Whats up with Carver/Sunfire?

I'm a happy owner of Sunfire Symphonic reference stack.
The preamp is actually driving two amps in biamp setup. The tube monos are connected to the high-pass output @80hz and above. The Sunfire amp drives bottom. The Symphonic Reference amp easily outperforms matched power Bryston 4B-ST for a fraction of its price and no heat whatsoever arround the amp. However it's not considered to be a digital amplifier. It has a logic circuit that switches the output stage onto the different classes of operation depending on the load.

"Why don't I hear more about this guy's stuff on the high end forums?"

Because his stuff has been here and done that...so to speak. I can think of other component lines from other companies that used to be an almost daily topic here at this and other forums....old news now.

It's kind of a new kid on the block thing...Whats hot, and whats not....flavor of the month.

Dave

Also the company has changed. Look up the website. THey are going in some different and not so audiophile directions. They are now Carver/AudioSource/Phoenix Gold. There is nothing wrong with teh other two brands but they are not audiophile grade equipment.

The amp I'm considering is the original Carver Sunfire,vintage 1995, as reviewed in www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_2_1/productr.html
Carver's own talk on the amp is referenced in the article.

Michael, if you can find a pair of Carver Silver 9t monoblocs....get them. They are usually about the same price or less than a Sunfire stereo amp. The Sunfire amps are very good also, but the Silver 9t's are better. I currently own both of these amps. They hold their own against much more expensive amps.

click on the slideshow http://aaudiogon.photosite.com/Betas/

...please, no comments about the mess, I'm going to clean it up today. I was just trying out a few amp, preamp and speaker combinations.