New Gear from Bob Carver?
- Thread starter Bigerik
- Start date
That sounds really cool. Did a quick ebay search, but didn't come up with anything. Will poke around some more.
Thanks!
Stillone
Super Member
Did you see the interview with him in the August issue of The Absolute Sound?
BalancedXLR
Well-Known Member
item# 180249243449 into ebay search. They were quite purdy :yes:
How about this for a great story. Imagine just being there for that conversation!
A small town café
It was two summers ago that Tim de Paravicini and I met in a small town in California. We spent three fascinating days discussing vacuum tube power amps and the magic of our mechanical vinyl recording system that somehow, against all odds, is able to deliver music with life and romance that no other system can.
We talked about output stages, phase inverters, front end amplifiers, output transformers, and especially the dynamic characteristics of tube amplifiers playing music.
I will never forget those fascinating three days as long as I live.
We mused that there have been only four basic designs that have been widely used since the very beginning; the Williamson circuit, the Mullard 520 circuit, the Dynaco pentode-cathodyne circuit and the Stewart Hegeman all pentode circuit. As the mornings turned into nights and we used up all the napkins on our table drawing amplifier diagrams, a remarkable circuit emerged as Tim held the pen and drew a balanced current-sourced front end, followed by double balanced drivers using a frame grid triode ultimately direct coupled to the grids of the output tubes.
Successful collaborative effort:
Tim designed the all important current sourced front-end. Together we designed the output stage, power supply, bias supply, and I designed the driver stage using the frame grid triode. It’s simple, magically balanced with no offsets, and as it turned out, sonic performance that cannot easily be believed.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I've been collecting vintage amplifier parts for a lifetime, always with the notion of making a small museum someday. But after spending three fascinating days with Tim, I had a change of heart and decided a much better use for them would be to build an amplifier. And here it is.
There's more.
Every vacuum tube amp in the world suffers from shifting DC operating points, and this unfortunately has remained a functional limitation and maddening sore point for amplifier designers ever since the very beginning of vacuum tubes. Consequently I had to invent a DC restorer circuit using a 6AL5 / 5726 tube; it eliminated every last vestige of DC shift, while simultaneously reducing distortion three-fold and vacuum tube idle power by the same amount. As Tim would say, "Nothing new under the sun", just the same, it's never been done before, and it works flawlessly.
If you're still awake, read on.
Of the four circuits mentioned earlier, the Mullard 520 circuit is used in Marantz (8B and Model 9) amplifiers, as well as countless others by McIntosh, Eico, and Citation. Heathkit used Williamson almost exclusively, and Dyna used the ubiquitous cathodyne circuit as did hundreds of others. Citation, Lafayette and RCA often used the Hegeman circuit. And that was it! Only four!
This amp uses all vintage parts except for paint, the chassis and some of the small circuit parts. Even the transformer covers, tube sockets, and transformers themselves are vintage. The front end is a Telefunken 12AX7, the tube following is a General Electric five star military driver, and the DC restorer is a JAN 6AL5 / 5726. Output tubes are Vintage Carver Silver Eagles, double tested, burned in for six weeks and tested again. The best of the best. All are NOS except the Telefunken. The transformers are MASSIVE vintage iron; each mono-block amp weighs in at 42 pounds, 84 lbs in all. Power is an easy 180 watts rms with a power bandwidth from 23 Hz to 45 kHz, frequency response 2 Hz to 85 kHz, and distortion less than 0.15 % at 220 watts out. Power at clipping is 225 watts. Even more into six ohms. This amp rocks!
It's been so over designed that I expect it will last at least 50 years without need for service. In twenty years the front end and driver tubes should be replaced, whether they need replacing or not. Here's the best part: even the output tubes should last 50 years unless they have an unforeseen catastrophic failure. No need to replace them unless they won't bias up.
The sound: This amplifier stands with a small handful of the world's great vacuum tube amplifiers.
And beyond: it's elegantly balanced, possesses huge energy storage that vintage designers (many of whom were geniuses) could only dream of, a DC restorer, and twelve output tubes in all. Nothing can touch it.
The features: Four output terminals, ground, one or two ohms, four ohms, eight ohms. A bias control that sets idling current. A switch that changes the feedback from classical (vintage) to contemporary. A jack for the bias meter though with the DC restorer
it really never needs to be adjusted. It has built in auto-balance, and a volume control. A power switch with turn-on in-rush current limiters is also included. And finally, a chrome roll bar for the front end tubes.
This amp was lovingly hand crafted by Joey “Tubular Joe” Bonin, the best tube amplifier builder and craftsman of all time right here in the rain forest of the Pacific Northwest.
Hi, Tubular Joe here. Just wanted to let you know of a few aspects and features of these amplifiers. They are hand-wired, point-to-point with star grounds. The tagboards are military-style epoxy with bright silver-plated swaged turret terminals.
The transformer covers are lined with 3/16" thick sound and vibration-deadening panels.
Hope you like them. Enjoy!
Bob here. If one ever breaks, as long as I'm alive I'll fix it free if you get it to me. Except for the tubes.
One last thing. We will autograph the amp to you with your name in gold. Example: "To our new friend John - Enjoy the music! Tim de Paraficini, Bob Carver". Except your name, not John's of course. If you wish.
