CarverFest 08' Q&A with Bob Carver

[TNRabbit]

Nicely done gentlemen. Makes it even tougher to not be going back this year.
Bob was amazingly gracious and patient.

Did anyone find out Bob's recommendation for the resistance to use with the M-500t to mimick the tube sound?

It's already modified for tube sound, hence the 't" after the 500....

[BillD]

I thought it was interesting that he said use an extra ½ Ohm when using current source on Sunfire.

[marantzfan]

What a great Q&A session. I hope someone is taping it this year....

[dok]

This is a great source of Information and a pleasure to watch and listen to. I certainly hope you guy`s are doing this again this year!

[treitz3]

I don't think it was planned for this year at all. If we do end up doing one, it will most likely be MUCH shorter. We are planning on enjoying our time this year and not making ourselves so damned busy all the time.

[basspig]

Interesting... but I never realized what a subjectivist he is.. to say that something just sounds different because you have such expensive interconnects, or because of the mystique of glowing tubes.. come on now..

Still and all, nice guy, and I would love to have him come visit my studio and hear his impressions afterwards..

[BillD]

Mark, I think it's Bob's way of rationalizing not being able to measure it.

[basspig]

It seems like a weak form of appeasement of the snake oil audio crowd, but I hope I'm wrong.
40 years ago, I put a 6L6 tube in a table radio that normally used a 6V6, and for a while I had myself fooled that it played louder. That was in my naive days.
3 years ago I upgraded from 14awg speaker wire to 8awg wire and I'm left with the impression that some of the bass went away. But I have no rational measurements to prove either way, so I just have to conclude that my mindset was expecting more punch or more bass and everything remained the same, so I subconciously summed it up as "lost bass".
Expectations affect our perception of reality. If we don't measure things quantitatively.

Another strong factor is a lack of room treatments and the fact that if you move your head an inch, the frequency response of the sound heard is completely different because of the comb filtering that results from room reflections adding/cancelling at periodic intervals in the spectrum. I'd say 90% of speaker wire perceived differences are because getting up and sitting down, you never have your head in precisely the same position twice.

[treitz3]

I'd say 90% of speaker wire perceived differences are because getting up and sitting down, you never have your head in precisely the same position twice.

No, I do not agree Mark. I was off axis when I heard my first set of real SC's and I could tell within 4-5 seconds that there was a very noticeable difference in the sound. It wasn't until I actually sat in the sweet spot until I heard the magic. Sound stage presentation, ambient noises, transients, stereo separation, tone, rolloffs, attack, naturalness, overall cleanliness of the presentation, bass excursion that was felt as well as heard were all completely different. Some subtle, some definitely not so subtle.

What I heard was without a premium listening chamber and completely void of any and all room acoustics. I have heard this on many an occasion and also many a time to where the room acoustics were completely FUBAR.....whether it be from a wall that needed to be moved or that the L side was open and the R side was in a corner. Whether pillows were moved to reduce reflection points along with many other scenarios. To me? It's like comparing the sound of a tube amp to a SS. There is no comparison whatsoever. To the discerning ear, it makes all the difference in the world which makes the two non-comparable.

I have actually heard a change whilst sitting in another room.

Your rig has many speakers, many processing units. I can see why and how this may not relate to you as you would have to change many a wire to hear what we hear........and for you, the experiment may not be worthwhile. However, for those in the know with considerably less equipment running to your ears, the end result is undeniable. Completely undeniable.

[Rainman]

Treitz, based on what the basspig has stated above I think he would have much to gain and learn a great deal from the Q&A session with Jeff and Bob...... After all it's all about learning how to better enjoy your sound and part of getting the most out of your gear is making sure you don't read too much $hit claimed by unknowns & accept their mis-information as fact.

Rainman

[F1nut]

It seems like a weak form of appeasement of the snake oil audio crowd, but I hope I'm wrong.

The snake oil crowd? Care to define what that means to you?

I'd say 90% of speaker wire perceived differences are because getting up and sitting down, you never have your head in precisely the same position twice.

Wow, that's the first time I've read that one.