Bob Carver 180 Mono-blocks perform superbly

Using the most expensive parts does not meet the bottom line, which is profit. I've owned carver products that used engineering tricks to sound good, but used cheap parts that don't stand the test of time.

The only other Carver product I've owned was a pair of Phase linear 400's in the early seventies for PA use. This was in the infancy of solid state but those amps took a hell of a lot of abuse with no problems until they were eventually sold over nine years later.

I don't have any experience with Carver's later gear. I'm told he still maintains Carver service for all his products.

I was skeptical until I did the research and talked to other owners. This circuit was designed by Carver and Tim de Paravicini. Whatever engineering tricks they used to come up with this level of performance is impressive to me. He partnered with Bob Farinelli to produce the amps and with Tony Ferrero to manufacture. I'm told Carver himself was involved in the design but not the manufacture.

I spent twenty-two years servicing engineering printing, plotting, and copying equipment. I know shit manufacturing when I see it. The by hand assembly work in my amplifiers is very well done. The product carries a seven year transferable warrantee and one year on tubes.

I owned a Phase Linear 4000 preamp, it was quad, and I thought it sounded good, but that was compared to "midfi" and not "high end". Once I compared it to "high end", I discovered it sounded kind of "tinney" and when I looked inside, the parts were cheap.

The question I asked in regard to the capacitors was very specific, "What kind of capacitors does he use"?

I realize this is an old thread. What's up with the IEC on these units? They appear to accept only two pronged cords,or am I mistaken?

The new Carver tube amps only have two pins on their IEC power connection, but any standard 15 amp IEC power cable can be used. Apparently they are a floating ground design.