A small town café
It was two summers ago that Tim de Paravicini and I met in a small town in California. We spent three fascinating days discussing vacuum tube power amps and the magic of our mechanical vinyl recording system that somehow, against all odds, is able to deliver music with life and romance that no other system can.
We talked about output stages, phase inverters, front end amplifiers, output transformers, and especially the dynamic characteristics of tube amplifiers playing music.
I will never forget those fascinating three days as long as I live.
We mused that there have been only four basic designs that have been widely used since the very beginning; the Williamson circuit, the Mullard 520 circuit, the Dynaco pentode-cathodyne circuit and the Stewart Hegeman all pentode circuit. As the mornings turned into nights and we used up all the napkins on our table drawing amplifier diagrams, a remarkable circuit emerged as Tim held the pen and drew a balanced current-sourced front end, followed by double balanced drivers using a frame grid triode ultimately direct coupled to the grids of the output tubes.
Successful collaborative effort:
Tim designed the all important current sourced front-end. Together we designed the output stage, power supply, bias supply, and I designed the driver stage using the frame grid triode. It’s simple, magically balanced with no offsets, and as it turned out, sonic performance that cannot easily be believed.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I've been collecting vintage amplifier parts for a lifetime, always with the notion of making a small museum someday. But after spending three fascinating days with Tim, I had a change of heart and decided a much better use for them would be to build an amplifier. And here it is.
There's more.
Every vacuum tube amp in the world suffers from shifting DC operating points, and this unfortunately has remained a functional limitation and maddening sore point for amplifier designers ever since the very beginning of vacuum tubes. Consequently I had to invent a DC restorer circuit using a 6AL5 / 5726 tube; it eliminated every last vestige of DC shift, while simultaneously reducing distortion three-fold and vacuum tube idle power by the same amount. As Tim would say, "Nothing new under the sun", just the same, it's never been done before, and it works flawlessly.
If you're still awake, read on.
Of the four circuits mentioned earlier, the Mullard 520 circuit is used in Marantz (8B and Model 9) amplifiers, as well as countless others by McIntosh, Eico, and Citation. Heathkit used Williamson almost exclusively, and Dyna used the ubiquitous cathodyne circuit as did hundreds of others. Citation, Lafayette and RCA often used the Hegeman circuit. And that was it! Only four!
This amp uses all vintage parts except for paint, the chassis and some of the small circuit parts. Even the transformer covers, tube sockets, and transformers themselves are vintage. The front end is a Telefunken 12AX7, the tube following is a General Electric five star military driver, and the DC restorer is a JAN 6AL5 / 5726. Output tubes are Vintage Carver Silver Eagles, double tested, burned in for six weeks and tested again. The best of the best. All are NOS except the Telefunken. The transformers are MASSIVE vintage iron; each mono-block amp weighs in at 42 pounds, 84 lbs in all. Power is an easy 180 watts rms with a power bandwidth from 23 Hz to 45 kHz, frequency response 2 Hz to 85 kHz, and distortion less than 0.15 % at 220 watts out. Power at clipping is 225 watts. Even more into six ohms. This amp rocks!
It's been so over designed that I expect it will last at least 50 years without need for service. In twenty years the front end and driver tubes should be replaced, whether they need replacing or not. Here's the best part: even the output tubes should last 50 years unless they have an unforeseen catastrophic failure. No need to replace them unless they won't bias up.
The sound: This amplifier stands with a small handful of the world's great vacuum tube amplifiers.
And beyond: it's elegantly balanced, possesses huge energy storage that vintage designers (many of whom were geniuses) could only dream of, a DC restorer, and twelve output tubes in all. Nothing can touch it.
The features: Four output terminals, ground, one or two ohms, four ohms, eight ohms. A bias control that sets idling current. A switch that changes the feedback from classical (vintage) to contemporary. A jack for the bias meter though with the DC restorer
it really never needs to be adjusted. It has built in auto-balance, and a volume control. A power switch with turn-on in-rush current limiters is also included. And finally, a chrome roll bar for the front end tubes.
This amp was lovingly hand crafted by Joey “Tubular Joe” Bonin, the best tube amplifier builder and craftsman of all time right here in the rain forest of the Pacific Northwest.
Hi, Tubular Joe here. Just wanted to let you know of a few aspects and features of these amplifiers. They are hand-wired, point-to-point with star grounds. The tagboards are military-style epoxy with bright silver-plated swaged turret terminals.
The transformer covers are lined with 3/16" thick sound and vibration-deadening panels.
Hope you like them. Enjoy!
Bob here. If one ever breaks, as long as I'm alive I'll fix it free if you get it to me. Except for the tubes.
One last thing. We will autograph the amp to you with your name in gold. Example: "To our new friend John - Enjoy the music! Tim de Paraficini, Bob Carver". Except your name, not John's of course. If you wish.
Thanks for that. No wonder I couldn't find them.
I just read a review of a pair of speakers from him. Sort of like the Amazings but made into small stand mounts with supposedly very close performance. It was in Absolute Sound I think, possibly the one with the interview. They sound like a really unique approach to loudspeaker design. I'd love to hear a pair.
tentoze
Twangophile
I'm insisting on a full report, J.
F1nut
Super Member
Will do.
budgetaudio6
Addicted Member
And for your drooling pleasure. Could audio really get any better than this???
these are just gorgeous! very well put together. just stunning.
Similar threads
