2. amps-preamps
  3. 150405-94875

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
geeqner
28 posts
 
Drkingfish -

I do not argue with your point that their service went "Above and Beyond". THAT is something that I would classify a REALLY COOL and refreshing in today’s world.

What I MEANT was that this service came from the CURRENT ITERATION of the firm (but then again, I guess there would be no logical way of getting in touch with the previous Carver companies as they no longer exist, but their founder still does).

Up until recently, I had not followed V-Tube electronics to any extent - because I grew-up in the "Transistor Generation", where "Solid State" was a plus and learned to shrug-off the antiquated technology of the past.

Up until quite recently, when I thought of products with a Carver nameplate on them - I (and I am certain many non-Audiophiles) fondly remember the AWESOME (probably now considered "mid-fi" by the snobs) stuff like the beefy sold-state component amps that friends and their parents had back in the 1970’s & 80’s. Stuff that could REALLY "rock the house"... I was blissfully unaware of the design notoriety that Mr. Carver had in Tubes.  That particular ignorance on my part been corrected recently.
Ag insider logo xs@2x
cleeds
5,639 posts
 
fmalitz
We will be prosecuting clearthink to the full extent of the law unless he prints a retraction in the next 10 days.
Good luck with that, Frank. The promotional benefit Carver has received from this thread far outweighs any injury he may have suffered from clearthink’s silly single-sentence post. Moreover, you’ve allowed clearthink’s post to remain - rather than have the moderators delete it - so you haven’t mitigated your damages.

I’m not defending clearthink, who I consider one of Audiogon’s class clowns. But the indignation over his single post isn’t commensurate with whatever harm he may have inflicted. Sorry. Clearthink may have been offensive, and even unreasonable. But it doesn’t rise to the level of libel, which is what I’m sure your attorney will advise. millercarbon
Probably his best defense would be to say that "designed, manufactured, and marketed by" is a nervous tic ... In other words he could say hey look I’m a bloviating buffoon, and everybody knows it, so no harm done.

Any judge or jury would then just look at his posting history, throw up their hands and say, "case dismissed."
Quite likely that clearthink could invoke satire as a defense. That’s protected speech (in the U.S.) so, yes, case closed.

None of this is to excuse clearthink, or any of the other handful of posters whose argumentative, insulting, confrontational posts sometimes infect this group. (Oops! That’s a threepeat, a clearthinkism!) They really detract from the conversations.
technick
140 posts
 
@joecollege
What exactly is your problem with Tekton?
Have you ever really heard a pair of speakers Eric has designed?
Eric is another CEO which you can call and speak to directly, btw.
I certainly don’t want to take away from this thread, but have to ask that. 
joecollege's avatar
joecollege
36 posts
 
@technick
No problem with Tekton. I heard a pair of the original $2000 Impacts that blew me away. My reference was comparing Eric’s pitching of products to Bob’s back in the day with the patents and excitement that we all want to hear! The "shame" part, which was just joking, was because everytime someone makes a post about Tekton it becomes an all assault, no holds barred steel cage match of wits, or lack thereof insulting or praising his products, and 99% of the time having nothing to do with what the OP posted about in the first place. And you are absolutely correct, I called Tekton and spoke to Eric one time about some mods and upgrades to his older Impacts and he was awesome! I may own a pair, if I can get grills with them (Here we go again) lol
technick
140 posts
 
@joecollege Haha! lol Ok, just wondering. Most of the time you hear someone bad talking Tekton, they’ve never actually even heard a pair, which is obviously not the case with you. You’re so right about the grudge matches that go on relating to a pair of speakers. lol
I’m an proud owner of Pendragons, and the only other speaker I think I’d ever upgrade to is the DI’s too. I’d love grills also. 
Thanks for clearing that up and being so friendly about it, which I always try to do too. 
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