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Carver Making a Comeback~

TNRabbit

TNRabbit

TN boy languishing in MD
Check it out:

http://www.carveraudio.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=147&t=11168

http://www.carveraudio.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=147&t=11523

Bob and I have been talking for a few weeks about this...
I am pretty convinced that the CARVER name is still alive in many audio circles, and still has enough clout in the audio world to justify its resurrection.

There is still worry over the markets perception of "CARVER", and the fiasco that it succumbed to in early 2000 at the hands of others.

10 years have gone by now... Is 10 years enough time?
Is it time to pull a great name from the ashes, dust it off, and give it a new shine?

I was told today.... "If that's what you want, we'll do it"

I am obviously honored to be part of anything that Bob is involved with !!
But this is BIG... I don't know how the audio world would react to the CARVER name today.

Right now, there are speakers in the works and WORLD CLASS tube preamp & amplifiers...
 
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Sneak peek at speakers:

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Here:
 

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These are basically a line array, 92-94 inches tall, built from the design of the Sunfire Cinema Ribbon speakers. The great thing about the aluminum extrusions & multiple drivers is you can make them anywhere from 2 feet to XX feet tall~just add side-firing woofers & Ribbons.
 
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They look like the Definitive Technology Mythos speakers I use for HT setups. Just copied their extruded aluminum enclosure, popped some holes in the sides for woofers and added ribbons to the front.

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I will be following their development as their look would blend in with my HT gear.

Regards,
Mike
 
I think it'd be great to bring back the brand (especially if it means bringing back the quality that made it famous), however I've read about the tube amps he's building that are re-creations of his originals... I'm sure they're great, but they're prohibitively expensive.
 
Just build a nice 120 watt/ch integrated amp with all the goodies and build quality that you're famous for. It'll move.
 
Sorry the Carver name never meant quality to me. I associate it with those Magnetic Field amplifiers that were troublesome at best. Also the phrase "Flame Linear" doesn't inspire confidence. The overt attempt to make the first Carver speakers have the same appearance as the current production Apogees just reinforced my misgivings of the company.

Yes I understand the Silver series of tube amplifiers were quite impressive. Never heard a set, so I have no first hand experience regarding them.

The "amplifier challenge" was an interesting chapter in audio history. His ability to clone the sound of a Mark Levinson and Conrad Johnson amplifiers is darned interesting. One comment I have encountered is that the null difference adjustment is that it is speaker dependent. In other words, an amp nulled to sound like a Conrad Johnson would only do so if played on the same speaker it was used with when set up. Use them with another speaker, and the set up is no longer capable of performing like the original target amp. This bodes poorly for people buying M1.5T amps, and thinking they got something that sounds like a CJ or ML amp. Now as a disclaimer. I read this a couple of years ago, and there was no DEFINITIVE proof to back up this claim. It may not be correct. In some ways this is the only Carver piece I would be interested in hearing.

I wasn't interested in Carver in the 1980's. and I won't be any more interested in this new century.

Regards
Mister Pig
 
The Amazing speakers were the shape of the Apogee's because that's the shape that was necessary to get the correct rear/front phase balance....
 
Very cool. I wish Carver all the best.. I have had a few Carver amps, and none of them
were troublesome.. They were very reliable, and took a constant beating.
 
TNRabbit said:
The Amazing speakers were the shape of the Apogee's because that's the shape that was necessary to get the correct rear/front phase balance....
Click to expand...

So the shape needed to be the same, thats understandable. But the finished appearance was so close it wasn't funny. I suspect that was not a coincidence.

Regards
Mister Pig
 
Mister Pig said:
The "amplifier challenge" was an interesting chapter in audio history. His ability to clone the sound of a Mark Levinson and Conrad Johnson amplifiers is darned interesting. One comment I have encountered is that the null difference adjustment is that it is speaker dependent. In other words, an amp nulled to sound like a Conrad Johnson would only do so if played on the same speaker it was used with when set up. Use them with another speaker, and the set up is no longer capable of performing like the original target amp. This bodes poorly for people buying M1.5T amps, and thinking they got something that sounds like a CJ or ML amp. Now as a disclaimer. I read this a couple of years ago, and there was no DEFINITIVE proof to back up this claim. It may not be correct. In some ways this is the only Carver piece I would be interested in hearing.
Click to expand...

But, by the same token, there are many that seem to imply that most/any amp changes sound with different speakers as different speakers present different loads to the amp.

I'm certainly not a Carver defender nor am I a detractor; I've never had any Carver gear, just sayin'...
 
Mister Pig said:
So the shape needed to be the same, thats understandable. But the finished appearance was so close it wasn't funny. I suspect that was not a coincidence.

Regards
Mister Pig
Click to expand...

So since everybody & their brother makes speakers that look like THIS:

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the original designer of the "tall, thin box with cone drivers" should be incensed that everyone (including Polk) copied it? :sigh::scratch2:

I don't remember Apogee ever complaining about it~
 
Agree'd. Carver improved on products. He was a genious and never got the credit he deserved. If you've never owned, much less heard Carver gear your opinion ( and I mean absolutely no disrespect here ) does not mean much. It's just that that is exactly how Carver got his bad rap - by people who never heard his products saying it "can't" sound like that based on their own shortsightedness. Bob Carver is a mathematician (sp?), he confronts problems purely by numbers. Numbers don't lie. If the numbers show a trapezoid will produce the best sound over a box then it was a trapezoid he built. He also built the AL-III's, the Amazing Cube subwoofers ( huh, who'd ever thunk you could get that kind of deep and accurate bass out of a little box?).

Anyway, good for Bob. I hope he has more than just a hand in the new Carver line and wish him the best. Hisproducts, as is known by anyone who owns Carver gear, can run with the best of them - at OUR budget.

Jimmy
 
I have only heard the middle of the road 80's Carver electronics and I'm sure they were built to a price-point. They were middle of the road IMO, but really pretty decent bangforthebuck. Great for the 90% of the buyers that are looking for power over nuance.

I like the stuff I've read about Bob (can I call him Bob?). I love (and envy) his ebay amps that he and Tim P. have been thowing together. All in all, he impresses me and isn't afraid to be who he his. I think he was taken down by the press and lack of advertising. Maybe he shouldn't have gone the route he did with some of is statements, but he was young and brilliant. That's a volatile combo.

I will be interested in how his ribbons turn out. I'll audition them with an open mind. Although I am partial to dipole ribbons lately. We'll see how coherent they are with their woofers. I hope they do well. I hope he does well. I hope the audio world continues to see advances and innovations; and less conglomerates like D&M holdings that own: Denon, Marantz, McIntosh, Boston, Snell, Escient and others. Hoorah for the guys that do it themselves like; Bob (can I call him Bob), Ken Stevens from Convergent Audio, Ralph Karsten of Atma-Sphere, and hundreds more.

I don't own Carver gear, but certainly would be open to trying some new stuff.

IMO :smoke:
 
I have not heard them, but the fellow that I bought my Maggies from was also selling off his Carver solid state amps because he was having bob Carver build him tube amps for his home. I would guess that the issue is not does Carver have a brand but finding that price point/quality build trade off that can really deliver to both the demands of audio market (i.e. the market that would buy a Carver) and still satisfy a workable business plan (i.e. generate a reasonable return on invested capital).

I could add that this chap is just rebuilding his home in Whistler (2010 winter Olympics) and his home theater is running Carver Amazings so clearly price point is not his issue. Also, he sold his Maggies to me because they were black socks/black frames and they would no longer match his decor!
 
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