Rolland / Rita / Service Center History

(a post from the other forum)
I got a reply from Lisa, damn, I responded on another post though. Anyway, Lisa owne Rita's, shes stayin open, prices goin up. Shes a nice lady, check out my other comments on the other thread. Sorry, shitty memory, don't remember thread but same Topic.

Ed

Damn, told ya shitty memory, reason I came here. What about Roland? Doesn't he also do a refurb of Vintage Carver Repair. All we been hearing about is Rita's. Now, before ya all start flamin me, I'm not trying to crap on Rita or especially Lisa. That is one really nice lady to take the time to respond to my very long email. But, everybody here are saying this if Ritas shuts down, thats the end of the repairs etc. I see more shops and addresses in the begining of this thread and one of those is Roland. I also seen a person mention his name referring to him obtaining all or some of the parts and him being friends with Bob and all.

So, whats the story with Rolland? Doesn't he too do Carver work/refurbs? Is he the reason business is so low at Ritas. Competition maybe. Better work? Hey, just asking.

I have been meaning to sit down and write this out for a while now, and since someone is asking...

Yes Rolland does Carver repairs.... He has been doing them for the past 10-15 years.

For those that have not been around for a while... Let me shed a little light on the Roallad / Rita reapir shops..
Rolland has been in business as a electronics repair center for almost 30 years...
Rita has been working with/for Bob Carver for about the same amount of time...


Everet Audio Repair was set up "By Law" to do nothing but Carver warranty repairs once Carver Corp. closed. By law, the warranties have to be covered for 5 years. Everet Audio Repair "EAR" was formed by Bob himself, to cover the remaining 5 years worth of warranties as of around 2000 - 2002.
Back then, EAR was the "Authorized Carver Service Center" for all warranty work. They also did out of warranty work "to make $$" With most of the equipment already being 10-20 years old, I would assume most of the work they were doing was out of warranty at the time.
For whatever reason, EAR did not want to mess with the tape decks, and CD players, and those were being forwarded to Rolland for repair, as the ribbon repairs were being sent to me.

Fast forward 5 years, and EAR was closed down. ( I don't recall weither EAR was loosing $$, or if they closed after the 5-year time was up....) Either way, they closed.
This was and still is the confusing part. (this is all from my horrible memory, so I hope I get most of it correct)
At the time of EAR closing down...

At some point I believe EAR (or just the workings of it) were moved to the Sunfire building, and run from there for a while.
By this time, Sunfire had been bought by NTK HOLDINGS/NORTEK. A very short while later, The Carver Service dept. was set to close down for good.
With Rolland already doing a good chunk of the Carver repairs, Elan contacted him, and asked him if he would like the take over the entire line of Carver repairs.
Both parties came to an agreement, and the rest of the repair parts were to be SOLD to Rolland.

Here is where things got harry for a while between Bob, Rita, Mylinda, Rolland and Elan....

Rita and Mylinda (both working at or for Sunfire/EAR at the time) wanted to take the Carver parts, and start their own company, basicly take over the Carver repair shop on their own.
(( See these threads ))
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2898
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1544

In the end, it never happened for Rita and Mylinda, and most of the parts did made their way to Rolland, who has been the sole keeper of our audio repairs for the last 3-4 years.
You would have to talk to both Rita and Rolland to try to get more details, but from my understanding, neither party was too pleased with how the whole deal went down. Rita and Mylinda felt they should be able to take it over, and Rolland already had a deal made with Elan.

Fast forward another 3-4 years to present day.

Now with the Sunfire plant completely closed down by NTK HOLDINGS/NORTEK, Rita and Lisa are making another go of it with "Rita's Vintage Audio Repair"

I hope them both the best of luck, and wish to see everyone profit in their ventures !!!

PS... I know most of this, because this is also how we aquired ALL of the remaining parts for the Carver ribbons/speakers...
It was at the same exact time Sunfire was cleaning house of all the Carver parts.

I hope this sheds some light on the 2 service centers, and where both of them came from.

Very good info on how this all got to be. Thanks!

thanks for the history lesson. I wish them both the very best, but my heart belongs to Rita. Besides the great work, where else can you get Bob to sign your gear? It would be nice and very cool if they could join forces.

Weren't Rita and Mylinda Sunfire employees at the time when all the Carver parts were sold to Rolland? I remember the first time Rita closed down and Rolland was the only game in town, but I thought that was because they were too busy working for Sunfire.

Weren't Rita and Mylinda Sunfire employees at the time when all the Carver parts were sold to Rolland? I remember the first time Rita closed down and Rolland was the only game in town, but I thought that was because they were too busy working for Sunfire.

Not 100% sure, but I think Rita and Mylinda were working at/for EAR (which was part of Sunfire by the end)... then it was being shut down, and at least Rita went on to Sunfire repair... I think Mylinda moved out of Wa. after Carver Service closed.

I just got off the phone with Bob.. and didn't think to bring this up to him. Next time I talk to him, I'll get a little more info if you guys like ?

Weren't Rita and Mylinda Sunfire employees at the time when all the Carver parts were sold to Rolland? I remember the first time Rita closed down and Rolland was the only game in town, but I thought that was because they were too busy working for Sunfire.

Not 100% sure, but I think Rita and Mylinda were working at/for EAR (which was part of Sunfire by the end)... then it was being shut down, and at least Rita went on to Sunfire repair... I think Mylinda moved out of Wa. after Carver Service closed.

I just got off the phone with Bob.. and didn't think to bring this up to him. Next time I talk to him, I'll get a little more info if you guys like ?

Well, DUH! Ya think?

During the days Rita was at Carver Service/Sunfire they only repaired Carver amplifiers.

For other components repairs (CD players, pre-amps, etc.) she referred Rolland's shop.

Boomer-X

During the days Rita was at Carver Service/Sunfire they only repaired Carver amplifiers.

For other components repairs (CD players, pre-amps, etc.) she referred Rolland's shop.

Boomer-X

At the end of Sunfire, she was working for Sunfire, and was repairing the subwofer amps (as I recall)

I just got back from Bob Carver's Audio Service and Rita has told me that she is officially back full time as the Carver tech for Bob. As stated above, she has over 30 years of experience working on Carver products. I've personally had dozens of amplifiers serviced by her and have never had any problems with any of the repairs. She asked me to spread the that she's back and ready to help. I should also note that Bob Carver's Audio Service is owned by, you guessed it, Bob Carver! You can also have Mr. Carver sign and or add a personalized message to your unit while its being serviced.

http://carverservice.com/carver_003.htm