8404 ///3006Rucker ave. Everett, WA 98201

I have Carver 5.2 speakers and I don't regret buying them. They sound exceptionaly well. I'd recommend them to anyone that wants to buy speakers.I do experience the problem with the buzzing noise from the center channel. It's not loud, but can be noticable. The proposed fix below won't work, since the power cord itself is already 2 prones and it doesn't have ground prone. Even the power connector at the center channel end only has 2 prones. The buzzing sound is the 60 Hz power line frequency. The amplifier is too close to the speaker and its power supply generates enough energy to transmitt the 60 Hz frequency to the speaker. Speaker picks it up through the coil and speaker wires. Has anyone tried reversing the polarity of the AC plug? Does anyone have any other solutions to this problem. I really like the speakers and like to keep them.

I have purchased the 5.2's and consider the power amp buzz syndrome to be a minor irritation. If I find it objectionable, I'll simply use the bass management in my A/V receiver, and power the subs with my old stereo power amp.I have an old Carver Cube, 200W/side, which should fill the bill nicely. At this price, the sub amp problem seems a minor irritant, at best.