-=> Quoting Matt Ion to T Owen <=-
 MI> they must be extremely large, the ribbons are relatively very
 MI> fragile, they're hugely inefficient,
        Well, 86dB isn't horrendously inefficient.  Carver's ribbons
are actually one of the more efficient designs due to having one of
the highest gauss fields around in the magnet structure.  I'm told
that if you replace the passive crossover with an active one,
efficiency goes up another 3dB, which is then fairly reasonable.  I'm
not sure about the 10" woofers, though.  That's were I've had some
problems trying to drive them and the ribbons at the same time.  I'm
still not exactly sure what the problem is.  It may be a problem in
the crossover as I've reasoned that if the amp was actually clipping,
the left speaker should "crackle" too since my amp uses one power
supply for both channels.  There must be some sort of feedback or
something going on at high levels.  Meanwhile, I've found they're not
even needed as my sub crosses straight to the ribbons just fine when I
have it set for 90Hz and 18dB above flat (which is where I like it
anyways).
 MI>  and being an entirely capacitive load, require an amp that can
 MI>  deliver *LOTS* of current.
        Where did you get that idea?  Without the passive crossover,
the ribbons are almost totally resistive from what I've been told.
It's the passive crossover that makes it a tough load, although hardly
"entirely capacitive." All the better reason to go fully active,
although that would require having two amps.  Although with the
strange problems I've had, I'd want two anyways if I were going to use
those 10" woofers, given my past problems.
 * AmyBW v2.14 *
... "Apple" (c) Copyright 1767, Sir Isaac Newton.
--- FLAME v1.1
---------------