@dgcurtis36
I actually had the Nighthawk MKIII, not the Blackhawk, but anyway...
I’ve read up on Raven and their products extensively before purchasing the Nighthawk. I’ve spent many hours reading forum posts and reviews along with numerous hours watching videos. I’ve never read or seen anything about Raven that put them in a negative light in any way.
It was because of the glowing reviews and comments that I decided to do two things which I almost never do:
1) Purchase brand new.
2) Purchase brand new AND entirely unheard.
I made a phone call to Raven and immediately spoke with someone expressing my interest in the Nighthawk MKIII and discussed which NOS tubes to ship my amp with. The amp was shipped very quickly.
While waiting for the amp, I tried to contact Raven with questions that I forgot to ask before I purchased. Needing to call THREE different times before getting someone, I finally get through and ask about some impedance and voltage sensitivity questions. I was told they would find out and get back to me.
I received the amp and opened the box. The very first words out of my mouth were, "What the ***?". I was expecting two boxes, it only came in one. Really?...for a $3,000 amplifier? The foam inserts that the amp sits on were so bent, they looked like they didn’t belong for that box or that amp. The tubes were packed well in bubble wrap, but not packed securely.
First impression: not happy.
The sound of the amp was very thin and had not nearly the body and weight my Hegel had (as I’ve mentioned in another thread). It had no "meat on the bones", so to speak. My Hegel had a TREMENDOUSLY lower noise floor (which is big with me). From my listening seat I could hear a lot of tube hiss from both channels and humming from one channel. Placing my ear next to the tweeters, I could hear a VERY loud hiss. So, what’s with the quality control over there? When you ship a $3,000 amplifier WITH 70 year old tubes, doesn’t anyone listen at the shop first? While the midrange was pretty good, in every other aspect, the Nighthawk fell on its face against the Hegel, in my system, to my ears.
Before I decided to return the amp, I call Raven back and again no answer. I leave a message saying that I think I have some bad tubes and I’m still waiting on an answer to my previous questions.
I never received a reply on all issues.
One of my biggest pet peeves when purchasing anything is when a manufacturer is easy to reach before the purchase but difficult to reach after...boils my blood.
So, with all due respect, the reason I wrote this long post is not to bash Raven, but to give the next person shopping for an amplifier a view that the majority of information out there does not.
