Carver, THE standard of excellence IMO


I have read many discussions on these forums and others about many people having difficulty getting hold of or information from the manufacturers or dealers about problems with their gear.  Some wait weeks,months or forever for a response.Yesterday (Sunday) I thought I was having a small problem with my Carver Crimson 350 amps and I did some tests described in the manual to check the KT120 tubes.  I was getting some strange meter readings and couldn't understand why.  So I went to the Carver site and wrote a detailed email at that site, expecting to hear back sometime this week.  At the time I did not know it went straight to the president and co-owner Frank Malilz, but it does. Frank marked it "very important" and forwarded to Bob Carver who at 9:15 pm (my time) sent me a detailed answer that solved my problems.  Are you kidding me!!!! straight to the pres and then to the designer (we all know who is a legend) and back to me within 6 hrs ON A SUNDAY!  To paraphrase a truck commercial....Carver doesn't raise the bar, it sets it.

I know not everyone can afford a set of $9500 monos but I am sure the service would be the same on Carver's new 275s at less than $2800.  I have heard the 275s at Axpona and they are voiced extremely close to the 350s just not as much power.  For most set ups they would be magnificent.  Who else gives the amp AND tubes a TRANSFERABLE 5 yr warranty?  Both the 350 and 275 play for hrs and never get hot.  Handmade in the USA and signed by the legend himself.  If you are looking for a tube amp in this category that plays far far above it's price you owe it to yourself to check out the 275 (or the 350s if you can go that way financially, 10 yr warranty on everything, if you talk to Bob he would probably give you a 50 yr warranty on amp AND tubes, I am not kidding in the least.)  I have no interest in any way with Bob Carver Corp other than a love of it's products and service.  I've posted some here before so you know I'm not a shill. I just wanted to educate some on this forum about my experience, about a great product and outstanding service from the people who make that product.  I believe they really care about audio and their customers.
DrMark  (Doc from MI on some Carver sites)
drkingfish

Showing 2 responses by geeqner

Also - the title of this thread should be clarified as "Latest-Gen Bob Carver Vacuum Tube Amps" (in order to avoid ambiguity with "legacy" Carver products)


Drkingfish -

I do not argue with your point that their service went "Above and Beyond". THAT is something that I would classify a REALLY COOL and refreshing in today’s world.

What I MEANT was that this service came from the CURRENT ITERATION of the firm (but then again, I guess there would be no logical way of getting in touch with the previous Carver companies as they no longer exist, but their founder still does).

Up until recently, I had not followed V-Tube electronics to any extent - because I grew-up in the "Transistor Generation", where "Solid State" was a plus and learned to shrug-off the antiquated technology of the past.

Up until quite recently, when I thought of products with a Carver nameplate on them - I (and I am certain many non-Audiophiles) fondly remember the AWESOME (probably now considered "mid-fi" by the snobs) stuff like the beefy sold-state component amps that friends and their parents had back in the 1970’s & 80’s. Stuff that could REALLY "rock the house"... I was blissfully unaware of the design notoriety that Mr. Carver had in Tubes.  That particular ignorance on my part been corrected recently.