Bob Carver 180 Mono-blocks perform superbly

01-04-12: Thankful

The Cherry 180 is a special amp. Does things I would not have imagined tubes would do well, like lightening dynamics and extended tight bass and ability to drive 1 ohm load.

There are tube amps that have high power, speed, extended bandwidth and tight bass (e.g., the VTL Siegfried Reference), but they're really expensive, hot and huge. It looks like one of the breakthroughs on these Bob Carvers is bringing this performance profile to more more affordable levels and reasonable size. No small feat.

Dracule - totally agree with your statement. The 180's are amazing tube amps. I love what they have done for my system.

There are some clips of Bob Carver on Youtube talking about his amps (ss vs tube etc.). Very informative information.

Dracule
The Cherry 180 is a special amp. Does things I would not have imagined tubes would do well, like lightening dynamics and extended tight bass and ability to drive 1 ohm load.

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Below is an email conversation that I had with Bob Carver asking why the Silver 900's only come single ended with no XLR option.

Dear mitch4t,

Hi '4t,

No XLR connections on my amplifiers! I get great sound with a single ended vintage RCA input. The amplifier itself is fully balanced from input to output. Balanced connectors are useful for preventing hum and noise pickup during extra long runs, as in pro applications. As for home audio installations I think great sound comes from single ended vintage connections.

Thanks for writing.

All the Best,

Bob Carver
- audioshopper Click "respond" to reply through Messages, or go to your email to reply
________________________________________
From: mitch4t
To: audioshopper
Subject: mitch4t has sent a question about item #180535475192, ending on Jul-29-10 16:57:47 PDT - Stereo Pair Monoblock Tube Amplifiers Amps Carver
Sent Date: Jul-23-10 20:09:12 PDT


Dear audioshopper,

Are xlr connections an option on your amps? Are they a fully balanced design? I have a preamp with balanced connections and single ended connections. I prefer to use the balanced connections when possible.
- mitch4t

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The Apogee Scintilla comes to mind for the Siver 900. They're Bobs favorite speakers. In personal communication, Bob has always stated he likes the sound of tubes over SS. The Cherry 180 is a special amp. Does things I would not have imagined tubes would do well, like lightening dynamics and extended tight bass and ability to drive 1 ohm load.

The Silver 900's are beast.

What type of speaker would you need this much power for?

01-02-12: Mitch4t
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I have been following Bob Carver's listings of his amps on eBay over the last year. He has totally redesigned his legendary Silver Seven amps. He calls the new beasts the Silver 900. They deliver 900 wpc of tube power, nearly double the power of the original Silver Seven. The original Silver Seven amps delivered 500 wpc....

Hey, Snohomish, WA (shipped-from location) is just up the road from me. I could save myself $360 by picking them up in person. Yippee. :-)

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I have been following Bob Carver's listings of his amps on eBay over the last year. He has totally redesigned his legendary Silver Seven amps. He calls the new beasts the Silver 900. They deliver 900 wpc of tube power, nearly double the power of the original Silver Seven. The original Silver Seven amps delivered 500 wpc. On one of his posts on eBay he mentioned that he makes amps now when he has the time. He says that he has a day job and that he is not retired.

Link to Bob Carver New Big Ass Amps
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I'm a tube guy mainly but have owned and heard some great ss gear. I was told that Bob is making amps again with his partners because he was bored with retirement,as were they. Can't comment on his finances but if I were betting I would say money has nothing to do with it. If I had the skills of a Bob Carver I would never retire.

01-02-12: Thankful
We all have our personal preferences in regards to solid state or tubes, etc

I agree. I just can't figure out why a person who apparently likes solid state (E.g. Johnnyb53) posts on tube amp threads.

I still wonder if Bob Carver is doing it for the money now (some people are saying that's the reason) , since he made so many statements in favor of solid state. I prefer tube amps mostly myself, and on occasion use solid state. I also wonder if it sounds like his Silver Seven...

I'm glad people are enjoying the 180.

We all have our personal preferences in regards to solid state or tubes, etc.; that's what makes this hobby so much fun. All I can say is I have owned many amps and have heard a bunch more and I love the 180's! They are the best I have placed in "my system".

Johnnyb53, apparently you don't read the articles and how many times he stated he is not a tube person (since he dumped tubes for transistors). He never had a tube amp from about '93, til recent. Oh yes, from what I remember in his interviews, he prefers solid state at home. Not too long ago, he found some left over transformers from back then (about '90) and started making the big amps again, and selling them on Ebay for $17-18k.

You prefer solid state amps. It seems your lost again. You seem always say how great your Onkyo is, and your new solid state acquirement.

