Bought my Carver amp at Crazy Eddie's in Brooklyn back in the "cave days".Eddie was a s..m bag Carver was a genius.High end is a scam.The fun is spending as little as possible and getting a great sound system.Anyone with money can buy anything and the industry comes up with layer after layer of hyperbole to lie about what their equipment can do.Most of it is backed by vapor science.The real meat of the matter is what is going on psychologically with this subset of mostly white men with high disposable incomes that succumb to this nonsense.Theres a hole in their emotional lives that is filled in by faceplate and knobs.Bizarre indeed.
Well ..This Is Interesting...What Do You Think.?? Food For Thought..Or BS?
Ran across this on Youtube. Bob Carver Takes on Conrad Johnson & Stereo Review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsAFLhcfHXM
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Carver is maybe 95% BS and 5% substance. He does make amps that...produce sound.
He comes off mostly as a BS artist and gimmick salesman. Maybe he has really good Electrical Engineering chops too - but IMO there’s a world of difference between what he does versus someone like Nelson Pass (good). |
Not that there’s anything incorrect in your post, but Bob is more than just a huckster and we’ve got to give it to him that he started a number of notable audio trends: - High-powered amplifiers: his Phase Linear 700 dates back to 1970. Yes it caught fire and blew up speakers willy-nilly, but 350wpc out of a smallish 17" enclosure was unheard of. That prodigious power output was made possible by the DTS410 power transistor, which was made not by Fairchild or Sanken or Motorola but by... Delco. It was an early electronic-ignition automotive transistor, in which Bob correctly saw audio potential. By the way, a properly restored PL700 is still a contender today. - Lightweight high-powered amplifiers: his so-called "Magnetic Field" power supply circuitry first appeared in 1980’s M-400 "Cube", a notoriously overheating and so tightly packed as to be near-unfixable piece of junk (but it was pretty). The "Magnetic Field" topology essentially employed a switching mode power supply to dynamically modulate the amp’s power supply rails - more or less Class H. I could be wrong but I think BASH amps came out later. - Making false statements about the sound quality of lightweight, high-powered amplifiers: that one never gets old, witness Class D - Would it be fair to say that Bob single-handedly invented deceptive and misleading audio marketing? In any event, everything else put aside, Bob was a trailblazer and something of a genius.
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Audiophile communities seem empowered to bash..., Maybe it’s just a sign of the times, the internet, or the social condition today. Personally, I like listening to just about every great maker’s gear, and go to AXPONA every year. I have my preferences, but I don’t bash on those that I can’t afford, or those that I don’t own, or those that self-appointed reviewers bash..., It doesn’t do anything for the community or industry. However... Most of the points here against Bob Carver seem misguided. Never mind that Nelson Pass and Bob Carver are good friends, and respect each other (LMGTFY...) Never mind that most of the stuff that came out of Bob Carver Corp to satisfy the demands of high-volume audio sales of big box stores, like Circuit City, were produced/OEMed by the bean counters that pushed Bob Carver out of the company. Never mind that Bob Carver is one of the nicest happiest guys on the planet, who loves this hobby. Never mind that the introduction of the "Cube" at it’s price point targeted an unserved market and enabled people listening to boom-boxes and clock radios to push that sound through an amp, to better speakers..., creating a whole population of soon-to-be audiophiles - AND he did it at a price point that brought that community to the table that couldn’t get into HiFi before (for many reasons). Never mind that most of the spec errors (if you know, you know) were produced by the snake-oil used car sales people that were the face of the 275 (read the history - the posts from some of those guys (not Bob, not Jim) are still on Audio Karma..., anyone with basic discernment knew..., BUT never mind that the 275 to this day is still in resale demand at over $1500+ because of HOW IT SOUNDS! Not because of some sale’s guy’s misstatement of specs. ..., and never mind that most amplifier designs are not grounded! (LMGTFY...) Never mind the patents he owns, and how many have licensed, or worked around them because they were a good idea that he had first. Never mind that as an incredibly successful entrepreneur. Like his marketing style/tactics or not, They worked for the times (80’s, 90’s) He applied his understanding of physics to start 4+ successful companies (Phase Linear, Carver Corp., Sunfire, Bob Carver Inc.) How many of those that bash or criticize him have done that? Never mind that the products those companies created find resale demand equal to, and sometimes higher than their original SRP - NOW, today, 45+ years later - That’s legacy! And, finally, never mind that Bob Carver’s impact on the Hi Fi Industry as a whole since the 80’s, for over 40 years, has enabled so many to get engaged. So has Nelson Pass, so has Van Alstine, so has..., etc. etc. etc. But yet, Bob Carver is hated because he achieved recognition for the Stereophile Challenge that shook up an industry? Damn, that’s good marketing! The guy is in his 80’s. the fact is that the Stereophile challenge happened, and Bob Carver won. Both the magazine and Carver Corp, saw value in the event. Not very many marketing campaigns/initiatives can say they still grab attention, after decades - that’s legacy. If you don’t like Carver amplifiers, don’t buy them. I don’t like McIntosh, so I don’t buy them..., but I respect them, and I don’t bash them. Let’s Leave Bob Carver alone to retire in peace. |
@andrewjstein, Very well said. Still have my 700B from 1975 which served me well through the 80s along with my Infinity Monitor IIa speakers. Of course it's been refurbished but not in active use today. jjd |
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