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Bob Carver tube amps

Hello, looking for Carver amp info the read out there is a little sketchy. Is that place still in business? And who is actually making the amps? Do the have a factory in the Pacific Northwest….I live in the Pacific Northwest so I could drive there if I had a problem.

I need a tube amp for my Klipsch speakers, you tube heads out there is this the brand I should buy or is there a better option?

I can still remember in the 70s when my father in law went to the factory and grabbed me a Phase Linear amp and preamp off the factory floor..I had more problems with that thing, once and a while it made a super load pop when you turned it on..

 

 

 

silverfoxvtx1800
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jimclarkstereo
38 posts
 

 

 

 

 

Bob Carver Amplifier Design Philosophy — What Sounds Good?

 

Since the early days, after earning my physics degrees, my approach to audio design has created controversy.

 

My unconventional approach has brought both criticism, accolades and world-wide recognition for achieving musical excellence from my wonderful fans. World-wide recognition for offering a more affordable product, compared to most other brands of comparable products. It’s a great pursuit. Myriad technological advances have emerged from someone doing things differently.

 

My amplifiers have often been smaller, lighter, and less costly than others —while remaining powerful, musical, and accurate. These designs and their musical performance are quite successful. I do indeed make comparisons between my design practices and those of other designers. This is done not to foster a “Carver against the world” attitude but rather to highlight significant creative differences. Most other designers have chosen a heavily-trodden path; I simply take a fresh route.

 

What makes an amplifier sound good?

 

Dynamic power, low distortion, and wide frequency response. My tube amplifiers have high voltage (B+); the power supplies are able to “bounce” and increase voltage, closely tracking the musical load with very little distortion. This is an important key to musical performance that cannot be revealed by hooking an amp up to a resistor.

 

Do you design amplifiers using load resistors or speakers?

 

Both. On my bench I start out with resistors, then I use different speakers with a scope and voltmeter connected, while playing music and measuring the amp and speakers reacting together. The back EMF that is present makes speakers slightly easier to drive. Power response, by design, tapers below 80Hz, yet frequency response goes below 20Hz.

 

My designs will drive difficult loudspeaker loads, playing music far better than the specifications listed, without clipping, and with lots of headroom available.

 

These long held design targets have served Carver well. The designs have delivered excellent performing, highly musical products that more people could afford, without sacrificing the powerful and musical performance desired when powering loudspeakers.

 

 

Stay tuned for more of my very latest designs and the on-line store coming soon.

jbl-4345
58 posts
 

Mr. Bob carver made some okay stuff and made some decent audio equipment. I remember the little m-400 power amp. Very clean and efficient that little square box push my jbl 4345 Very nicely. I sold it some years later but wish I kept it. Never own any carver tubes equipment but I damn sure heard them performed. Very sweet and musical. I’ve own stuff from fisher tube equipment parasound audio research mcintosh threshold nakamichi. The point I’m trying to make is not all audio gear is pleasing to all. Pick what sounds good to you and jammed on

 

 

danstein
6 posts
 

I am a Carver fan. I have owned his Crimson 350 tube amps for four years. They are remarkable because they have the finesse to sound great very sensitive speakers like my Klipsch Cornwall IIIs, but yet have plenty of power to get the most from my lower sensitivity Ohm 4900s. I believe that they sound better than the vintage and modern McIntosh amps I own.

Carver vintage gear, when brought back to spec, challenges the performance of modern products at many multiples of the Carver vintage prices. Some of my favorite vintage Carver gear is his C-1 preamp, the C-4000 preamp (they are stone silent with many great features including MC/MM; take or leave the Sonic Holography), and the M-400a Cube Amp.

Bob is an easy target for ridicule. He is an outspoken marketing genius who turns off many purists. Most of those purists haven’t spent much or any time with his gear. Too bad for them - it’s their loss.

My only regret about Carver gear is that I didn’t buy the Silver Seven amp when I had the chance. Seven hundred tube watts per channel is just enough!

jjss49's avatar
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jjss49
6,612 posts
 

bob carver has been around forever, he has had ’many lives’ in the industry over the years, so to speak -- always iconoclastic, brash, against the grain in many of his hifi audio endeavors... i too have been a fan of his gear at certain times (still have his lightstar reference linestage -- it is simply brilliant), but at others, i have to shake my head

this recent wave of amplifiers are interesting and controversial, to say the least, the claims made in marketing and selling these lightweight units do stretch the belief systems of many an experienced hobbyist to be sure

mulveling's avatar
mulveling
1,895 posts
 

Besides the extremely questionable power ratings, what I find most disingenuous about the previous Carver co. was its bold proclamations for a "lifetime warranty" and "20 year tube warranty" (or whatever it was, exactly) when the average lifespan of a Carver co. incarnation seems to be 10 years or less. Good luck getting those claims fulfilled in the future. 

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