Classic mode, the feedback is approximately 20 dB, a value used by most vintage amplifiers and Contemporary mode, feedback is limited to about 11 dB. I personally prefer the classic. For my system they were not just a little jump but significant and the other amps I have used are not slouches by any means. I was able to park them before I get the PS Audio Perfect Wave DAC upgrade board. I would love to hear the Butlers I bet their awesome.

12-30-11: Rlwainwright
Negative feedback, transformers? Ummm, no thanks. I'll stick with my BK Butler designed and built TDB-5150. BK's designs are revolutionary and the build quality is superb.

www.ButlerAudio.com

-RW-

Hardly a fair comparison when the Butlers cost over 2-1/2 times as much as the Bob Carvers.

The Butler is no doubt a stupendous design. His guitar pedal effects are legendary and I have a friend who used to work for him and holds his abilities in awe.

Still, that doesn't mean Carver's new tube amps should be dismissed because they have user-selectable feedback levels, which are probably relatively low (especially the 11dB setting) compared to many amps.

Guys, I can tell you that the 180's are really nice mono-blocks. Based on my conversation with Tony and Bob they have really pushed the envelope with these. Also, I believe they will be at CES this year.

12-30-11: Hifihvn
One odd thing, Bob Carver always made it quite clear he is not a tube amp person. Who would have guessed.

Really? Here's an excerpt from a 1990 Stereophile interview:

Atkinson: One of them, of course, was the C19 tube preamp. That's the second tube product we've seen from you, the first being the Silver Seven power amplifier. Does this represent a new-found passion, or have you always been interested in tubes?

Carver: I started designing amplifiers when I was in the 7th grade. Transistors hadn't arrived on the scene, so all my early work was designing vacuum-tube amplifiers. My first passion is vacuum-tube amplifiers, I grew up with vacuum-tube amplifiers. I love vacuum-tube amplifiers, I love them to pieces. I had a fantasy amplifier that I carried around in my mind all of these years; I dreamed about it, on and off, through my military career, through my children being born, through being married. I even purchased some Acrosound A-450 output transformers in the early '60s; I've carried those transformers with me all through my life, waiting some day for the moment to arrive to put them to use. The Silver Seven is that Fantasy Island amplifier, but I never really had the time to do it until now. The basic topology of the circuitry, however, was really hatched years ago.

A secondary reason for the development of the Silver Seven was that I really did want to endow an amplifier with everything that I could possibly think of, or anybody else could possibly think of, that would make it a wonderful, wonderful amplifier. And that included the silver wire and the Wondersolder, the gold connections inside...

I have owned Parasound JC-1 mono-blocks and still own the Ayon Triton and the Bob Carver 180s in "my system" perform way better than the other gear I have owned. The 180's retail for $7400. They provide a large open, clear and dynamic sound-stage, yet the mids are smooth and liquidity. I'm hearing more detail in familiar recordings with no harshness or grain. You can make out the layers of music in recordings. My friends are blown away by the improvement. The 180's have a circuit that extends the life of the power tubes and the power tubes have a one year warranty. The amps themselves have a seven year warranty and are built like tanks. You can listen in a classic mode or a more contemporary mode by flicking a switch. The new LLC has been set up in Lexington Kentucky and I'm in Louisville so it makes it convenient if repairs were ever needed. All in all I believe Bob has really designed an incredible set of mono-blocks. I love tubes and the 180's are for sure sweet. They normally come in a cherry color but I had mine made in gloss black to match my other components.

Negative feedback, transformers? Ummm, no thanks. I'll stick with my BK Butler designed and built TDB-5150. BK's designs are revolutionary and the build quality is superb.

www.ButlerAudio.com

-RW-

If you follow vintage tube amp listings on ebay, Bob Carver shows up on occasion with hand built tube amp listings. Some of them have been fairly simple offerings but with unique circuit designs which he describes in detail. Others much more complex and high power. He goes into great detail about the design and construction - even describing how he hand winds the transformers.

The ones I have seen are no reserve auctions that have drawn a great deal of interest and bidding.

One odd thing, Bob Carver always made it quite clear he is not a tube amp person. Who would have guessed.

I gots a pair with the original vintage output transformers that Bob no longer has. One of the best soundstaging and imaging amps I've heard, better than my AtmaSphere M60, but not as smooth as the M60. Bass and dynamics is one of the best I've heard. It has two negative feedback setting (around 9dB and 21dB, the latter sounds better IMO). Runs barely warm. Bob is a great guy to deal with.

Give us some details, Mang.
Cost per pair?
Power?
Negative feedback?
Any notable parts?
Other equipment you've owned (for comparison).

Just saying "They're really keen!" isn't enough...