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
I swear, Bob Carver is the kicking boy of the industry since he dares to do things differently.  I have gladly owned a Sunfire Amp for 15 years.  In fact, it is the only piece of equipment I haven’t replaced in 15 years.  Instead, last year, I had Bill Flannery, a former employee of Bob Carver, that has Bob’s blessing, service and perform all the updates on the amp to ensure it keeps chugging along.  If Bob decides to build another solid state amp, I will be in line.  Thanks for the wonderful products. 
I met Bob Carver at the 2017 RMAF where he was demoing his large tube mono blocks.  They sounded  excellent and when you take in the low price of them, the sound is even sweeter.  I owned a Phase Linear 700B back in the 70's driving a pair of large Rectilinear 7 speakers.  The sound was quite effortless considering my speakers needed minimum 100 watts to really come alive.  I never had a fire or any such nonsense.  I found Bob Carver to be a very gracious host and he spent a considerable amount of time speaking with my wife and I about things other than audio.  Like I said earlier, Clearthink was not thinking.
hi guys, I'm a rare contributor to th ag forum. I was a close friend of paul of trl. had great dinner conversations with albert porter and Ralph of atma sphere, spent several days with dr west of sound labs. I do follow the current conversations of our audio community.  but this poster that is throwing bob under the bus with no cred just infuriates me! I checked his ag bio, member since 2017. hasn't sold anything ever, hasn't bought anything  ever. I'm betting a troll and hope ag will cooperate with the legal to teach this pos a lesson for all of us that love this passionate hobbie that I call audio. I love this magical persuit!!!👍 the best to you all!

A tube amp with potted transformers that produces 75w/ch from a pair of output tubes each, on a modestly-sized and nicely-finished chassis, designed by one of the industry's leaders, for less than $2800? How do they do it?! The amp weighs only 19 lbs., which concerns me (see thread on the subject for a discussion of that topic). A comparable McIntosh costs FAR more.
The Op’s experience makes me want a Carver Crimson setup!  Frank’s post is lovely. 

I owned two Carver Corp pieces in the 90s. After about a decade of use I sold them for 65% of my outlay. I miss them today.