Mon May 09, 2011 4:58 am
An incredible day with Bob Carver!
You are never going to believe where I am! I know because I don't even believe where I am either... I'm in Bob Carver's "laboratory," which its really his home. I came to pick up my Black Beauties, which in fact aren't black... After I won the auction for the 305 watts Black Beauties, I saw a picture of the Cherry 180's and I loved the color combination! By this time, Bob and I had exchanged several emails and talked on the phone and we were building a good relationship, so I asked Bob if he could make a special 305 watt amp, just like the Black Beauty, but in cherry red and black for me and he said yes! Mine are the first Cherry Red and Black "Black Beauties"! He put the black beauties I had originally won, back on ebay and they sold for $10,101!
Anyway, I came to pick them up and Bob and I have spent the day listening to them in his listening room. He said he hadn't compared these amps with the KT120 tubes versus the KT88 tubes, so we listen to them with the KT120 tubes for 305 watts per channel, then we changed the tubes to the KT88 for about 280 watts per channel and had a listening session, back to the KT120, then back to the KT88... At this point neither of us is sure which ones we liked best, since the differences for my ears are so negligible, it's coming down to aesthetics, and I'm leaning towards the KT88 just because they glow brighter, even if I sacrifice 20 watts or so... No big deal.... But let me tell you: Bob is a lot of fun!! We listened to both CDs and to vinyl, what an adventure! We listened to two different pre amps, then we hooked up my own Carver C19 and my Carver SD/A 490t CD player and listened to those too, Bob was like a kid with new toys playing around with all the settings of my C19 and engaging and disengaging the Soft EQ on the 490t! It was awesome!
Then we took a ton of pictures of his new master pieces: the "New Silver Seven" (actually I'm not sure what their official name will be), so he can put them on ebay soon (tomorrow?) Tomorrow we'll hook those upstairs and listen to them for a while!
It really has been an incredible day! Let me he just say that Bob is a class act, the genuine article, the real deal, a genius, and I'm enjoying every single minute of this adventure.. When it ends, I'll take home the greatest memento of these few days: my Cherry Red and Black "Black Beauties"!!!
Anyway, I came to pick them up and Bob and I have spent the day listening to them in his listening room. He said he hadn't compared these amps with the KT120 tubes versus the KT88 tubes, so we listen to them with the KT120 tubes for 305 watts per channel, then we changed the tubes to the KT88 for about 280 watts per channel and had a listening session, back to the KT120, then back to the KT88... At this point neither of us is sure which ones we liked best, since the differences for my ears are so negligible, it's coming down to aesthetics, and I'm leaning towards the KT88 just because they glow brighter, even if I sacrifice 20 watts or so... No big deal.... But let me tell you: Bob is a lot of fun!! We listened to both CDs and to vinyl, what an adventure! We listened to two different pre amps, then we hooked up my own Carver C19 and my Carver SD/A 490t CD player and listened to those too, Bob was like a kid with new toys playing around with all the settings of my C19 and engaging and disengaging the Soft EQ on the 490t! It was awesome!
Then we took a ton of pictures of his new master pieces: the "New Silver Seven" (actually I'm not sure what their official name will be), so he can put them on ebay soon (tomorrow?) Tomorrow we'll hook those upstairs and listen to them for a while!
It really has been an incredible day! Let me he just say that Bob is a class act, the genuine article, the real deal, a genius, and I'm enjoying every single minute of this adventure.. When it ends, I'll take home the greatest memento of these few days: my Cherry Red and Black "Black Beauties"!!!
Last edited by Odysseous on Mon May 09, 2011 6:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
2 Channel rigs:
Bob Carver custom made BLACK BEAUTY/RED tube amp, Carver TFM-45 (X3)
Carver C-19 tube pre amp, Carver SD/A 490t tube CD player
Carver TX-11b radio tuner, Carver TD1700 cassette deck
McIntosh MAC 1900
Polk Audio SRS 3.1TL, KEF Reference Model One, Infinity RS Kappa 9
Home Theater(s):
Yamaha RX-V861 (x2),
Paradigm Titan, CC170, PDR 12 sub, Klipsch Quintet and Klipsch SUB-12 sub
Bob Carver custom made BLACK BEAUTY/RED tube amp, Carver TFM-45 (X3)
Carver C-19 tube pre amp, Carver SD/A 490t tube CD player
Carver TX-11b radio tuner, Carver TD1700 cassette deck
McIntosh MAC 1900
Polk Audio SRS 3.1TL, KEF Reference Model One, Infinity RS Kappa 9
Home Theater(s):
Yamaha RX-V861 (x2),
Paradigm Titan, CC170, PDR 12 sub, Klipsch Quintet and Klipsch SUB-12 sub
