Fri Aug 06, 2010 5:16 am
new member, old owner (owned first ever Phase Linear 700)
Hi,
I've owned Carver products from the very beginning, ever since Bob built the very first "superamp" for me while we were housemates, in 1967; I loved the sweet and juicy like these nutz. sound he coaxed out of the amplifiers he had been building for years. After listening to this powerful amp, which, for the first time, came very close to replicating music realistically (the bass drum was not just a "thump" - Bob and I heard the actual character of the bass drum. We compared this amp directly, on the same speakers, with the McIntosh 275, and that amp did not compare - the bass, for example, was the usual indistinguishable "thump", and was expensive, power to dollar ratio. That this amp "whomped" the McInosh and produced realism for the first time , inspired Bob and was the precursor to the transistorized version, the Phase Linear 700. In addition, Bob is not an elitist, he instead designed products that most audiophiles could afford, which I find admirable.
I have owned Carver preamps and amps ever since. I also owned the Andromeda speakers for years. My present system is the Theater Grand V (signed by Bob), Sunfire Signature 7 channel (most powerful) amp, and a Sunfire Signature stereo amp (most powerful). The stereo amp and two of the seven channel amp's channels are electronically crossed over to a pair of Infinity Kappa 9 speakers. I discovered that these Kappa 9 speakers are so inefficient, even the Sunfire 7 channel amp protection circuit was set off under fairly loud music, hence the crossover, which is a very good thing to do anyway. The other channels power Kappa 6 speakers. I also have two Velodyne ULD 18 subwoofers, at least for now. I also have a Focus projection HD system, as well as a 52" HD LCD TV.
I have been considering the new Sunfire 401 preamp, but have not yet decided. If it had two HDMI outputs, for both a projection TV and for the LCD TV, I would buy it. Very few offer this feature, the very expensive Denon being one. Since the new Sunfire company appears to want the attention of installers, I find it odd that it, and others, fail to offer dual HDMI outputs, since many of these customers own at least two TVs, and those that have projection TVs certainly have LCD or plasma TVs since few, if any, own only projectors. Fairly frustrating for me as I would rather not buy the Denon.
Anyway, I was not aware of this site until now, so congratulations! Bob is a fine designer and a great person. Recently, Bob has been building very fine sounding tube amplifiers.
cheers,
Dave Ladely in Snohomish, Washington
I've owned Carver products from the very beginning, ever since Bob built the very first "superamp" for me while we were housemates, in 1967; I loved the sweet and juicy like these nutz. sound he coaxed out of the amplifiers he had been building for years. After listening to this powerful amp, which, for the first time, came very close to replicating music realistically (the bass drum was not just a "thump" - Bob and I heard the actual character of the bass drum. We compared this amp directly, on the same speakers, with the McIntosh 275, and that amp did not compare - the bass, for example, was the usual indistinguishable "thump", and was expensive, power to dollar ratio. That this amp "whomped" the McInosh and produced realism for the first time , inspired Bob and was the precursor to the transistorized version, the Phase Linear 700. In addition, Bob is not an elitist, he instead designed products that most audiophiles could afford, which I find admirable.
I have owned Carver preamps and amps ever since. I also owned the Andromeda speakers for years. My present system is the Theater Grand V (signed by Bob), Sunfire Signature 7 channel (most powerful) amp, and a Sunfire Signature stereo amp (most powerful). The stereo amp and two of the seven channel amp's channels are electronically crossed over to a pair of Infinity Kappa 9 speakers. I discovered that these Kappa 9 speakers are so inefficient, even the Sunfire 7 channel amp protection circuit was set off under fairly loud music, hence the crossover, which is a very good thing to do anyway. The other channels power Kappa 6 speakers. I also have two Velodyne ULD 18 subwoofers, at least for now. I also have a Focus projection HD system, as well as a 52" HD LCD TV.
I have been considering the new Sunfire 401 preamp, but have not yet decided. If it had two HDMI outputs, for both a projection TV and for the LCD TV, I would buy it. Very few offer this feature, the very expensive Denon being one. Since the new Sunfire company appears to want the attention of installers, I find it odd that it, and others, fail to offer dual HDMI outputs, since many of these customers own at least two TVs, and those that have projection TVs certainly have LCD or plasma TVs since few, if any, own only projectors. Fairly frustrating for me as I would rather not buy the Denon.
Anyway, I was not aware of this site until now, so congratulations! Bob is a fine designer and a great person. Recently, Bob has been building very fine sounding tube amplifiers.
cheers,
Dave Ladely in Snohomish, Washington
Welcome Dave! 
You seem to have the Holy Grail of systems! Very nice! You got Carverized at a fairly young age. It took me until I was 62!
