Carver Research Lightstar pre/amp internal pictures

Some pics of the guts of my 'new' Lightstar amp and my Lightstar Direct pre



Lightstar 2.0 internals




Lightstar 2.0 internals




Lightstar 2.0 internals




Lightstar Direct internals




Lightstar Direct internals


Some folks had remarked the Lightstars had some sloppy assembly and solder work. I'm not seeing it. New Lightstar owners can rest assured they purchased a top-notch product!!!

and for the uninformed.

If you come to CF'09 bring me some of what you're smoking... I could use the break from reality.


ray

Wow! Those are really clean, look brand new! Very nice!

[DaveS]

PERRDY

Sweeeeeet. looks almost brand new. Congrats

Thanks for the link and the beautiful pics! Sweeeeet! Now I am even more ansy than before!!

Some pics of the guts of my 'new' Lightstar amp and my Lightstar Direct pre
.....

and for the uninformed.

If you come to CF'09 bring me some of what you're smoking... I could use the break from reality.


ray

Nice looking gear. NO need to insult Anatech though:

1. Your experience is a small % of his; he ran Carver repair for an entire Country
2. It's entirely possible (unless you bought retail) that your amps had been to service prior to your purchase
3. He was talking about Lightstar, not Lightstar II:

I have no reason to doubt Anatech's word:

1. He's a renowned Carver repair tech
2. He made those comments to me almost a year ago
3. He has no involvement (pro or con) in the current lightstar venture, so he's as impartial as they come.

Some pics of the guts of my 'new' Lightstar amp and my Lightstar Direct pre
.....

and for the uninformed.

If you come to CF'09 bring me some of what you're smoking... I could use the break from reality.


ray

Nice looking gear. NO need to insult Anatech though:

1. Your experience is a small % of his; he ran Carver repair for an entire Country
2. It's entirely possible (unless you bought retail) that your amps had been to service prior to your purchase
3. He was talking about Lightstar, not Lightstar II:

I have no reason to doubt Anatech's word:

1. He's a renowned Carver repair tech
2. He made those comments to me almost a year ago
3. He has no involvement (pro or con) in the current lightstar venture, so he's as impartial as they come.

This is what you wrote:

"I think you're going to like them; if you got them from James they're probably in even better shape than the ones Carver sold. That was near the end of Carver corp. and I've heard horror stories of Lightstars going in for service; when opened there were loose solder globs and bits of wiring (hastily assembled). James' amps were assembled from parts he bought (I believe by Rita Helm)."

The Reference 2.0 was designed and built by Jim Croft and his team...after Bob left Carver. You imply that the 2.0s were hastliy built. Obviously, I disagree. The pics don't lie. Those look like damn fine pieces of gear to me...but I've been wrong today


Let's agree to disagree. And what new Lightstar venture? Hmmm...I'll see the only guys capable of that next week and ask. i'll ask Bob about the service record of the Lightstar line too. Just to get the scoop.

Rich, come down to the 'Fest and give a listen. I'm always interested in hearing an informed POV. We're running at least one listening session involving Lightstar technology. You can even compare them to the Silver7 and 9 tube amps. They will be in the same room afterall.

ray

If I read all this correctly, I think Anatech was talking about the original Lightstars, not the II. I don't think Rich has a pony in this race.

Kick ass amp!!!

As for the Lightstar Referance... I dono man... looking pretty damn clean to me.
If anything, it looks a little cramped in there. I looks to me that every connection aside from the IEC plug, and the wires on the transformer itself are ALL plug connectors. There are no actual solder connections made by hand anywhere in here. Everything is board to board jumper cables.
It's still one of the cleanest units I have ever seen.

Just doesn`t get much prettier than that....well maybe if it was signed by BOB!

How did that snake get all tied up in there?

Meant to post this the other night, but forgot....

The details I have are as follows.

Bob designed, built and started to tune the original Lightstar amp. About 1/2 way through the amp tuning, he took one of his well known sabbaticals (which it seems he still does after completing a big project like the recent I-Mag amp for Sunfire... he took 2 weeks off after finishing that one too) from which he returned to Carver Corp, and a board-room full of the Board of Directors, and Lawyers. This is where they bough him out of his own company. Bob was going after the high end market i.e.: Lightstar solid state line, and the Silver series tube equipment. The BoDs thought they knew best, and were planning a all out assault on the Corporate chain stores using the Carver name as the clout to push cheaper made units from China world wide.
As usual Bob knew better, and walked away knowing what was going to happen to his company. It's not all that bad though, the BoDs had to, #1 buy him out of the company, and secondly, he wound up selling them all of is stock shares as well... Bob made out like a bandit on that deal !!!

After Bob was ousted from Carver Corp, Vic Richards took over the Lightstar line. If I'm not mistaken, Vic is the one the completed the Lightstar Reference voicing.
Jim Croft came in after the LS-1 was produced, to re-design the LS-2, and LS Pre.

It's a real shame the BoDs were so greedy, and wanted Carver to become the next Sony. It would have been very interesting to have seen what else would have come out from Carver Corp. next. I'd assume more Lightstar units, and a larger line of tube equipment.
But then again, both Carver and Sunfire were getting sucking into the HT craze at the exact same time... Tubes, and Lightstar may have both fallen off if Bob had stayed in power as well. Who knows..

Now if they will just ship my Amp and Pre and Tuner!!

WOOOO HOOOO Lightstars Ahoy! Looks like they shipped them Today and Signed as well. Now I`m really excieted!!