Bob Carver 180 Mono-blocks perform superbly

01-04-12: Thankful

The Cherry 180 is a special amp. Does things I would not have imagined tubes would do well, like lightening dynamics and extended tight bass and ability to drive 1 ohm load.

There are tube amps that have high power, speed, extended bandwidth and tight bass (e.g., the VTL Siegfried Reference), but they're really expensive, hot and huge. It looks like one of the breakthroughs on these Bob Carvers is bringing this performance profile to more more affordable levels and reasonable size. No small feat.

According to the Bob Farinelli they really pushed the envelope with the 180's and 305's. I can attest to the fact that these are some of the best sounding mono-blocks tube amps I have heard at any price. They will be in my system for a long time.

"It looks like one of the breakthroughs on these Bob Carvers is bringing this performance profile to more more affordable levels and reasonable size. No small feat."

It is about time that a tech savvy individual has been able to bring a product to market with a great cost to performance ratio. We need more of that in order to allow people with shallow pockets to delve into the market. I am starting to see trends in other products where a manufacturer develops an introductory product incorporating lots of technology based on their top of the line products. Good news.

Ciao,
Audioquest4life

Audioquest4life - Great observation, I believe some of what has been occurring in the audio world is border line insanity. As I talk and correspond with folks like yourself I'm finding frustration with over the top high pricing. As folks like Bob push the envelope and price fairly the competition will have to take notice and follow suit. Like most people I have to pull every trick in the book to raise money for this hobby. So when something of this quality comes along I feel better about the purchase. The competition had better take notice of these type of trends. I'll repeat again that I believe the 180's will compete with much more expensive mono-blocks.

Thankful, for a point of reference, what tube amps have you own that you are comparing to Bob Carver 180?