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[RevHitefieldjess]

I have not had any bad experience with carvin products, however upon reading a couple of these threads maybe I should have, and I missed my chance.
Each of the carvin boards and amps ive installed are still in use today, no call backs and the longest has been used for about 7 years.

Why do so many people dislike them?

Just the other day I was talking with a local contractor and he stated is dislike of Carvin and was promoting the big M.  Through the conversation I learned he had never owned used, installed or knew someone with carvin equipment.

So, are you against carvinism or are you a carvinist?

Jesse

[Aaron McQueen]

I think Carvin makes some good stuff and some not so good stuff.  The thing that bothers me the most about Carvin is that they don't make all of their stuff.  So you don't always know what your getting.  Just today I was looking at their in-ear monitor system PM1000, which looks a lot like a rackmounted Nady PEM-500.  It may work fine but you don't always know what your getting.  I've heard really good things about their TRX line of speakers.

[Aaron McQueen]

[RevHitefieldjess]

That is amazing how much alike they are.
They clainm to make their stuff in the US.  I wander if that means everything bearing the carvin name?  surely not!.   I wouldnt think they make the par cans that they sell or the dimmer pak or control sys.


I hav never used their mics or misc items only spkrs, amps and boards.

I would like to add that the carvin version of that ear system looks more pro. than the nady version.  The are obviously the same unit, with cosmetics changed.

Isnt that something.

Jesse

[Aaron McQueen]

I've just always had suspicious about any company that offers such a wide range of products.

I'm a terrible speller.

[Ira White]

Yamaha has a wide range of products and does pretty well. I wouldn't take that as a prime factor.

However, I have experienced Carvin mixers already in a church I came onboard with. Three problems:

1. Their sonic response noticeably deteriorated over a span of 5-10 years until it was a mess of distortion and crosstalk. Hadn't experienced that with the more "reputable" brands. (Faders gave out pretty quick too.)

2. No local support or warranty service. You would have to send the unit all the way back to California for any service, and that's just not acceptable.

3. You really don't know who's making the products, so quality control is essentially up in the air.

I chose to sell the board to a rock band who was more concerned with a great used deal than sound quality (it probably enhanced the "grunge" sound   ), and I got a better brand mixer in the church.

[Aaron McQueen]

Ira White wrote on Wed, 18 October 2006 17:34

Yamaha has a wide range of products and does pretty well. I wouldn't take that as a prime factor.

Given there are a few.

[Handy Brent]

Carvin has Sennheiser building their new RF mics.

The IEMs ARE Nady.

EV USED to provide drivers back in the day.  Then Eminence and B&C (TCS) were used.

They do not provide clear amp specs.  What they advertise and what you get in real world, clean power are two different things.

If you need repairs, you have to send it back or work over the phone.

Most all other brands have authorized service centers nation-wide.

[Tom Young]

The fact that your installations have been up & runnng for so many years is just one part of the equation.

There is a substantial difference between Carvin (and other MI PA equipment) and truly professional sound reinforcement equipment. Among the differences (in loudspeakers) are base system design, driver quality, crossover design, other inter-ldspkr processing (passive or active), enclosure design and construction, overall frequency and phase response, polar response, "arayability", power handling, inter-enclosure rigging design, etc.

If you really want to convince me, others and yourself that Carvin is comparatively "OK", why don't you conduct a comparison with measured response and post them back here ? It doesn't have to be Meyer. It can be Danley Sound Labs, EAW, EV, Renkus Heinz, JBL, McCauley, Yamaha, D&B, Nexo and perhaps a dozen others.

I normally try my best to avoid responding to posts like this as they are an attempt to validate the OP's mind set and support their sub-par approach. But my own ego and integrity (not to mention my desire to keep less-informed folks from wasting their money) come into play and therefore I have responded knowing that you will refute my claim and not take the time to conduct the comparison with measured results. It will boil down to a war of words and statements of opinions.

In closing, I will tell you that in some environments and with measurement followed by considerable amounts of digital processing, a Carvin ldspkr system could be tamed and made to deliver OK performance. I have done this, as have others. But in the same environment the equipment made by the pro manufacturers listed above will far surpass the Carvin system. In more harsh acoustic environments the limitations of the Carvin system will not be possible to overcome.

[RevHitefieldjess]

In an earlier post I mentioned a sound, AV, light pkg for a youth camp.  Carvin hasnt made it into the sellection process (yet).  I haven't looked at speaker specs so I dont know where they would be selectivly leaving off information to make theri speakers appear better,(spec manipulating to present the appearence of better design)
Mainly - I like the carvin SL24 board, still, im leaning to Allen and Heath gl2400 or Soundcraft gb2 24.
Amps will be QSC (Good enough for opryland - good enough for me)
I considered the JBL line array but the building design is better suited for traditional speakers so I am looking at EAW or JBL.
I am only a partial CARVINIST, I dont believe all the way.
I did call them about this system, I will admit that the level of help was very bad.  I felt I was approached with dis-concern and the desire to provide me the client with what the sales persone believes is the best system available.
Every other time (a few years back) the sales person(s) were eager to help, asked questions, listened to my ideas and provided input.

Is there a site that post results of equipment test they have conducted. (dpreview is on for photogrpahers)

Jesse

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