this is all I could find.............." It sounds to me like these clubs of legend were driving an amp hard without properly ventilating them, so any fires or problems resulting from failure due to overheating would seem to be more the fault of the club rather than the amplifier or its designer. The owner's manual does have a mention of 'adequate ventilation.'
I worked for a touring sound company that used Phase Linear 200's, 400's and 700's exclusively into the 90's. Yes, we had amps fail but rarely in the manner of the 'Flame Linear' legend, more due to thin sheet metal chassis coming apart because they weren't designed for touring use or stagehands pushing transistor covers onto transistors between the fins of heat sinks and causing shorts or bad power blowing fuses. With about 35 Phase Linear amps we'd have maybe four channel failures a year due to causes not related to operator error, and we worked 'em hard. We had many more problems related to band engineers who associated distortion with loudness and stagehands who think they're airline baggage handlers. Amps these days are loaded with protection circuits the PL's didn't have and designers have much better simulation tools available, Carver did an excellent job given the era he did it in."
Take care,
Mark & Mary Ann Weiss
So from someone who did the walk (Mark and Mary) "operator error", abuse, and being used for something they weren't designed to do and even so doing it for a long time and that's just 3 of his designs.
One more thing....have you ever seen the voice coil of a woofer glow cherry red. I have. Take a woofer not designed for a lot of power and with poor ventilating qualities, hook it up to a powerful amp and push it as hard as you can and you can heat up the voice coil tremendously. If the woofer catches fire, as it can, it's the amps fault???? I've heard these stories about blaming Carver amps for that.
Please research your postings before you
1) perpetuate a myth and less knowledgeable audio people trying to find good info here think it's true2) insult a great man who pioneered much of what we use today, is still designing and working at 78, and who has forgotten much more than you will ever know about audio.
As a disclaimer.... I know Bob Carver, have spent a number of days with him, own some of his equipment, have discussed audio with him, most of which was beyond my comprehension, and women and football which I do know something about and have even examined him for what HIPAA. rightly denies me mentioning. In addition I found him to be a very nice, friendly, generous, humble man. In my profession I do occasionally meet men and women who could be called a "genius". Certainly not all, but a higher proportion than would be normal for people you meet or deal with are conceited assholes, smart as they are very few people like them, tolerate would be a better word. Bob Carver is far, far, from that. I don't do "internet war" and this is the last I'll post re the person who made such a disparaging remark w/out any proof about Carver amps. (not R9s he just talking about his experiences, he could have been working on something M&M were using)
Doc from MI
I worked for a touring sound company that used Phase Linear 200's, 400's and 700's exclusively into the 90's. Yes, we had amps fail but rarely in the manner of the 'Flame Linear' legend, more due to thin sheet metal chassis coming apart because they weren't designed for touring use or stagehands pushing transistor covers onto transistors between the fins of heat sinks and causing shorts or bad power blowing fuses. With about 35 Phase Linear amps we'd have maybe four channel failures a year due to causes not related to operator error, and we worked 'em hard. We had many more problems related to band engineers who associated distortion with loudness and stagehands who think they're airline baggage handlers. Amps these days are loaded with protection circuits the PL's didn't have and designers have much better simulation tools available, Carver did an excellent job given the era he did it in."
Take care,
Mark & Mary Ann Weiss
So from someone who did the walk (Mark and Mary) "operator error", abuse, and being used for something they weren't designed to do and even so doing it for a long time and that's just 3 of his designs.
One more thing....have you ever seen the voice coil of a woofer glow cherry red. I have. Take a woofer not designed for a lot of power and with poor ventilating qualities, hook it up to a powerful amp and push it as hard as you can and you can heat up the voice coil tremendously. If the woofer catches fire, as it can, it's the amps fault???? I've heard these stories about blaming Carver amps for that.
Please research your postings before you
1) perpetuate a myth and less knowledgeable audio people trying to find good info here think it's true2) insult a great man who pioneered much of what we use today, is still designing and working at 78, and who has forgotten much more than you will ever know about audio.
As a disclaimer.... I know Bob Carver, have spent a number of days with him, own some of his equipment, have discussed audio with him, most of which was beyond my comprehension, and women and football which I do know something about and have even examined him for what HIPAA. rightly denies me mentioning. In addition I found him to be a very nice, friendly, generous, humble man. In my profession I do occasionally meet men and women who could be called a "genius". Certainly not all, but a higher proportion than would be normal for people you meet or deal with are conceited assholes, smart as they are very few people like them, tolerate would be a better word. Bob Carver is far, far, from that. I don't do "internet war" and this is the last I'll post re the person who made such a disparaging remark w/out any proof about Carver amps. (not R9s he just talking about his experiences, he could have been working on something M&M were using)
Doc from MI