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
@viridian 


I think @fmalitz Frank's post is highly appropriate given the malicious nature of clearthink's post. If clearthink has an attorney, his or her advice would be to make an unconditional apology and take responsibility for saying something so false and blatantly careless. He might, just might, be forgiven.  I actually thought Frank's post was infused with a genuine kindness and his repeated apologies lend credibility.

Its ok to not like something, its not ok to lie and fabricate. I'm actually glad Audiogon hasn't taken it down. Its important for our community to stand for something and clearthink's post crosses the lines of good taste at a minimum and certainly crosses the legal threshold of not if clearthink will owe damages but how much he will owe in damages. The longer he waits to make this right, the deeper in the excrement he will find himself.
@fmalitz
My bad. When I scrolled back to reread clearthink's comments, there can be only one meaning by the poster. They are without a doubt defamatory comments. Sorry for any misunderstanding due to my speed reading.


I would rather not dominate the thread but I thought you might like to know that I scrupulously avoid talking about the performance of our products on these types of forums. I think that’s for you to discover. That’s why I stuck to the legal issue and not Bob’s remarkable record of accomplishments. I’m delighted to answer technical questions. I’m delighted to debunk myths and I’ll throw one out for fun in a moment. I’m delighted to speak about the technology of our products. I have no problem discussing legacy brands and models because I enjoy the romance. I really like this stuff. In this case however, the mythology was acrimonious, aggressive and blatantly false.

Okay, here comes my controversial myth busting statement (I was soundly attacked on the AVS forum with this): nearly all specifications available to all of us as consumers are bull----! I just combined two TV shows into one-- MythBusters and Bull----.

A statement like that can hijack a thread so suffice it to say, in my opinion (ha!), since there are no hard and fast definitions, legally, for any of this stuff, or, for the regulations we do have--IEC, DIN, FTC, etc. there is no accountability. We can say and print anything we like with impunity. Furthermore, how many times have we seen identical specifications on products that sound completely different? Even frequency response is meaningless because some companies lie, some companies measure in strange ways, and frequency response in isolation does not tell us much. Here are the specifications that I tell people to pay attention to:
1) the sensitivity of the loudspeaker (you may rest assured that our measurements often disagree with manufacturers claims but it could be important and usually is)
2) the cost of the product so you can afford it
3) the weight of the product so you can move it around to a good spot in your home
4) the size of the product so it will fit into your lifestyle
I think these are the most important specifications.

Okay, I hope I haven’t hijacked this thread and I’ve reverted having fun with it since I’ve already received phone calls from forum members offering me gracious support. Please, let us continue pursuing high fidelity but combined with fun! I hope my four specifications were entertaining. Now everyone go have a good dinner.
Yep, I have a crimson 275 and am a fanboy myself....Looking forward to new Carver products.