Bob Carver is a great guy, my wife and I had a very long talk with him at RMAF in 2017. We did not discuss audio at all, just talked about everyday things. He is a wealth on knowledge, besides the audio.
However, his earlier products were built to a low price point and the quality of construction certainly wasn’t High End. The only amp I liked from his earlier days was the Silver Seven. I owned a Phase Linear 700 back in the 70’s and although it never, ever caught fire, I thought it was grainy sounding with my Rectilinear 3 speakers. I traded it in at Natural Sound and bought a GAS Son of Ampzilla at 80wpc compared to 700 watts from the Phase Linear. The GAS was a keeper, the Phase Linear was not.
@drkingfish,
As much as you love your Carver, the McIntosh tube equipment will appreciate in value where the Carver will depreciate. The McIntosh will certainly outlive the Carver. It’s like comparing a Economy car to a Mercedes 500.
However, his earlier products were built to a low price point and the quality of construction certainly wasn’t High End. The only amp I liked from his earlier days was the Silver Seven. I owned a Phase Linear 700 back in the 70’s and although it never, ever caught fire, I thought it was grainy sounding with my Rectilinear 3 speakers. I traded it in at Natural Sound and bought a GAS Son of Ampzilla at 80wpc compared to 700 watts from the Phase Linear. The GAS was a keeper, the Phase Linear was not.
@drkingfish,
As much as you love your Carver, the McIntosh tube equipment will appreciate in value where the Carver will depreciate. The McIntosh will certainly outlive the Carver. It’s like comparing a Economy car to a Mercedes 500.